AtWhatMileage
Electrical · 5 owner reports

Other electrical problem on the 2003 Chevrolet Blazer

Only 4 reports for this mode came with an odometer reading, which is too few for percentiles to mean anything. The page is here because someone linked to it; treat the figures as anecdotes, and see the full report for this year instead.

Reports of this failure 5
With an odometer reading 4
Reports per 1,000 built 0.3 per 1,000
Filed below 36,000 miles 25%
Mention a crash, fire or injury 0
Typical repair $250–$2,000
What it means when it happens Moderate
Rank among this year's problems 7th

When other electrical problem gets reported

There are 5 reports of other electrical problem on the 2003 Chevrolet Blazer, 4 with a mileage attached. That is too few to place the failure on the odometer with any confidence.

A part like this is normally expected to survive 85,000 miles. It is the 7th most-reported problem on this model year.

The whole distribution

Percentiles of the 4 odometer readings owners gave.
10th25thMedian 75th90th
— — 76,000 miles — —

Read the 10th percentile as “one report in ten arrived this early”. Exact figures are shown in this table because it is the table of record; everywhere else on the site they are rounded to the precision the sample can carry.

What a percentile can and cannot tell you here

These five numbers describe the readings owners gave, in order. The median is the middle one: half the reports arrived below it. The 10th and 90th are the edges of the bulk of the distribution, and the distance between them is the part worth reading. A tight spread — say 70,000 to 95,000 miles — points at something that wears out on a schedule, and the schedule is knowable. A wide one, 20,000 to 190,000, points at a fault that hits some cars and never troubles others, which means the mileage on the listing in front of you tells you very little about your odds.

What these figures are not is a survival curve. Every reading here comes from a car whose owner filed a complaint, so the sample contains only failures: it cannot say what share of the fleet made it past 150,000 miles untouched, because those owners had nothing to report. Nor is the mileage the moment of failure — it is the odometer reading as recalled at the time of filing, which may be weeks later and is sometimes rounded to the nearest ten thousand by the person typing it.

Percentiles are shown at all only once 8 readings exist for the vehicle and mode. Below that the middle of a handful of numbers is noise wearing a decimal point, so the figures are withheld rather than dressed up.

What happens, and what it costs

Putting it right typically runs $250–$2,000 at an independent US shop. That range is an editorial estimate held in this site's failure-mode catalogue, not a figure from NHTSA, and it is a repair cost rather than a diagnosis cost.

The same failure on other years

The same failure is reported on 13 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2021, at a median of 20,000 miles, and latest on the 2000 at 130,000 miles.

By volume the 1996 carries the most reports, with 42; the 2003 has 5. A mode that appears across most years of a model is usually a design choice rather than a bad batch.

If one year stands out to the left, that is the year to avoid; if the whole line sits at a similar mileage, this is wear rather than a defect in one production run.

What owners wrote

Verbatim from NHTSA complaint narratives, trimmed for length. The mileage is the one the owner gave.

The was a sensor on the dash which controlled the headlights. When the vehicle was under a tree or in the garage, the headlights went dim. The dealer stated there was a code to over ride the system. The dealers had no access to the code. *jb the sensor on the dash turned down the dash lights which made it impossible to read the instrument panel. At dusk the high beams came on without the driver's knowledge. The consumer is looking for the code that will allow the light to operate manually. *nm

13,000 miles NHTSA complaint 451920 filed 2004-01-27

1. Speedometer acting erratically. 2. Dealer wanted to charge $450 dollars to change speed sensor. I told him he was crazy. They reconnected. Speedometer stared working again. 3. 7 months later speedometer starts acting erratically. I search websites and find that many other owners of 2003 tahoes experience the same thing. Ordered new speed sensor to for self installation. Yet to install. 4. Speedometer starts working again after battery changed. 5. Runs for 5 days working fine then act erratic again. 6. Ready to change. 7. Thought I'd complain first. Think this is a safety issue and something should be done about it. *nm

37,000 miles NHTSA complaint 594907 filed 2006-09-04

Brake lights fail to turn on when brake pedal is pressed. Replaced brake switch, all tail lights. Mechanic investigation shows multi-function switch to be cause of problem as in previous recall for multi-function switch on 2002 blazer. Requesting investigation and addition to the recall. *kb

155,984 miles NHTSA complaint 884583 filed 2011-10-11

Also reported on the 2003 Chevrolet Blazer

Fuel gauge or level sensor failure

14 reports median 36k

Airbag failed to deploy in a crash

9 reports median 175k

Other body or interior problem

9 reports median 32k

Other lighting problem

6 reports median 156k

Other powertrain problem

5 reports median 29k

How far this goes

This page is kept out of search results because 5 reports is not enough to publish percentiles from. It stays reachable because somebody looking at this exact car would rather see the reports than be told there are none.

Complaints are voluntary, so 5 is a floor and not a count of affected cars. Mileages are typed in by owners and cluster on round numbers. And the mode itself is assigned by software reading the complaint text, which is reliable in bulk and fallible one report at a time.

Questions this page answers

At what mileage does other electrical problem happen on the 2003 Chevrolet Blazer?

Across 4 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 75,000 miles. A quarter were filed before — and a quarter after —. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.

How common is other electrical problem on the 2003 Chevrolet Blazer?

5 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 0.3 per 1,000 vehicles. Complaints are voluntary, so this is a floor rather than a count of affected cars.

What this is and is not. These are the mileages at which owners chose to complain to a federal agency, which is not the same as the mileage at which the part fails on every car. It skews toward failures that happened outside warranty, cost real money, or frightened someone. It is still the only public dataset that carries failure mileage at all, and the shape of a few hundred readings is informative even when a single one is not. Methodology · JSON · this failure on other cars

Source Owner complaints and recall records published by the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, model years 1996–2027 Figures rebuilt Published by AtWhatMileage How every figure is computed