Loss of braking on the 2005 Chevrolet Colorado
Only 3 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.
When loss of braking gets reported
There are 3 reports of loss of braking on the 2005 Chevrolet Colorado, 3 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 78,000 miles. It is the 26th most-reported problem on this model year.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| — | — | 79,000 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 $400–$3,000 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.
This mode is classified as critical, which means a failure can leave the car unable to stop, steer, or stay out of the way of traffic. It is weighted accordingly in the risk score.
The same failure on other years
The same failure is reported on 6 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2008, at a median of 1,700 miles, and latest on the 2005 at 80,000 miles.
By volume the 2008 carries the most reports, with 9; the 2005 has 3. 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.
Tick median reported mileage Solid middle half of reports Faint 10th to 90th percentile Colour how bad the failure is when it happens
What owners wrote
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint narratives, trimmed for length. The mileage is the one the owner gave.
Front brakes showed wear at 7000 miles oil change, parts had to be special ordered , told to drive vehicle til they arrived,, on 1/4/2005 part installed and mechanic test drove, and rear drum drum brakes failed,(pistons "blew out" of cylinders) I have never seen a brake system that was designed so if the shoes wore out and "scored" the drums the pistons would leave the cylinders ,, causing the loss of brake fluid and even with antilock braking system , cause very poor braking, (think if this happened at high speed on an expressway,, with a family in the vehicle),.,.suddenly no rear brakes,,,,,,,,and in my opionon,, just a couple of milimeters more length on the cylinders and pistion could solve the problem,.. But chevy although replacing the parts , says it was due to wear. (I am a us postal rural carrier) I say it is a design fault, mine just happened sooner , and maybe in time to save some lives if they "fix" the problem. *ak
Abs fault warning and brake light came on. Dealer fixed left side wheel assembly and sensor for $600 . Later same thing happened. Brake light and ABS fault warning stay on constantly. Brakes failed once momentarily without warning. This has happened once, but could happen again at anytime. *tr
Vehicle for no apparent reason will engage ABS where brakes will pulsate and a temporary reduction in brakes will occur. This will occur when there is no rain, streets are dry and sunny. Immediately after this occurrence the ABS fault light will come on and stay on until car is stopped, turned off, and restarted. Took vehicle in to gm dealership and they said brakes were fine. When ABS engages, for no apparent reason, one will feel brake pedal pulsating and a loss of braking which causes some immediate alarm for fear of running into somebody or possibly allowing car to go too far into an intersection when trying to stop. Many web sites, forums and blogs, such as edmonds are loaded with these complaints on 2004 - 2006 colorado's, as this is not just a single occurrence in a couple of vehicles. Contacted chevrolet but they always point me to dealership for them to read computer code for error at a cost of $100 and then will price out the cost for repair. This is a safety hazard that gm is very aware of and selects not to address. *tr
Also reported on the 2005 Chevrolet Colorado
Other brake problem
Other electrical problem
Cruise control failure
Other body or interior problem
Other engine problem
Other suspension problem
How far this goes
This page is kept out of search results because 3 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 3 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 loss of braking happen on the 2005 Chevrolet Colorado?
Across 3 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 80,000 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 loss of braking on the 2005 Chevrolet Colorado?
3 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 0.1 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