Parking brake failure on the 2005 Chevrolet Colorado
4 crashes 4 injuries 8 of the 16 reports for this failure mention a crash, a fire, an injury or a death. Those are the owner's words on the complaint form, not a verified finding, and one report can mention more than one.
When parking brake failure gets reported
Owners of the 2005 Chevrolet Colorado report parking brake failure at a median of 50,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 25,000 miles and a quarter after 60,000 miles, from 12 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 88,000 miles. It is the 10th most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 15,000 miles at the tenth percentile to 75,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 60,220 miles across the middle 80% of reports.
A spread this wide points at use rather than design. Towing, climate, service history and city mileage all move a failure like this, so the median is a weak guide to any individual car.
42% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 15,180 miles | 26,250 miles | 49,500 miles | 60,250 miles | 75,400 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
Of these reports, 4 a crash and 4 an injury are mentioned. Owners write their own complaints and the agency does not verify them, so read this as what the reports say happened rather than as a confirmed count.
Putting it right typically runs $250–$1,300 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 3 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2018, at a median of 500 miles, and latest on the 2015 at 75,000 miles.
By volume the 2005 is the worst of them, which makes this a problem of this specific year rather than of the model as a whole.
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.
2005 chevy colorado, emergency brake cable is hanging 3 inches, below the frame rail, a clearance of 11 inches. I caught a piece of rebar steel sticking up from a cattle quard on a dirt road, and my vehicles slammed to a stop, throwing me out of the drivers seat, and against the door on the passenger side, dislocating my shoulder, a putting my vehicle in the ditch, with damage, to the wind=deflector, fog lamp, dent in bumper. My phd. Major is in construction equipment engineering, this routing of the emergency brake cable, in such a manner is an extremely poor design, a bad idea, and consistent with the use of intern level engineers that gm uses on lower priced production vehicles. I want my routing redesigned, and repaired, so that this does not happen again, just march your fat [xxx] out and take a look, at one of your colorado's for yourself, and you will see the emergency brake cable hanging down, below the frame rails, and measure the clearance for yourself, unloaded vehicles 11 in. Loaded vehicle 7 in. Tell me the name of the engineer, who is so [xxx] stupid. So, I know who's [xxx] to kick. *jb information redacted pursuant…
Tl*the contact owns a 2005 chevrolet colorado. On july 5, 2006, while applying the brakes, the vehicle began grinding, stalling, and driving as if it were towing heavy equipment. The contact stated that the grinding has worsened over time and an indicator illuminated stating that the parking brake was in use, when it was not. At 33,000 miles, the engine temporarily seized. After a diagnosis was performed, the contact was informed that the passenger side rear cable was frozen, the rear brakes were glazed and squealing, the passenger side rear drum was egg-shaped and blue, the passenger side rear brake cable needed to be replaced, and the front cable was stuck. The passenger side rear brake drums and parking brake actuator were replaced and the rear brakes were adjusted. The contact stated that the failures have recurred. The speed was unknown. The current and failure mileages were 57,000.
Tl*the contact owns a 2005 chevrolet colorado. On july 5, 2006, while applying the brakes, the vehicle began grinding, stalling, and driving as if it were towing heavy equipment. The contact stated that the grinding has worsened over time and an indicator illuminated stating that the parking brake was in use, when it was not. At 33,000 miles, the engine temporarily seized. After a diagnosis was performed, the contact was informed that the passenger side rear cable was frozen, the rear brakes were glazed and squealing, the passenger side rear drum was egg-shaped and blue, the passenger side rear brake cable needed to be replaced, and the front cable was stuck. The passenger side rear brake drums and parking brake actuator were replaced and the rear brakes were adjusted. The contact stated that the failures have recurred. The speed was unknown. The current and failure mileages were 57,000.
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
Complaints are voluntary, so 16 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 parking brake failure happen on the 2005 Chevrolet Colorado?
Across 12 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 50,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 25,000 miles and a quarter after 60,000 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is parking brake failure on the 2005 Chevrolet Colorado?
16 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 0.4 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