Control module (ECM/PCM/BCM) failure on the 2000 Chevrolet Corvette
When control module (ecm/pcm/bcm) failure gets reported
Owners of the 2000 Chevrolet Corvette report control module (ECM/PCM/BCM) failure at a median of 40,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 35,000 miles and a quarter after 115,000 miles, from 11 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 92,000 miles. It is the 4th most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 30,000 miles at the tenth percentile to 125,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 97,000 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.
27% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 28,000 miles | 35,000 miles | 41,000 miles | 115,000 miles | 125,000 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 $700–$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.
The same failure on other years
The same failure is reported on 10 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2008, at a median of 10,000 miles, and latest on the 2005 at 80,000 miles.
By volume the 2000 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.
The consumer felt that the remedy for the automatic transmission electronic column lock 04v060000 recall is making it easier for the vehicle to be stolen. When the column lock plate is removed only the transmission shifter is locked. The shifter can be easily unlocked, and without the assistance of the steering lock, the vehicle wasn't secured from theft. The vehicle would like a new remedy found to correct this failure without deactivating the electronic column lock system. *ak *sc
In early april I had a recall work completed on my 2000 corvette done by buss cheverolet of shawano, a couple of months later the recall work failed, so parson's chevy of antigo, we redid the recall work. Now on 08-27-07 the recall work failed again! This will be the third time in less than 6 months I will have to have recall work done on my car for the column lock failure. This problem is well known to owners of c5 body style corvettes and most of these owners go and purchase their own bypass so it gets fixed correctly. Everyone I have spoken to indicates that when the dealership completes the work according to general motors direction the recall work always fail! When will general motors get it right? I shouldn't have to take my car into the dealership 3 times to have recall work done, especially when its a NHTSA ordered recall! *tr
I own, as do 75 other customers of tony's corvette shop in maryland, a 2000 c-5 corvette. ( currently 32,000 miles)the ABS/traction control module for this vehicle has been discontinued by gm. My module as well as the other owners has failed and is no longer available for replacement. Further operation of these vehicles invites safety related ramifications as they will not perform as designed for safe operation. The shop owner searched across the nation and there are no replacements available. Why has gm failed to meet the safety needs of the public for its vehicles? *tr
Also reported on the 2000 Chevrolet Corvette
Steering column or shaft failure
Other steering problem
Tail light, brake light or signal failure
ABS module or sensor failure
Other body or interior problem
Fuel gauge or level sensor failure
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 17 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 control module (ecm/pcm/bcm) failure happen on the 2000 Chevrolet Corvette?
Across 11 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 40,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 35,000 miles and a quarter after 115,000 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is control module (ecm/pcm/bcm) failure on the 2000 Chevrolet Corvette?
17 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 1.9 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