Other suspension problem on the 2004 Chevrolet Silverado
1 crash 1 injury 2 of the 12 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 other suspension problem gets reported
Owners of the 2004 Chevrolet Silverado report other suspension problem at a median of 5,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 5,000 miles and a quarter after 20,000 miles, from 11 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 100,000 miles. It is the 17th most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 500 miles at the tenth percentile to 25,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 22,900 miles across the middle 80% of reports.
A window that narrow is the signature of a part that fails on its own schedule rather than on how the car is driven — which is usually a design or supplier problem rather than wear and tear.
100% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 500 miles | 2,700 miles | 5,500 miles | 17,500 miles | 23,400 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, 1 a crash and 1 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 $350–$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 2005, at a median of 200 miles, and latest on the 2000 at 95,000 miles.
By volume the 1999 carries the most reports, with 77; the 2004 has 12. 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.
Prior to purchase of the vehicle a vibration and bouncing was noted on the test drive, the dealer assured me that the problem would be corrected and two days later they replaced the tires. This did not eliminate all of the bouncing, the dealer again serviced the vehicle, the salesman and the service manager both rode with me in the vehicle and agreed that there was a problem and that it would be corrected even if all of the suspension components, wheels and tires had to be replaced. One day later I was told that the bouncing was characteristic of the vehicle and that there was nothing they could do about it, no other solution was offered. I do not feel the vehicle is performing correctly and is not safe.*ak
I am an automobile mechanic and have been for over twenty years. On 9\17\04 I purchased a brand new 04 chevrolet silverado super sport, a truck that the gm factory lowered two inches in the front and four inches in the rear. The first night I owned the truck I noticed a series suspension problem. On monday I looked under the front suspension and realized the factory lowered the front end right down on the bump stops, so it has no front suspension. I took the truck back to the dealer and told them the problem they said, oh yea there all like that. I was driving home on 9\26\04 doing 70 MPH on the freeway and hit a little tiny bump in the road and almost lost control of the truck. When I hit a bump the front tires come off the ground. This truck is very unsafe I can go over even the smallest bump and feel the front end come off the ground. This truck is a very limited edition. I emailed gm and asked them if it would be ok to lower my truck down on to the bump stops they told me that would not be recommended for safety reasons! So I ask you why did there factory do it if they know it is unsafe. One last thing this truck is very hard…
I own a 2500hd w/duramax diesel.it has frame beaming defects.defect was present from the start but was not identified till about 20,000 mi.truck tearing up tires,vibrating,difficult to steer and getting worse along with developing other problems.gm has lied and tried to hide that there really is a defect.they would not present any tsb's or any other info reguarding when asked.the truck was vibrating so bad the other night I just all of a sudden blew the r&r tire and almost hit a rock embankment.tires had less than 18000 miles on them .I bought 2 more just to try to be safe and get there.please help with any info or advice, anything!*ak
Also reported on the 2004 Chevrolet Silverado
Instrument cluster or gauge failure
Loss of braking
Other brake problem
Other electrical problem
Brake line, hose or caliper failure
Other powertrain problem
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 12 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 suspension problem happen on the 2004 Chevrolet Silverado?
Across 11 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 5,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 5,000 miles and a quarter after 20,000 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is other suspension problem on the 2004 Chevrolet Silverado?
12 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