Loss of braking on the 2000 GMC Sierra 1500
6 crashes 3 injuries 9 of the 28 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 loss of braking gets reported
Owners of the 2000 GMC Sierra 1500 report loss of braking at a median of 100,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 72,500 miles and a quarter after 165,000 miles, from 28 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 78,000 miles. It is the 3rd most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 60,000 miles at the tenth percentile to 182,500 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 123,527 miles across the middle 80% of reports.
When the reports scatter this far, the mileage is telling you about how these cars were driven more than about the part itself.
7% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 59,973 miles | 71,824 miles | 100,000 miles | 164,392 miles | 183,500 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, 6 a crash and 3 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 $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 15 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2020, at a median of 1,000 miles, and latest on the 1999 at 142,500 miles.
By volume the 2001 carries the most reports, with 40; the 2000 has 28. 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.
1-I noticed brake failure at slow stopping speeds and the ABS warning light stayed on. 2- this caused a few close calls as far as almost hitting structures or vehicles directly in front of me. 3-took to the dealer and was told it was the wheel speed sensor located in the wheel hub and replaced at a cost of $500.00 plus . Also found out that this is a recall for east coast only recall # NHTSA id # 05v379000. Because this is a defective part on east coast I feel it should apply to my vehicle as well even though I'm on the west coast. *nm
Purchased 2000 gmc sierra 1500 new. Have during time of ownership had both front and rear disc brakes/rotors repaired/replaced twice. Once with 20,151 miles under warranty. The last set of front rotors and pads were replaced with 74,299 miles during the recall 05068 for ABS speed sensor corrosion. I had to pay for this set of rotors and pads at a cost of $406.03. Since time of "safety recall" truck has intermittently not stopped properly at low speed. While driving I attempted to stop heard a slight pop and the brake peddle went to the floor with little resistance. Had truck taken to dealer ship where last brake repair and safety recall was performed, they discovered that my main brake line had rusted through and had failed. At that time they also informed me that all the brake lines were rusty and should be replaced. I had at the time of dropping the vehicle off informed them of the problem with low speed braking and the feeling that the ABS was activating. Upon repair of the main brake line at $244.32 (I declined to have all brake lines replaced at my expense) they test drove the vehicle and indicated that they were unable to…
Excessive rust from middle of under carriage on back lead to two part failures. Rear main brake line on driver side of vehicle burst while applying brakes in driveway leading to brake failure. I stopped truck by applying emergency brake and slamming transmission into park--thank god this happened in my driveway and not on the road-- research on internet reveals excessive rust for these trucks is common. After hearing about the toyota tundras dropping a spare tire due to excessive rust, I figure brake failure possibly leading to traffic accident qualifies too. *tr
Also reported on the 2000 GMC Sierra 1500
Other brake problem
ABS module or sensor failure
Brake line, hose or caliper failure
Rust or structural corrosion
Parking brake failure
Fuel gauge or level sensor failure
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 28 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 2000 GMC Sierra 1500?
Across 28 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 100,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 72,500 miles and a quarter after 165,000 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is loss of braking on the 2000 GMC Sierra 1500?
28 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 29 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