Loss of braking on the 1999 GMC Sierra 2500
Only 4 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 6 reports of loss of braking on the 1999 GMC Sierra 2500, 4 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 1st most-reported problem on this model year.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| — | — | 85,150 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 9 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 1998, at a median of 2,000 miles, and latest on the 2000 at 140,000 miles.
By volume the 2002 carries the most reports, with 23; the 1999 has 6. 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.
Dealer replaced rusted out brake lines in 2008. Dealer now says brake lines need to be replaced again. Brake lines for this vehicle are apparently made of a material that is extremely prone to corrosion leading to brake failure-which occurred to this vehicle.
1999 gmc sierra k2500 4x4. At just over 100k miles the advanced rust and corrosion on my steel brake lines is very bad. These are the hard galvanized lines that are in the engine compartment beneath the brake fluid reservoir near the frame, and the hard galvanized lines that run along the inside of the frame rail on the driver side (left hand side of the truck) from front to rear. This started a few years ago and has gotten progressively worse. The corrosion is in the form of rust that is flaking off in chunks. With the steel rusting and flaking away like this, it will compromise the integrity of the brake line, significantly reducing the ability for the brake lines to hold pressure, and at some point may ultimately result in brake failure. I have other gm vehicles with more miles that are older I've had since new and the brake lines have very little signs of rust and corrosion. I am not happy about this as I take very good care of my vehicles and this is the first gm vehicle that I've seen this happen. I will have to stop driving this vehicle to avoid the high accident risk potential the rusted brake lines have created. *tr
Brakes failed as brake line corrosion allowed fluid leak. This was first of multiple line failures in the last three years. Three different factory lines failed then one transmission line. This truck is not used during winter and was under coated multiple times. No other part on this truck is corroded nearly as much as every steel line on it, including the gas lines( also replaced just last year) truck runs and drives excellent except for this corrosion problem. *tr
Also reported on the 1999 GMC Sierra 2500
ABS module or sensor failure
Brake line, hose or caliper failure
Other brake problem
Other wheel or tire problem
Wheel bearing or hub failure
Fuel gauge or level sensor failure
How far this goes
This page is kept out of search results because 6 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 6 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 1999 GMC Sierra 2500?
Across 4 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 85,000 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 1999 GMC Sierra 2500?
6 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 6.8 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