Brake line, hose or caliper failure on the 2001 GMC Sierra 2500
When brake line, hose or caliper failure gets reported
Owners of the 2001 GMC Sierra 2500 report brake line, hose or caliper failure at a median of 75,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 55,000 miles and a quarter after 90,000 miles, from 9 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 115,000 miles. It is the 5th most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 35,000 miles at the tenth percentile to 135,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 99,700 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.
22% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 34,300 miles | 57,000 miles | 73,000 miles | 90,300 miles | 134,000 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 $250–$1,600 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 8 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2006, at a median of 40,000 miles, and latest on the 1999 at 170,000 miles.
By volume the 2003 carries the most reports, with 15; the 2001 has 9. 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.
I have owned my 2001 gmc sierra 2500hd truck since it was new. The vehicle currently has approximately 92000 miles on it. With the brake line problem I recently had I figured I should report the other issues that I don?t think I should be having with a vehicle that is less than 10 years old. The oil cooler lines and the transmission cooler lines have all rusted through and have had to be replaced. Along with the lines, the connectors for the lines have all had to be replaced due to catastrophic failure (they rusted so bad that were falling apart). If the vehicle was 20 years old I might expect this problem, but not on one less than 10 years old and the mileage that it has. *tr
I have owned my 2001 gmc sierra 2500hd truck since it was new. The vehicle currently has approximately 92000 miles on it. With the brake line problem I recently had I figured I should report the other issues that I don?t think I should be having with a vehicle that is less than 10 years old. The oil cooler lines and the transmission cooler lines have all rusted through and have had to be replaced. Along with the lines, the connectors for the lines have all had to be replaced due to catastrophic failure (they rusted so bad that were falling apart). If the vehicle was 20 years old I might expect this problem, but not on one less than 10 years old and the mileage that it has. *tr
Tl* the contact owns a 2001 gmc sierra 2500hd. The contact was driving approximately 25 MPH when the brake pedal extended to the floor with a delayed response. In addition, the brake fluid reservoir became completely empty due to excessive leakage of fluid. The vehicle was maneuvered to the side of the road and then towed to an independent mechanic who replaced the corroded brake line. The identical failure recurred. The vehicle had not been repaired for the most recent failure. The manufacturer was not notified of the problem. The approximate failure mileage was 31,500. The VIN was unavailable.
Also reported on the 2001 GMC Sierra 2500
Loss of braking
ABS module or sensor failure
Other brake problem
Other engine problem
Other wheel or tire problem
Stalling while driving
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 9 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 brake line, hose or caliper failure happen on the 2001 GMC Sierra 2500?
Across 9 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 75,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 55,000 miles and a quarter after 90,000 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is brake line, hose or caliper failure on the 2001 GMC Sierra 2500?
9 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 0.7 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