Loss of braking on the 2003 GMC Sierra 2500
1 injury 1 of the 20 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 2003 GMC Sierra 2500 report loss of braking at a median of 75,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 50,000 miles and a quarter after 115,000 miles, from 18 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 78,000 miles. It is the 2nd most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 45,000 miles at the tenth percentile to 225,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 181,100 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.
6% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 44,900 miles | 50,370 miles | 74,000 miles | 116,917 miles | 226,000 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
Of these reports, 1 an injury is 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 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 2003 has 20. 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.
Tl*the contact owns a 2003 gmc sierra 2500 hd. The contact stated that while attempting to maneuver a boat into the water, the brakes failed to engage. The vehicle was inspected by an independent mechanic who stated that the complete brake line was corroded. The brake lines were replaced at the contacts expense. The contact stated that this was the second time the brake lines were replaced. The failure mileage was 47,583 and the current mileage was 52,566. Updated 09/29/10. *lj updated 10/13/10/*lj the dealer found three brake lines rusted severely. Updated 10/19/10*jb
Hit the brakes on my 2003 gmc sierra 2500hd fairly hard to avoid an accident. I slowed down enough to avert another car, but the anti-lock brakes failed to engage and brake fluid exploded all over my engine. My brakes no longer worked after this initial braking. Pedal went to the floor. Had to use emergency brake to stop and get towed. Very close call. *tr
The brakes failed when I tried to stop. The truck was taken a auto repair shop. They told me the brake lines had failed due to rust. The brake lines from the master cylinder and the hydraulic pump had to be replaced. The brake lines from the hydraulic pump and the front wheels had to replaced also. *tr
Also reported on the 2003 GMC Sierra 2500
Other brake problem
Other electrical problem
Instrument cluster or gauge failure
Brake line, hose or caliper failure
Other fuel system problem
Rust or structural corrosion
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 20 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 2003 GMC Sierra 2500?
Across 18 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 75,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 50,000 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 loss of braking on the 2003 GMC Sierra 2500?
20 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 35 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