Other electrical problem on the 2003 GMC Sierra 2500
2 fires 2 of the 17 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 electrical problem gets reported
Owners of the 2003 GMC Sierra 2500 report other electrical problem at a median of 100,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 50,000 miles and a quarter after 110,000 miles, from 15 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 85,000 miles. It is the 3rd most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 45,000 miles at the tenth percentile to 175,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 127,982 miles across the middle 80% of reports.
A spread this wide points at use rather than design. Towing, climate, service history and city mileage all move a failure like this, so the median is a weak guide to any individual car.
7% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 46,000 miles | 51,250 miles | 101,000 miles | 107,786 miles | 173,982 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, 2 a fire 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 $250–$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 2020, at a median of 200 miles, and latest on the 2015 at 115,000 miles.
By volume the 2005 carries the most reports, with 18; the 2003 has 17. 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 a 2003 gmc diesel pickup. I have had the vehicle in twice for electrical repairs in the last 9 months. The electrical problems observed include: airconditioner cutting in/out, radio cutting in/out, power windows not working, dash gauges cutting in/out, idiot lights coming on (ABS, brakes, check engine etc). It was repaired once by the dealership at a cost of $500. Now, 9 months later, the vehicle is back in for the exact same problem. The techniciain took it for a ride and had so many problems, he was afraid he wouldn't make it back to the dealership.
Pulling out of a parking lot on wet pavement my rear truck tires spun a bit and then when I got on the road traveling about 50 MPH my speedometer read 120 MPH! When I came to a complete stop the needle stayed at about 70 MPH. The problem is I don't know how fast I am going, but I can guarantee that it wasn't 120 MPH! :) truck is still not working. Vehicle is a 2003 gmc 2500hd.*jb
The vehicle has had failure of the air conditioner and heating. Resulted in fired in the dash board wiring twice. Had been in the shop for heating and air conditioner eight times. *jb
Also reported on the 2003 GMC Sierra 2500
Other brake problem
Loss of braking
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 17 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 electrical problem happen on the 2003 GMC Sierra 2500?
Across 15 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 100,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 50,000 miles and a quarter after 110,000 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is other electrical problem on the 2003 GMC Sierra 2500?
17 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 30 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