2005 Chevrolet SUBURBAN - Ratings, Complaints and Recalls

"this defect pertains to gear indicator on the instrument panel. during the daylight hours the light indicating the gear the car is in (park, neutral, drive, etc.) is impossible to read. at night you can just barely read the gear indicators. the dimness of the lights behind this gear indicator gauge is a safety hazard because you cannot tell what gear you are in during the day. it is an expensive repair because the instrument panel needs to be removed to fix the problem."

"heated seats randomly turn on and off and goes thorugh the diffeent levels of heat and then off and then back on repeat for hours while driving and is very distracting as have to turn off every 10 sec and have almost crashed multiple times taking me eyes off the road but have to turn off as heat is too much in summer months, this is a known issue in almost ever suburban 01 to 05, how is this not a recall yet, there is massive amount of documentation of this issue online."

"i noticed corroded and what i would call charred or burnt wiring on the wiring harness for the rear lift gate of my suburban. i noticed it when i opened the lift gate to gain access to the rear of the suburban. it appears that the rubber grommet material protecting the wiring harness, was burnt or melted away. the rubber hose that supplies water to the rear window washer/wiper had a hole in it, and may have been leaking windshield washer fluid onto the wires for a time. the wires were bare in some spots, some of the wire insulation looked melted/burnt away, and they looked corroded/with a green color to them. the connector that connects the harness, to the rest of the electrical system, looked like it has some black/ possibly burnt residue on it. i can take a guess at best, that because of the hole in the rubber hose, water may have been leaking onto the electrical wiring/connections when i used this feature to clear dirt from the lift gate window, but i don't really know for sure if that is how the damage to the wiring harness has occured! thanks!"

"tl* the contact owns a 2005 chevrolet suburban. the contact stated that after starting the vehicle, the two wheel or four wheel drive light failed to illuminate. the failure prevented the contact of knowing which gear the vehicle was in. the vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. the manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. the failure mileage was unknown."

"the driver side seat heater randomly turns itself on. when you turn it off it comes back on again and randomly cycles through the various settings. it's almost a constant battle trying to keep it turned off which creates a hazardous situation equal to, or worse, then texting while driving as you have to keep looking down to push the button, especially here in florida where you don't need (or want) seat heat in the summer. i've fought this to the point that i've worn the paint off the switch. if you search the internet this is a very prevalent problem with gm vehicles during these model years. i also have a 2006 gmc sierra that does the exact same thing. i've been to at least 5 different dealerships and either they can't fix it or they claim they've never heard of the problem. that can't be true since gm issued a tsb for this problem but the recommended fix (reprogramming the driver door switch) actually does not fix the problem. in fact, when the dealer reprogrammed my gmc it actually made it worse to where it happens much more frequently. i contacted gm and even though i took it to a dealer 4-5 months ago where they couldn't fix it, gm says i have to take it back to the dealer (pay another $100 diagnostic fee) to meet their policy that they will only address the issue if you've been to a dealer within the last 30 days. some reports are the seat heater elements are shorting out. either way this creates a very unsafe situation for drivers. gm says i can pull the fuse for the seat heaters. however, when you remove the fuse labeled "seat heater" it actually does nothing. the seats are still powered and the problem persists. this clearly indicates an electrical problem and design flaw. the only sure cure is to remove the 30 amp breaker under the dash rendering your driver/passenger inoperative. gm must fix this problem before someone gets killed from being distracted. *tr"

"speedometer stayed at speed i was driving when i stopped the car. when i restarted the car it did not return to zero but started at last speed i was driving, then increase from there. speedometer finally stayed at 100 mph, it did not return to zero and i was unable to determine speed of car when driving. rpm also malfunction, it stayed at 1.5 when driving and didn't vary when i increased or decreased my speed. had to have it replaced as i could not determine speed i was driving. no official recall, only a class action suit. my make/model/year was part of the cars affected in the suit, only i didn't qualify for reimbursement of repair because the problem occurred outside of the 7 year 80,000 mile parameter gm set up for reimbursement. *tr"

"at approximately 4 years and 45,000 miles after purchase of my 2005 suburban, the tachometer began failing with intermittent low readings or no reading. since the vehicle was out of warranty and the tachometer isn't really very useful for an automatic transmission vehicle, i was not overly concerned and i did not bring the vehicle in for repair due to the anticipated high expense. shortly after the tachometer failure (about 55,000 miles) the gas gauge began failing with erratic readings. ultimately the behavior degraded to a pegged counter clockwise condition where the reading now stays at all times. although inconvenient, the 'miles to empty' information display seemed to continue to work normally and i decided i could use that method instead of having a repair performed. i've been using that method ever since without any issues, but i tend to be conservative and fill up before i come close to being empty. within the next six months after the gas gauge failed (about 60,000 miles), the volt meter began giving erroneously high readings of about 20 volts. it was a pretty rare event. when it showed this over voltage condition, i checked the charging voltage at several locations and found the voltage to be normal. when i determined that there wasn't an actual over-voltage condition, i wasn't too concerned about this infrequent issue. several months after the gas gauge failure, the speedometer began failing with low or no readings. it started out to be a very rare occurrence. the issue now seems to be occurring with greater frequency. the increased failure rate concerns me since it can result in a safety hazard as well as could result in a costly speeding ticket. i was not notified of any of the gm campaigns for this issue on the same model vehicle on different vins. gm's position is any repair will be at my full expense (approx $600). *tr"

"attempted to lock the vehicle using the key fob - all four doors locked - the rear hatch did not - tried the key fob several more times with the same result - opened the driver's door and used the manual lock button - got the same result, the four doors locked but not the rear hatch - for my 2005 model, and for several model years other than my 2005, i read many complaints about the same problem on this website prior to sending this - and many complaints about the opposite problem, namely, the rear hatch door locks and cannot be opened - there is no key hole in the door, only the key fob operates locking and unlocking the door - obviously a design problem that you ought to issue a recall on - and, read many, many complaints about the instrument cluster over many model years - again, obviously a design problem - why don't you folks make gm fix these faults ? - they are not few in number - they are not isolated - they certainly are not owner generated - make gm fix them - isn't that your job? thanks for your help and good luck, waiting to see in alabama *tr"

"i was driving on a trip to florida when at 65 mph my speedometer kept increasing and pegged out at the 120 mph mark. i pulled over to try and resolve the issue but to no avail it stayed stuck at the 120 mph mark. when i restarted the vehicle all my cluster gauges were pegged out: oil, battery, temp, and even gas gauge. i also started getting info that my airbag system needed attention. four wheel drive light came on just a different array of malfunctions came flying across my display. to this date my battery gauge is still pegged out my airbag light is on, service four wheel drive light still flashes inadvertently and now my drivers side heater and controls are not working correctly. brought in to repair shop & they said no recall has been issued so my cost would run well over $1500.00. ridiculous. own up chevy fix this. *tr"

"my speedometer recently started malfunctioning. it read 20mph when i was driving at least 50mph, then it read 90+mph when i was actually driving 30mph. finally, my speedometer gave out and is "stuck" in the 120+mph position. thankfully, i have a gps navigation system that has a gauge on it so i know my rate of speed. i contacted gm and they refused to remedy this "widespread" problem. they said that my "special coverage" has ended (referring to the 2008 class action suit that prompted it). i am very upset! i have read many, many forums and found that this is a very common issue. my mechanic says they replace them "all the time" and charges $700-$1,000 to fix it. in my opinion, there should be a recall on the instrument cluster panel. i just don't understand why gm won't step up and fix it free of charge. *tr"