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2009 Chevrolet Suburban Problems and Recalls
Owners filed 106 complaints with NHTSA about the 2009 Chevrolet Suburban, most often about the air bags (36% of complaints, typically around 95,000 miles). It is 18th of 25 Suburban model years by number of complaints and has 5 recalls.
Most common 2009 Chevrolet Suburban problems
Air bags
38 complaints · 36%Half of these problems showed up before 95,000 miles.
Dash around airbag is cracked along with above instrument cluster. It appears it is identical to all other dash cracks in both location and type on 07-13 tahoes/suburbans/avalanches. Obliviously a manufacturing defect coupled with the takata recall could create an exploding dash with extra brittle shrapnel.
It has been several years since the takata airbag recall was announced. The local dealer, bunnin Chevrolet, has continually been unable to consumate the recall for my vehicle. What can be done to remedy this danger, short of not driving the vehicle?
Other or unspecified
23 complaints · 22%Half of these problems showed up before 94,000 miles.
2009 the Suburban has a center mounted dash speaker. The weight of this speaker, over time, has caused the dash to crack near the passenger airbag and the steering wheel. I am concerned with the safety of the passenger in the case the airbag is deployed and the dash explodes?
Dashboard cracked in multiple places. Cracking up to the edge of the airbag. If airbag is deployed the shrapnel from the dashboard could cause airbag to deflate rendering it useless and cause injury.
Electrical
16 complaints · 15%Half of these problems showed up before 122,000 miles.
My 2009 Chevrolet Suburban began stalling in the middle of intersections after it had rained heavily the day prior. The shop discovered that the issue was the fuel system control module. There was a recall on this, but gm informed me that it excluded my VIN #. The problem with the module was exactly what is listed in…
Vehicle continues to have random electrical problems after adding new grounds, new alternator, new battery, checking contacts. It's been at 4 repair shops including a chevy dealer and continues to have problems. Doors cycle on lock/unlock, lights cycle dimming, ABS and other indicator lights come on, lose acceleration…
Engine
12 complaints · 11%Half of these problems showed up before 96,000 miles.
As I'm slowing down my car shoots out almost into traffic. It wore down both my front and rear break pads. Also burns oil. I have to add a full bottle o oil every couple o weeks. Has smoked from exhaust real bad one time before I knew to add oil. Now since yesterday july 13, 2015 it says to service stabilitrak and…
I was notified by the vehicle that oil pressure is low, turn off immediately. I took it to the dealer and they advised me I needed a new engine. My vehicle had 110,000 miles, it was well maintained, and was driven carefully.
Body and structure
11 complaints · 10%Half of these problems showed up before 80,000 miles. Parts named most often: body.
The contact owns a 2009 Chevrolet Suburban. The contact stated that the dashboard began to fracture. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic where it was diagnosed that the dashboard fractured and needed to be replaced. The vehicle was repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The failure…
My dash has cracked in several locations, to the point that pieces are going to start falling inward. The largest cracks are around the driver side hump above the cluster. This crack was not due to any neglect or banging. It just appeared one morning. It happened about 6 months ago. Thank you
Doors and locks
8 complaints · 8%Half of these problems showed up before 53,000 miles. Parts named most often: doors.
About a year ago the rear passenger door lock wouldn't work, now all door locks will not lock or unlock with remote or switch. Also will not lock/unlock when put into gear or back into part. Locks move slightly when you push the button but will not fully engage or disengage when manually pushed. No recall data…
Vehicle driver side back door would not unlock using remote control. Cost over $300.00 to have Chevrolet dealer fix. Now in feb 2014 with 7600 miles it started not working on the passenger side back door stop working with remote control. All other locks would open but not the rear door at that time. It appears their…
Fuel system
6 complaints · 6%Half of these problems showed up before 170,000 miles.
1st: back AC/heater turns on by itself.blows only hot air 2nd. Car engine sometimes is hard to start, or won?t start, some times when turning on the ignition will get start as it was still powering on, and when turning off it won?t turn off even if ignition is off. The speedometer/RPM will go to 0 while on freeway.
The contact owns a 2009 Chevrolet Suburban. The contact stated that the vehicle intermittently failed to start after multiple attempts without warning. The contact replaced the ignition switch and the fuel pump; however, the failure persisted. The contact then used a code reader that determined that the engine control…
Steering
3 complaints · 3%While taking 4 children to school in the morning, the dash traction control light started flashing and the engine died. Power steering and breaks were gone and I was left stranded in the middle of a busy intersection. After several frantic minutes, I was able to restart the engine a drive home.
Accelerating in traffic on a three lane road. At approximately 30 MPH, the vehicle power steering, brakes, and acceleration locked up. I could barely turn the wheel and the brake pedal was unresponsive. I could not accelerate at all. I was able to muscle the car into a parking lot and jam on the breaks to coast to a…
Complaints are owner reports to NHTSA, not verified defects. One complaint can name several components, so shares add up to more than 100%.
2009 Chevrolet Suburban recalls
Air bags: inflator module
Risk: An inflator explosion may result in sharp metal fragments striking the driver or other occupants, resulting in serious injury or death.
Fix: Gm will notify owners, and dealers will replace the front passenger air bag inflator with an alternate one, free of charge. Interim letters notifying owners of the safety risk were mailed on february 23, 2021. Second notification letters will be mailed once the remedy is available. Owner notification letters were mailed on september 20, 2021. Owners may contact chevrolet customer service at 1-800-222-1020, cadillac customer service at 1-800-458-8006, and gmc customer service at 1-800-462-8782. Gm's number for this recall is n212328780.
Full defect summary
General motors, llc (gm) is recalling certain 2009 cadillac escalade, escalade esv, escalade ext, chevrolet avalanche, silverado 1500, silverado 2500, silverado 3500, suburban, tahoe, gmc sierra 1500, sierra 2500, sierra 3500, yukon, and yukon xl vehicles originally sold, or ever registered, in the states of arizona, arkansas, delaware, district of columbia, illinois, indiana, kansas, kentucky, maryland, missouri, nebraska, nevada, new jersey, new mexico, north carolina, ohio, oklahoma, pennsylvania, tennessee, virginia, and west virginia or "zone b." additionally, gm is recalling certain 2007-2008 cadillac escalade, escalade esv, and escalade ext, chevrolet avalanche, silverado 1500, suburban, tahoe, gmc sierra 1500, yukon, and yukon xl vehicles originally sold, or ever registered, in the states of alaska, colorado, connecticut, idaho, iowa, maine, massachusetts, michigan, minnesota, mo
Air bags: inflator module
Risk: An inflator explosion may result in sharp metal fragments striking the driver or other occupants, resulting in serious injury or death.
Fix: Gm will notify owners, and dealers will replace the front passenger air bag inflator with an alternate one, free of charge. Interim letters notifying owners of the safety risk were mailed on february 22, 2021. Second notification letters will be mailed once the remedy is available. Owner notification letters were mailed on march 1, 2021. Owners may contact chevrolet customer service at 1-800-222-1020; cadillac customer service at 1-800-458-8006; and gmc customer service at 1-800-462-8782. Gm's number for this recall is n212328760.
Full defect summary
General motors, llc (gm) is recalling certain 2007-2011 cadillac escalade, escalade esv, escalade ext, chevrolet avalanche, silverado 1500, suburban, tahoe, gmc sierra 1500, yukon, yukon xl, and 2009-2011 chevrolet silverado 2500, silverado 3500, gmc sierra 2500 and sierra 3500 vehicles originally sold, or ever registered, in the states of alabama, california, florida, georgia, hawaii, louisiana, mississippi, south carolina, texas, puerto rico, american samoa, guam, the northern mariana islands (saipan), and the u.s. Virgin islands or "zone a." additionally, gm is recalling certain 2007-2008 cadillac escalade, escalade esv, escalade ext, chevrolet avalanche, silverado 1500, suburban, tahoe, gmc sierra 1500, yukon, yukon xl vehicles originally sold, or ever registered, in the states of arizona, arkansas, delaware, district of columbia, illinois, indiana, kansas, kentucky, maryland, missou
Air bags: inflator module
Risk: An inflator explosion may result in sharp metal fragments striking the driver or other occupants, resulting in serious injury or death.
Fix: Gm will notify owners, and dealers will replace the front passenger air bag inflator with an alternate one, free of charge. Interim letters notifying owners of the safety risk were mailed on february 24, 2021. Second notification letters will be mailed once the remedy is available. Owner notification letters were mailed on may 11, 2021. Owners may contact cadillac customer service at 1-800-458-8006; chevrolet customer service at 1-800-222-1020; and gmc customer service at 1-800-462-8782. Gm's number for this recall is n212328790.
Full defect summary
General motors, llc (gm) is recalling certain 2013 cadillac escalade, escalade esv, and escalade ext, chevrolet avalanche, silverado 1500, silverado 2500/3500, suburban, tahoe, gmc sierra 1500, sierra 2500/3500, yukon, and yukon xl vehicles originally sold, or ever registered, in the states of alabama, california, florida, georgia, hawaii, louisiana, mississippi, south carolina, texas, puerto rico, american samoa, guam, the northern mariana islands (saipan), and the u.s. Virgin islands or "zone a." additionally, gm is recalling certain 2010 cadillac escalade, escalade esv, and escalade ext, chevrolet avalanche, silverado 1500, silverado 2500/3500, suburban, tahoe, gmc sierra 1500, sierra 2500/3500, yukon, and yukon xl vehicles originally sold, or ever registered in the states of arizona, arkansas, delaware, district of columbia, illinois, indiana, kansas, kentucky, maryland, missouri, ne
Electrical: electrical system
Risk: It is possible for the heated washer module to ignite and a fire may occur.
Fix: Dealers will permanently disable and remove the heated washer fluid module. An updated page for the owner manual will be provided and inserted in the owner manual to document that the feature has been permanently disabled and removed from the vehicle. The safety recall began on june 11, 2010. Owners may contact buick at 1-866-608-8080, cadillac at 1-866-982-2339, chevrolet at 1-800-630-2438, saturn at 1-800-972-8876, gmc at 1-866-996-9463 and hummer at 1-800-732-5493 or at the owner center at www.gmownercenter.com.
Full defect summary
Gm is recalling certain model year 2006-2009 buick, lucerne; cadillac dts; hummer h2; model year 2008-2009 buick enclave; cadillac cts; model year 2007-2009 cadillac escalade, escalade esv, escalade ext; chevrolet avalanche, silverado, suburban, tahoe; gmc acadia, sierra, yukon, yukon xl; saturn outlook; and model year 2009 chevrolet traverse vehicles equipped with a heated washer fluid system (hwfs). A recall was implemented in 2008 to add a fuse to the control circuit harness to address the potential consequences of a printed circuit board (pcb) electrical short. However, there have been new reports of thermal incidents on hwfs modules after this improvement was installed. These incidents resulted from a new failure mode attributed to the device's thermal protection feature. The significance varies from minor distortion to considerable melting of the plastic around the hwfs fluid chamb
Fuel system: fuel system, gasoline
Risk: Water in the module could cause a short or open circuit, illumination of the service engine soon lamp, setting of diagnostic trouble codes or the engine may be hard to start, may not start or may stall increasing the risk of a crash.
Fix: Dealers will install a new fuel system control module free of charge. The recall began on may 18, 2009. Owners may contact cadillac at 1-866-982-2339, chevrolet at 1-800-630-2438 and gmc at 1-866-996-9463 or at www.gmownercenter.com.
Full defect summary
Gm is recalling 27,188 my 2009 cadillac escalade, escalade hybrid, escalade esv, and escalade ext; chevrolet avalanche, suburban, tahoe, tahoe hybrid, and colorado; and gmc yukon, yukon hybrid, yukon xl, and canyon vehicles. The fuel system control modules may have a condition in which an adhesive separation of the room temperature vulcanizing (rtv) seal between the seal and the housing may allow water to seep into the module.
Recall repairs are free at any franchised dealer. Enter your VIN at nhtsa.gov/recalls to see which recalls are still open on your car.
NHTSA defect investigations
Desiccated air bag inflator rupture
Summary
From 2000 through 2017, takata produced millions of air bag inflators using two types of phase-stabilized ammonium nitrate ("psan") propellant -- propellant 2004 and propellant 2004l. After prolonged exposure to high temperature cycles and humidity, inflators using propellant 2004 can degrade, causing the propellant to burn too quickly when ignited. The rapid burning can cause the inflator to rupture during deployment, potentially causing serious or even fatal injury to vehicle occupants. See 2016 blomquist report at www.NHTSA.gov/sites/NHTSA.gov/files/documents/expert_report-hrblomquist.pdf.consequently, all frontal inflators using propellant 2004 that do not contain a "desiccant" (a substa
Questions about the 2009 Chevrolet Suburban
- What are the most common problems with the 2009 Chevrolet Suburban?
- By NHTSA owner complaints: air bags (38 complaints, typically around 95,000 miles); other or unspecified (23 complaints, typically around 94,000 miles); electrical (16 complaints, typically around 122,000 miles).
- How many recalls does the 2009 Chevrolet Suburban have?
- 5 recalls listed by NHTSA, the latest from February 5, 2021 (air bags). Check your VIN at nhtsa.gov/recalls to see which ones are still open on your car.
- Is the 2009 a bad year for the Chevrolet Suburban?
- It is 18th of 25 Suburban model years by number of complaints, with 106 complaints. Complaint counts are not adjusted for how many cars were sold, so popular years collect more of them, and the newest years have had less time to.