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2013 Chevrolet Tahoe Problems and Recalls
Owners filed 233 complaints with NHTSA about the 2013 Chevrolet Tahoe, most often about the other or unspecified (52% of complaints, typically around 58,500 miles). It is 15th of 27 Tahoe model years by number of complaints and has 4 recalls.
Most common 2013 Chevrolet Tahoe problems
Other or unspecified
122 complaints · 52%Half of these problems showed up before 58,500 miles.
Cracked dashboard. My Tahoe is always in a garage at work and at home. It is barely 3 years old. Dealership will not help or replace. The crack is connected to the front passenger airbag. It looks horrible.
Dash cracked from corner of airbag to top of dash. Vehicle stays in garage other than when driven to work. Was stationary when crack was seen.
Body and structure
56 complaints · 24%Half of these problems showed up before 70,000 miles. Parts named most often: body, interior panels.
Dashboard has cracked above the passenger airbag and above the instrument cluster on the driver's side. It is unknown if the vehicle was parked or moving at the moment the cracks occurred. Nothing has ever been placed on the dashboard that could cause the cracks.
Dashboard is cracking. Only 3 years old, 70000 miles when noticed. Never had a vehicle do this before. The crack today is on the dash at the top right corner of the passenger airbag
Air bags
51 complaints · 22%Half of these problems showed up before 55,500 miles.
This vehicle has 55,680 miles and the upper left corner next to the passenger side air bag is cracked. Because of this dash crack, the air bag cover is lifted. Chevy won't do anything about it because it's out of warranty. Well, this is a major safety issue not to mention there have been thousands of complaint of…
Takata recall. While my Tahoe was in a repair shop to have the new air bag control module reprogrammed, the side curtain air bags deployed. . In addition, I noticed the deployed side air bags do not cover the front driver's or passenger side windows. Therefore, it appears to be only a partial deployment or a defective…
Electrical
17 complaints · 7%Half of these problems showed up before 90,000 miles. Parts named most often: instrument panel.
While driving around 60 MPH the car does a massive shake. Check engine light comes on, stabilization turns off, traction controls turns off and engine power is reduced first to 10mph and could not get more than 30mph. I was almost hit by an 18 wheeler due to my sudden stop. The SUV is now in engine power reduced mode.
While driving car started sputtering, check engine light came on, Tahoe stopped running and stalled out. Took to local shop to check the check engine code - fuel pump flow control module
Engine
13 complaints · 6%Half of these problems showed up before 99,500 miles.
While driving vehicle continues to drop into reduced power mode causing a jarring motion as it drops a significant amount of speed,almost causing multiple accidents. The check engine light comes on, traction control turns off, stabillitrack turns off, and engine goes into limp mode and starts shaking and jarring. The…
The contact owns a 2013 Chevrolet Tahoe. The contact stated that the vehicle was consuming an excessive amount of engine oil, without warning. The vehicle was not taken to be diagnosed nor repaired. The contact called autonation Chevrolet south corpus christi (6650 s padre island dr, corpus christi, tx 78412) where he…
Transmission
9 complaints · 4%Half of these problems showed up before 38,000 miles.
Vehicle placed in park with engine running, approximately 5 to 10 minutes passed vehicle began to roll forward hitting side of building causing damage to front driver side bumper.
Transmission drops out of gear when starting up and transmission is cold. This is especially frequent when going up a grade no matter how slight. Sometimes the problem is so severe that it chirps the tires. Basically the vehicle stops until the transmission re-engages. The problem has been occurring for as long as I…
Stability control
8 complaints · 3%Half of these problems showed up before 94,000 miles.
While driving around 60 MPH the car does a massive shake. Check engine light comes on, stabilization turns off, traction controls turns off and engine power is reduced first to 10mph and could not get more than 30mph. I was almost hit by an 18 wheeler due to my sudden stop. The SUV is now in engine power reduced mode.
My traction and stabilitrak system will have random alerts that will go on and off for no reason. My dash has also cracked by front passenger airbag and my front driver's side and now makes cracking noises at times and now rattles when driving.
Speed control
7 complaints · 3%While driving the speedometer is showing 0 on both the digital display and analog needle display. Also it is showing that the vehicle is in park. Only by pulling over and starting the car up again (~5 minutes), the problem goes away.
The contact owns a 2013 Chevrolet Tahoe. While driving 40 MPH, the vehicle hesitated and lost power as if it would stall without warning. The air bag light illuminated and the vehicle did not respond when the accelerator pedal was depressed. The contact also stated that the radio powered on and off. The doors locked…
Complaints are owner reports to NHTSA, not verified defects. One complaint can name several components, so shares add up to more than 100%.
2013 Chevrolet Tahoe 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 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
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 25, 2021. Second notification letters will be mailed once the remedy is available. Owner notification letters were mailed to 40 VIN owners on may 11, 2021. A second owner notification letter was mailed to all other owners on january 24, 2022. 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'
Full defect summary
General motors, llc (gm) is recalling certain 2014 cadillac escalade, escalade esv, chevrolet silverado 2500, silverado 3500, suburban, tahoe, gmc sierra 2500, sierra 3500, yukon, and yukon xl vehicles originally sold, or ever registered, in the states of al, ca, fl, ga, hi, la, ms, sc, tx, pr, as, gu, the mp, and vi or "zone a." additionally gm is recalling certain 2011-2014 cadillac escalade, escalade esv, chevrolet silverado 2500, silverado 3500, suburban, tahoe, gmc sierra 2500, sierra 3500, yukon, yukon xl and 2011-2013 cadillac escalade ext, chevrolet avalanche, silverado 1500, and gmc sierra 1500 vehicles originally sold, or ever registered, in the states of az, ar, de, dc, il, in, ks, ky, md, mo, ne, nv, nj, nm, nc, oh, ok, pa, tn, va, and wv or "zone b." additionally, gm is recalling certain 2010-2014 cadillac escalade, escalade esv, chevrolet silverado 2500, silverado 3500, sub
Electrical: electrical system
Risk: If the module experiences an electrical short, the vehicle could stall, increasing the risk of a crash.
Fix: Gm will notify owners, and dealers will replace the chassis electronic module, free of charge. The recall began on december 26, 2014. Owners may contact gm customer service at 1-800-521-7300 (buick), 1-800-458-006 (cadillac), 1-800-222-1020 (chevrolet), and 1-800-462-8782 (gmc). Gmâs number for this recall is 14515.
Full defect summary
General motors llc (gm) is recalling certain model year 2013-2014 cadillac cts, escalade, escalade esv, chevrolet suburban, tahoe, gmc yukon, and yukon xl, and 2014 buick enclave, chevrolet express, impala, silverado hd, traverse, gmc acadia, savana, and sierra hd vehicles. In the affected vehicles, the chassis electronic module may be internally contaminated, resulting in an electrical short.
Transmission: automatic transmission
Risk: As a result, the vehicle may shift from park with the ignition key removed or the ignition key in the off position. The vehicle may also shift out of park without application of the brake pedal while the key is off. Either of these scenarios may cause the vehicle to roll away after the driver has exited the vehicle, resulting in a possible vehicle crash and/or injury.
Fix: Gm will notify owners, and dealers will inspect the affected vehicles and replace the steering column as necessary, free of charge. The recall began on january 21, 2013. Chevrolet owners may call 1-800-630-2438. Cadillac owners may call 1-866-982-2339. Gmc owners may call 1-866-996-9463.
Full defect summary
General motors (gm) is recalling certain model year 2013 cadillac escalade, escalade esv, and escalade ext; chevrolet avalanche, express, silverado hd, silverado ld, suburban, and tahoe; and gmc savana, sierra hd, sierra ld, yukon, and yukon xl vehicles, manufactured between november 7, 2012, through december 18, 2012, for failing to comply with the requirements of federal motor vehicle safety standard (fmvss) no. 102, "transmission shift lever sequence, starter interlock, and transmission braking effect", and fmvss no. 114, "theft protection and rollaway prevention." the vehicles may have been built with a fractured park lock cable or a malformed steering column lock actuator gear in the lock module assembly.
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 2013 Chevrolet Tahoe
- What are the most common problems with the 2013 Chevrolet Tahoe?
- By NHTSA owner complaints: other or unspecified (122 complaints, typically around 58,500 miles); body and structure (56 complaints, typically around 70,000 miles); air bags (51 complaints, typically around 55,500 miles).
- How many recalls does the 2013 Chevrolet Tahoe have?
- 4 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 2013 a bad year for the Chevrolet Tahoe?
- It is 15th of 27 Tahoe model years by number of complaints, with 233 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.