Welcome, and thanks also to CPMS for his comment. I'm sure everyone has the occaisonal DOH! moment on a message board; nobody's perfect. But other boards will pile on when you try to do the right thing and own up to it. At that point I'll walk away; nothing you post from that point forward is going to have any positive effect. This board is pretty cool and the responses were very rational. So it's worth the effort to stay around.

 

Well good job everyone. We have a great team to draw experience from. I sure have learned a lot on this forum, Thank You!!!!

 

The first post was not to get anyone wound up, but more of a PSA. There are many stories similar to mine all over the internet. I would be willing to send copies of the original repairs (or lack of) to anyone interested.

My intent is not to say Chevy/GM or any dealership is intentionally out to hurt anyone, but there is an obvious problem that is not being addressed...failing brakes. Sugar-coat it however you want...loss of power assist, regenerative braking issue, it doesn't really matter...the fact is brakes are failing...and not just once.

In my minimal exposure to the English language I have found that failure is defined as: to fall short of success or achievement in something expected, attempted, desired, or approved (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/failed). I attempted to stop a vehicle with the brakes and it failed to stop as it should have. I believe that would be “falling short” of an expectation.

IF I would have been approaching a "T" intersection or approaching stopped traffic I would have probably killed someone or have been killed myself. I completely understand that an auto-maker would place ridiculous comments in forums like this to save their product, but the fact remains is that there is a flaw somewhere and the public deserves to hear about it...and an auto-maker has an obligation to resolve it.

Nothing was posted to have you walk away thinking that all Tahoe Hybrids are bad, but it appears there are some obvious issues. If it were your children involved in a crash due to lack of knowledge you would want the information published.

http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/che...brake-failure/

 

I am in the process of creating a Google site to post the information that I have found in my research along with other stories and pictures of the dash upon brake failure. I should have this complete by the end of the week.

 

but make sure that they all don't point back to the same thing in the end.

 

Well, I followed Trock55's links, feeling we unjustly gave him a bad time. The links all point back to the one thread on this site, and that thread is suspect.
So, I'll take the wait-and-see approach on this. Seeing as the forum appears to be the defacto "official Tahoe/Yukon/Escalade Hybrid forum", one would expect more than a couple of posts about brake-assist failures.
Trock55, good to see you handle yourself in a respectful and professional manner. Please enlighten us with facts and without hearsay.

 

this guy bought a vehicle he HAD to get for what ever reasons, not unlike guys who buy Aston Martins (lovely car but about as reliable as a broken watch) He has probably gone through a bunch of cars for the same reason. After buying it he didn't bother to learn how to drive it and typically just mashed the gas to go. and low and behold it doesn't get any better mileage than a regular one so now hes mad. 'lets see how can i get rid of this car and get my next "dream" car...I know I'll complain about stuff till GM buys it back.' Well crap they went bankrupt so now all my peers are laughing at me for buying this thing.

Now I'm not saying this is what happened but it is an example of how this could happen (try it and you will see what I mean)

1. start the car with the remote start
2. get in the car
3. put the key in the ignition but only turn it to the RUN position (steering wheel unlock) instead of turning it through the start position.
4. drive off -steering unlocked -car running fine
5. go a short distance and low and behold the engine "stalls" out because you never turned the key through the start cycle. [Its supposed to shut down if you start it remotely then don't go through the proper drive sequence.]
6. wow the brakes don't work (well I'm not strong enough to push hard on the pedal anyway.)
7. complain to dealer that brakes failed
8. repeat as needed.

options:
actually do this and then crash into something to prove your car is defective.

the NHTSB would be all over this kind of failure and guess what...there is nothing to validate a problem.

why did I buy this maligned hybrid? simple----reduced carbon footprint. I don't expect to get much over 20 MPG average but if I'm sitting at a stop light my engine is OFF while everyone else around me is idling. I like that! Could I have gotten something more efficient--yes...but have you ever tried to tow an L-39 with a prius? talk about getting laughed off the runway, not to mention hauling flight gear and fire bottles and.....well you get the idea, and wheezing along the interstate at 65 or less to get better mileage is not my idea of a valued use of your time.
Top gear recently did a challenge where they pitted a prius against a BMW M3 series. They drove around their track at a set speed and the BMW got something like 20% BETTER mileage than the prius...enough said.

would I have built it differently---yes slightly.

they eliminated the spare....and then put some great big resonator in its place. Well instead of doing that why not put more batteries in the space EXTENDING the battery only operating distance and/or let the car go up to 40 mph on batteries rather than 30 mph since the average speed limits on the streets where I live is 35.
oh and....put the BMW navigation system in it.....and that really is about it. any other changes I would mare are personal choice things.



oh and FIGHTER PILOTS NEVER BACK DOWN FROM A SKIRMISH!

 

Hey, say what you will, just leave the Astons out of it!

 

you know I am right---don't get me wrong, if offered one for free I would gladly take it, but.....mostly to park in my garden and look at like a piece of sculpture!

 

Don't Astons have Lucas electrical systems? "The prince of darkness".

You know why Europeans drink warm beer?

Lucas refrigerators.

Sorry guys. Just had to pile on.

Trock. Find another dealer and read those other people's solutions. You are'nt the first with a brake issue.