I have an 09 Tahoe Hybrid and have experienced the same brake problem. I live in So Ca. and my brakes have gone out twice on the freeways. Extremely dangerous and tough to stop it in time. I have brought it into the dealer now twice, but it's still not working correctly. Seems to happen more when it rains.

 

Do yourself a favor. File a complaint with BBB and send your Request for Final Attempt to Repair. I have already filed for arbitration today and requesting repurchase. You can do this even if your car is just out of the shop and hasn't recurred. GM will send you to a repair shop of last resort and once you it happens again, you can ask GM to repurchase the vehicle.

The longer you wait, the more it is going to cost you once you decide to exercise your rights. You are lucky that you bought in 2009. If you bought the 09 in 2008, then you will pay about 0.45/mile for usage. That is expensive lease and GM will not hesistate to charge you for it. Acting with good faith with GM does not pay dividends.

My experience with GM has been good throughout the sales and service process but the lemon law part of it really sucks. I don't think GM is concerned about customer service at all. Once you bought the car, you own it. Problems and all.

I was talking with my service advisor today. He told me the GM district manager emphasizes their mantra of "Fix it Right the First Time". He wanted to tell the district manager that they should be more concerned about - "Build It Right the First Time". Truer words have never been spoken.

 

Hey Defender,

Refer to my post in the other thread about making sense of the work order and what they did. Unfortunately, from my experience, a lot of time vehicles are repurchased by GM because they were not fixed properly by the dealer.

Yes, there are exceptions, but if the dealer does things the right way from the start they will usually get GM involved after the second time and work with their AVM to keep you happy and follow proper procedures to "Fix it right the first time." I am not defending the AVM, but all too often dealers try to pass the buck off to GM for building a problem car when, in fact, they are usually the ones who don't know how to properly fix them.

Not to toot my own horn, but we had a great team in our service department and quite often would have vehicles come to us for final attempts after other dealers couldn't fix it. We also had 3 GM Master Techs and training on new products was my pet peve.

 

I hope that is the case because I don't feel safe at all driving it.

I believe the AVM was there during the last attempt because it was already the 5th repair then.

 

With that many repair attempts there should have been a TAC Case (Technical Assistance Center) and by the fifth repair the AVM or TAC should have requested a GM field engineer to come to the dealer. Quite often the AVM has NO technical knowledge or any service background. I know that sounds crazy, but there job is to manage the warranty policies and warranty claims, not really do technical stuff. Most of the time they just break the service manager's ***** for spending too much of GM's money, but that is their job

 

I did ask the service manager if he has met the AVM that was handing my case. He told me exactly the same thing you said - They are only around to remind them not to spend too much of GM's money. That's when the comment of the Fix it Once came out.

 

I'm Terry Rhadigan from Chevrolet Communications. Thank you for buying a Tahoe Hybrid. We truly appreciate your business. I'm sorry to hear about the concern you've had with your vehicle. I did some checking and found that your vehicle may be in need of a software upgrade, so I encourage you to take it to your Chevy dealer so they can run a quick diagnostic check on it. Thanks again.

 

Terry,
I've had a full firmware update for all computers 2 weeks after I purchased the vehicle. The firmware updated required I leave the vehicle overnight. Since then it has been in the shop 6 more times. The 6th time was after the final repair attempt and they told they think they have updated the firmware once again and fixed it but cannot guarantee. This week, I saw a "STABILITRAK OFF" message. It did not last long enough for me to either take a picture or get a CEL. Called my dealer and they asked if I accidentally hit the TCS button. So I tried cycling my TCS button and I saw TRACTION CONTROL OFF. So until now, I don't know what triggered the STABILITRAK OFF message. All I know is the last I saw it was before the 6th repair. The following day, the vehicle seems to be OK. The day after that, I lost power assist on my brakes again. I have a feeling this is not a simple battery or firmware issue but a ghost in the code.
Now, I'm afraid to put my entire family in the vehicle. I'm seeing images of my Tahoe wrapped around a tree. Trust me GM, if you want to promote your Hybrids and your Volts as green vehicles, this is no way to show that it can potentially become a real TREEHUGGER.

 

...no, you just charge the pitcher's mound without first being hit.

Prior to reading your reply to this post, I hadn't posted anything even remotely negative. Your reply did nothing more than offend someone who is new to the forum; It wasn't helpful, and it definitely wasn't EMPATHETIC.

 

I own a 2008 Tahoe Hybrid and just came home to the airport from a business trip. The truck was completely dead. After a jump start (following the manual’s instructions), I let the truck run for a bit in place and then as I put it in gear, I too got the Stabilitrack, Brakes, ABS, and check engine lights all illuminated. I was traveling at less than 5 mph, but went to brake to pull into a parking spot.

No brakes, no vacuum assist, no nothing. I sat in the spot wondering what to do next. I let the truck run for a bit, turned it off, waited, then re-started it (it had enough juice to restart at this point) and all lights were now off, but the check engine light was on. Pushed OnStar and they indicated while it may be OK to drive as long as I had braking, that they were showing Stabilitrack, ABS, and a general fault code and to get to a dealer as soon as convenient. I took the truck in yesterday morning and after 8 hours on the phone with GM Engineering, they do not know what is wrong.

They have a video conference with GM techs on Monday where they will hook up the truck to the dealership service systems and be able to transmit data to GM Engineering. Not good and I am not sure if I feel safe, now knowing that brakes could fail at any time…I will keep everyone posted…

Until then, I am in a nice Impala loaner vehicle.