WHILE DRIVING ON THE FREEWAY, MY AUTO PARK BRAKE FAILED AND BURNED UP BUT THERE WAS NO FIRE. IT HAPPENED TWICE WITHIN 2000 MILES OF EACH OTHER. I WAS LEFT WITH NO PARKING BRAKE OR STOPPING ON A HILL AND EXITING THE VEHICLE WITHOUT THE VEHICLE ROLLING. THE FIRST REPAIR WAS DONE AT A CHEVROLET DEARLER THAT ONLY REPLACED A PREASURE SWITCH. THE SECOND REPAIR WAS AFTER THE FIRST TIME THE BRAKE BURNED UP. THE BRAKE AND VARIOUS OTHER PARKS WERE REPLACED. THE THIRD REPAIR WAS DONE BY THE SAME FACILITY THAT REPLACED THE BRAKE EARLIER AFTER THE SECOND PARK BRAKE BURNED UP. THE FOURTH REPAIR CAME AFTER I LEFT THE SHOP AND HAD DRIVEN 20 MILES AND THE PROBLEM REACCURED. THE FIFTH REPAIR OCCURED ONE DAY LATER AND THE PROBLEM RETURNED AND WAS CORRECTED BY A GM FACILITY IN BAKERSFIELD, CA. THIS COULD HAVE BEEN A SERIOUS PROBLEM IF I HAD NEEDED TO EXIT THE VEHICLE IN A HURRY ON ANY KIND OF INCLINE. I HAVE SPENT ALMOST $3,000 TO FIND SOMEONE THAT KNEW ANYTHING ABOUT THIS SITUATION. ONE TOW TRUCK DRIVER WHO TOWED ME SAID HE HAD OTHERS WITH SIMILAR PROBLEMS WITH THE AUTO PARK BRAKE. ALSO, THE GM DEALER THAT GOT THE JOB DONE RIGHT HAD SEEN SOMONE THE WEEK BEFORE BUT THAT HE ONLY DISCONECTED THE DRIVE LINE AND RECONNECTED IT TO GIVE A TEMPORARY FIX. HE DID NOT SEE THAT VEHICLE AGAIN.
1998 Chevrolet P Series
Owners filed 2 complaints about this vehicle with federal regulators, most often about the power train › automatic transmission. No safety recall has been issued.
| Component | Reports | Crashes | Fires | Injuries | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Power Train › Automatic Transmission | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Parking Brake › Indicator Light | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
What owners reported
Newest filingsTRANSMISSION DOES NOT HAVE A SECOND GEAR HOLDING POSITION . THIS IS CAUSING THE BRAKES TO FADE. MANUFACTURER HAS BEEN NOTIFIED.*AK
2 of 2 complaints, reproduced as filed.
Reading this record
No unusual pattern of severe incidents in the complaint record.
Complaint counts track how many cars were sold and how long they have been on the road as much as they track quality. A common model from 2013 has had a decade to accumulate reports; a rare one from last year has not. The signal worth weighing is in the severity columns, in whether the same component keeps appearing, and in whether the manufacturer eventually opened a recall for it.
Most recent recall on file: none. Source: NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation.