2005 Chevrolet Tahoe
This year drew an ordinary 292 complaints for a Chevrolet Tahoe — the model's median is 180. What they were about is the unusual part: 29.1% of them mention speedometer, against 6.8% across the model's other years.
NHTSA opened a defect investigation into this model year.
| Complaints filed | 292 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 180 |
| Involving a crash | 9 |
| Involving a fire | 14 |
| Recalls | 7 |
| EPA combined | 15 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- speedometer — 29.1% of this year's complaints, against 6.8% across the model's other years (4.3×). Owners wrote it as: speedometer, tahoe speedometer, shows, erratic.
- gauge — 11.6% of this year's complaints, against 2.4% across the model's other years (4.9×). Owners wrote it as: gauge, fuel gauge, reading, malfunctioning.
- cluster — 11.6% of this year's complaints, against 3.8% across the model's other years (3×). Owners wrote it as: cluster, instrument, instrument cluster, known problem.
Words owners used for the same problem are counted together, so a fault written four different ways is measured once. Grouped by which complaints they appear in, not by a list anyone wrote in advance.
What owners wrote
ALL OF THE INSTRUMENT PANEL GAUGES WERE DEFECTIVE AND DID NOT PROVIDE AN ACCURATE READING. THE VEHICLE WAS TAKEN TO THE DEALER WHO CONFIRMED THE FAILURE AND ADVISED THAT THE INSTRUMENT CLUSTER NEEDED TO BE REPLACED. THE [VIN] WAS NOT MADE AWARE OF THE FAILURE…
ALL THE GAUGES ON MY DASHBOARD QUIT WORKING ALL AT ONCE EXCEPT MY FUEL GAUGE AND SPEEDOMETER. THERE ARE LOTS OF COMPLAINTS ON THIS AND GM NEEDS TO ISSUE A RECALL AND FIX THIS.
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 14V070000 ELECTRICAL SYSTEM Fixed free of charge.
- 05V103000 SERVICE BRAKES, HYDRAULIC Fixed free of charge.
- 05V055000 POWER TRAIN Fixed free of charge.
- 05V163000 SEAT BELTS Fixed free of charge.
- 06E043000 FUEL SYSTEM, GASOLINE Fixed free of charge.
- 07E106000 WHEELS Fixed free of charge.
- 06V417000 AIR BAGS
How this was worked out
Every year of the Chevrolet Tahoe was compared against its own history rather than against other cars, which removes popularity and age from the answer — a common car draws more complaints at equal reliability, and an older one has had longer to accumulate them. A year is flagged when it drew at least 2.5× this model's median and at least 50 complaints.
This is a fault record, not a review. Nobody files a federal complaint to say the car was fine, so it shows what tends to go wrong — not whether owners liked it, and not whether it is a good car.
Source: NHTSA complaints, recalls and investigations, retrieved . Look this vehicle up directly on NHTSA's site to check anything here.
Own a 2005 Chevrolet Tahoe? What happened to yours?
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