Which parts fail
Components named in complaints (battery, alternator, wiring, ignition, instrument cluster, infotainment).
Mileage when the problem started
Owner reports
Selected complaints filed with NHTSA by 2001 Chevrolet Suburban owners, lightly cleaned up (personal details are redacted by NHTSA).
On March 16, 2017, I was travelling on a mountain highway in northern california in my 2001 Suburban with the driver's seat heater on. I was sitting on a thin seat cushion. Twenty minutes into the 40 minute trip, I turned my seat heater off. Ten or so minutes later, I smelled a horrible rubber/plastic burning smell. When I reached my destination, I lifted my cushion and saw that the seat had a burned hole through the leather and into my seat cushion. It was warm, but I did not see a flame. When I got home in the bay area, I contacted GM, and they opened a case number and told me to take my vehicle to a dealer, and they would investigate. I received a call yesterday from the customer service rep., and she told me that they would not be covering this as my car was out of warranty, in so many words. I asked what the dealer had found, and she couldn't tell me. …
Tl* the contact owns a 2001 Chevrolet Suburban. The contact stated that he noticed smoke emitting from under the hood and after opening the driver side door, he realized that the driver heated seat had caught on fire. The fire department was contacted who filed a report. The vehicle was not taken to the dealer. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure who did not offered any assistance and file a report. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure and current mileage was 190,000.
We have a 2001 Chevrolet Suburban. Starting in September 2003, when the gas level got to 1/2, the gas gauge would drop to empty and the low fuel light would go on, then the light would go off and the gas gauge would go back to 1/2. This happened intermittently. The vehicle was taken to the dealership October 20, 2003. They said they tested, inspected and returned the vehicle to me on October 22, 2003. They said they could not find anything wrong and could not get it to fail again. On October 26, 2003, the same thing happened only the vehicle "shut down" without warning. It could not be re-started and the vehicle had to be towed to a dealership, there they" replaced pcmb fuse blown and fuel system circuit had a short to ground, found wires at module burned. They replaced fuel module, fuel pump relay and fuses". On January 12, 2004, the vehicle again "shut-down" without any warning. …
We noticed that the driver's side mirror of my wife's 2001 tahoe appeared to have a melted place on the bottom of the plastic housing. There was a green/yellow circle in the center of the mirror where it appeared to have gotten to hot. I removed the mirror which was connected by four wires. Two wires went to the heating element and the other two controlled the automatic dimming feature. On the inside of the dimming feature wires there appeared to be black residue. You could clearly see that the molded plastic on the back of the mirror had melted along the outside edge (digital pictures available if needed). I called the dealer and ordered a mirror that only had the heated feature without the dimming effect. I installed this on the logic that I could leave the defective wires disabled. So far everything seems to be working just fine. …
First incident: veh. Would crank but not start. Turned out to be fuel delivery fuse. Replaced, and ran fine for several weeks. Second incident: driving at approx. 55 MPH, vehicle lost power, started sputtering as if out of gas although it was 1/4 full. Unable to exceed 25 MPH due to little/no power. Was towed to autoparts store, cleared codes, veh ran fine for about 2 days, then lost power. Towed home. Looked up info on internet, found recalls for fuel pump. Called local Chevy dealership, inquired about recall, was told that recall was only on half-ton suburbans and since mine is 3/4 ton, it was not covered by recall. I replaced fuel module myself and discovered the covering of the wires inside the fuel module assembly had melted, allowing the bare wires to rub against each other, shorting out the fuel delivery system (which likely caused the blown fuse to begin with). …
2001 Chevy Suburban 1500 electrical from time I bought vehicle radio would reset time to 1:00 (default) for no reason. Dealer replaced radio and problem persisted. Now the radio works some of the time mostly not at all, and the cd player works some of the time. Lights dim often when driving, obviously more noticeable at night and long trips. We had the alternator checked to be sure we didn't get stranded and it was fine. Last week, the low beam lights started working some of the time. When you switch from high to low beams you have no beams, next time you might have low beam. The seat adjustment for person one and two, has lost its memory on a couple occasions so Chevy replace that. I am concerned that this is and electrical problem and going to turn into a fire hazard. I feel like Chevy is only replacing what they can and not really finding the source of the problem. …
Dt: the consumer owns a 2001 Chevrolet Suburban. In October 2004 the vehicle quit. A fuse was replaced at a cost of $137.75. This amount included the towing fee. On 12-07-04, the vehicle experienced the same problem. The consumer had to pay $306.00 to have another fuse replaced. This included diagnostic fees. On 12-14-04, the same problem occurred and the dealer replaced the fuel pump at a cost of $567.55. The contact received recall campaign# 05V155000 concerning the fuel pump about three-four months ago. The dealer and general motors refused to reimburse the consumer for the aforementioned work performed because the recall hadn't occurred. The recall stated that the consumer would be notified on 10-19-05 because the parts were available. The consumer thought that this was a very unusual amount of time for him to wait for reimbursement. (11/22/05)
While driving or idling the electrical system shut down intermittently and caused the vehicle to stall. The vehicle was taken to the dealer, and the dealer replaced the electrical system, but the problem recurred. The dealer still was unable to determine the cause of the problem. The rear floor plastic plate had broken, the left rear window motor was inoperative up and down, the driver's side seat was coming apart by the door, seat track had broken, the right front seat belt shoulder strap sometimes tightened up, there was noise in the rear end had a harmonic vibration, the right second window would not go down, the passenger side seat belt in the front locked up right front retractor locked, the rear passenger side door squeaks really bad, the molding for the rubber coming off, and passenger side front light had come out.
Heated power mirrors with dimming feature has a liquid inside that has turned dirty brown restricting sight rearward. The power switch adjusting the rearview mirrors inop. Cd player inop. Sunroof inop. Sunroof gets stuck inside its rails in open position. Unable to open or close. Engine leaves polls of oil inside my garage approx 1qt. Pr 1000 miles. Just had a catastrophic transmission failure with a very close call accident, loosing 3rd and 4th gear requiring complete rebuild of transmission, drive axle leaking oil. And of course all this happens just out of warranty. This car today costs $ 50,000.- with this trim package. Has only 81000 on odometer. GM this is not good enough, shape up or ship out. This is my 3rd lemon from GM. Do they not make cars that'll last past warranties any more??
My vehicle's "service engine soon" light continues to light up even after having the code erased. Many other owners of Chevrolet suburbans have the same issue. OBD code p0332 states the knock sensor has low voltage. The problem many people have is when water or moisture gets into the engine compartment water begins to pool over the sensor and seep into the sensors. The lacking of water seal in this pooling area damages the sensors. The vehicle thus cannot pass it's bi-yearly smog test and also creates a false sense of vehicle reliability. If other issues come up other than the bad sensors the driver would never know.
Electrical complaints in other Suburban years
Frequently asked questions
How common are electrical problems on the 2001 Chevrolet Suburban?
NHTSA has 30 complaints about the electrical system of the 2001 Chevrolet Suburban, 7% of the model year's 440 complaints. The component named most often is wiring › fuses and circuit breakers (5 mentions).
Is there a recall for 2001 Chevrolet Suburban electrical problems?
No. NHTSA lists no electrical system recall for the 2001 Chevrolet Suburban, though it has 6 recalls for other components. If the problem is widespread, a repair may still be covered by an extended warranty or a manufacturer service bulletin — ask a dealer.
At what mileage do 2001 Chevrolet Suburban electrical problems start?
Half of the complaints with a recorded mileage happened before about 60,000 miles, and 8% before 25,000 miles.
Is it dangerous?
Owners linked 0 crashes, 2 fires and 0 injuries to electrical system problems on this model year. If you notice symptoms, have the car checked before driving further.
Source: U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) — owner complaints through October 20, 2026, recalls and defect investigations; fuel economy from the EPA. Complaints are unverified reports and are not proof of a defect. How we rate model years.