Parking brake doesn't work

Poor design or intentional design flaw of parking brake

My 2001 Tahoe had a problem from the start. The parking brake suddenly went out. Upon inspection the dealer said all newer trucks and SUVs have a separate braking system for the parking brake. If you drive as little as five feet, it will wear out the pad.

This seems like a nice feature for the dealer to make some extra money, since they are the only ones that have the "special" pad used.

A check with National Highway Traffic Safety Administration http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/ does list numerous problems. In once case their truck rolled down a hill and crashed into another car.

The dealer tells me not to use the parking brake. He says the transmision will hold it from going anywhere. Seems like it didn't work for that one reported incident.

There are other postings I have found with basically everyone having this problem. In some states you must have a safety inspection and when they see a Tahoe roll up the inspector immediately is suspect of the brake.

Does anyone elase have this problem? I woudl think if the government doesn't think this is a safety problem there needs to be a calss action suit against GM.

"The dealer tells me not to use the parking brake. He says the transmision will hold it from going anywhere."

I do not have this problem yet but if I heard the statement above from the service people at any of my dealers I would never go there again. Even the owners manual contradicts what you have been told and it is a very good way to damage your automatic transmission.

Check the 01 emergency brake posting and the rear rotor posting.

I have rear drum and rotor problems 2x. GM paid for it the second time -- new brake drums rusted in less than a year -- destroying the emergency brake, one caliper and the disc brake pads as well. The problem is the rear drum is made of a metal that rusts prematurely. The rust causes the emergency brakes to wear and malfunction. Since the disc brake rotor is built onto the inside edge of the drum, it also affects the disc brakes, calipers, etc. I had cracked disc brake pads because of this.

This defect also causes the e-brakes to drag when you drive, making a rubbing sound. You have to stop the caar, reset the brake once or twice to stop the noise.

NB: When the mechanic pointed out the rust, and asked me if I back my truck into lakes in order to launch boats, I almost lost it. I don't own a boat. Luckily the manager was there and contacted GM. This sounds like a "secret warranty".

Another issue:
Has anyone had any issues with front and rear drive gears. Apparently the Auto 4WD feature is not very functional, and wears the gears, causing them to whine, loudly. GM covered a full replacement two years ago (post warranty), Guess what -- the front end is starting to make the same noise again.

I'm getting sick of the defects -- getting a Toyota SUV next. They're bullet proof.

That was one of the other problems my Tahoe had. The front end had bearing problems. Made a rubbing or grinding sound. The dealer said the bearings were out of round. This was repaired jusr before the warranty ran out and saved me $1800. Can GM be proud of this craftsmanship?

Thanks for the info Brian. I'll have that checked too, as well as the gears. Good thing I only haul my kids and occasional luggage around in this thing, and stay on the roads. If it were subjected to any real loads or stress, or run off road, I'd probably have to replace the whole suspension and drive train yearly.