Model years Chevrolet Trailblazer
2005 Chevrolet Trailblazer
Complaints about this year name gauge far more often than the model's other years — 41% of them, about 103× the usual rate of 0.4%.
NHTSA opened a defect investigation into this model year.
| Complaints filed | 1,734 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 62 |
| Involving a crash | 70 |
| Involving a fire | 27 |
| Recalls | 2 |
| EPA combined | 16 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- gauge — 41.2% of this year's complaints, against 1.8% across the model's other years (22.7×).
- fuel — 36.3% of this year's complaints, against 4.4% across the model's other years (8.2×).
- speedometer — 27.4% of this year's complaints, against 1.6% across the model's other years (16.7×). Owners wrote it as: speedometer, fast, how fast, zero.
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.
Also unusual this year
- fuel — 36% of complaints, 19× usual
- speedometer — 26% of complaints, 65× usual
- fuel gauge — 22% of complaints, 56× usual
What owners wrote
THE CONTACT NOTICED THE FUEL GAUGE STOPPED FUNCTIONING. THE VEHICLE WAS TAKEN TO THE DEALER WHERE A TECHNICIAN STATED THE FUEL ASSEMBLY INSIDE THE FUEL TANK NEEDED TO BE REPLACED. THERE WAS AN OPEN INVESTIGATION, NHTSA ACTION NUMBER DP10001(FUEL SYSTEM, GASOLI…
WHILE DRIVING VARIOUS SPEEDS THE INSTRUMENT CLUSTER SUDDENLY FAILED. THE FUEL GAUGE DISPLAYED THAT THE TANK WAS EMPTY WHEN THE CONTACT ADDED FUEL TO ITS CAPACITY. THE SPEEDOMETER WOULD ALSO DISPLAY THAT SHE WAS DRIVING AT HIGHER SPEEDS THAN NORMAL. THE VEHICLE…
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 05V035000 VISIBILITY Fixed free of charge.
- 06V417000 AIR BAGS
How this was worked out
Every year of the Chevrolet Trailblazer 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 Trailblazer? What happened to yours?
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