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Vehicle safety record

2001 Chevrolet Astro Problems, complaints & recalls

Owners have filed 96 complaints about the 2001 Chevrolet Astro with NHTSA, most often about the brakes (35) and the lights (19). Those complaints describe 10 crashes, 1 fire and 4 injuries. It is covered by 3 recalls, the latest in May 2006 for the fuel system, gasoline. For comparison, the 2000 has 186 and the 2002 has 82.

NHTSA data checked

CAbout as many problems as a typical Astro year, for its age

#94 most complained-about 2001 vehicle

Complaints
96
Recalls
3
Crashes
10
Fires
1
Injuries
4
Deaths
0

Most common 2001 Chevrolet Astro problems

Share of all 96 complaints. One complaint can name more than one area. Tap an area for its complaints and recalls.

2001 Chevrolet Astro recalls 3

Recall repairs are free. Your dealer fixes them whether or not you bought the car there - check your VIN at nhtsa.gov/recalls to see if yours is done. What to do

Fuel system

06E04300088,303 vehicles affected

The problem
Certain replacement fuel filters, fram brand name p/n g3727, with date codes x52911 through x60801 sequentially or x600141 and a mexico country or origin marking on the fuel filter housing manufactured from october 18, 2005, through march 21, 2006, sold for use on the vehicles listed above and on certain school buses. (To see the school bus engine sizes, click on "document search" and then "bus applications"). The connector on the fuel filter was not manufactured to honeywell's specification. As a result, the o-ring may not seat correctly on the fuel line.
The risk
This condition may cause an inadequate seal at the connection, potentially leading to a fuel leak. In the presence of an ignition source, a fire could occur.
The fix
Honeywell will notify owners and replace the fuel filters free of charge. The recall began on october 18, 2006. Owners may contact fram customer service at 1-800-890-2075 (option 1).

Exterior lighting

06E02600061,944 vehicles affected

The problem
Certain pro-a motors corner lamps, turn signals, and headlights sold as replacement lamps for use on certain passenger vehicles listed above. Some combination lamps that are not equipped with amber side reflectors fail to conform to federal motor vehicle safety standard no. 108, Lamps, reflective devices, and associated equipment.
The risk
Without the amber reflectors, the vehicle will be poorly illuminated, possibly resulting in a vehicle crash without warning.
The fix
Pro-a motors will notify owners and offer to repurchase the lamps. The recall began on april 3, 2006. Owners may contact pro-a motors at 323-838-2988.

Exterior lighting: switch

05V09900077,055 vehicles affected

The problem
On certain minivans, the multifunction switch may develop an open circuit condition in the stop lamp or hazard lamp circuit that results in the stop lamps and hazard lamps being inoperative.
The risk
The loss of stop lamps and rear hazard lamps could fail to warn a following driver that the vehicle is braking and/or is stopped and could lead to a vehicle crash.
The fix
Dealers will replace the hazard warning flasher switch and apply special grease to the contacts at the time of installation of the module free of charge. The repair would be used in vehicles in which the hazard slider button is still movable. If a vehicle has a hazard slider button that is not movable (frozen), the entire multifunction switch will be replaced. The recall began on april 13, 2005. Owners may contact chevrolet at 1-800-630-2438 or gmc at 1-866-996-9463.

What owners say

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96 complaints about the 2001 Chevrolet Astro

Newest first, as filed with NHTSA by owners. Page 1 of 4.

Fuel system

Van will not pass smog. The very last time I drove it, I was driving it on a city street and it just died out. I've spent hundreds of dollars to have it fixed and itstill isn't fixed to pass smog. A shop said my fuel injection spider system is bad.

Filed Incident Fuel / propulsion systemNHTSA 10806234
Electrical systemBrakes

I am a licensed car dealer. I am very concerned at what I am seeing with my customers, with cars I see at the auctions, and with blog sites on the internet concerning chevy's ebcm computer module. At the auctions I am seeing at least 25% of chevrolets and about 10% of fords coming through with brake and abs lights on. My main concern is with the chevy's ebcm. These very expensive units fail at the relay point on the printed circuit boards due to bad solder joints from the factory. When they fail, the driver gets a...

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brake light and an abs indicator light on the dash. The brakes still work on the car, but they don't work as designed. In fact the driver gets a false sense of security because his car is stopping, but in a slippery situation it will not stop as designed. When I went to the internet for ideas to fix the problem, I am finding a lot of postings saying just take the bulb out of the dash! I am also seeing ads on e bay where you can send your ebcm to a repair station, they take it apart, and re solder the joints for $49. I called the chevy dealer and they want over $1000 to fix the problem! I have heard of people selling their vehicle as is and telling the buyer that it's ok. The brakes work. I can't get the light to shut off! This is a very dangerous situation and it will become more dangerous as more and more cars are driving with inoperative ebcm computers. It looks like the defect comes from having the computer directly attached to the frames near the transmission and they are taking all the shock and vibration in that area. I am asking the government to look into this problem and issue a recall notice for defective ebcm computers. I also feel this problem is far worse than the dodge clock spring recall, and that effected all dodge vehicles. This braking problem we are seeing is bad enough that it may cause a large loss of life. *Tr

Filed Incident Electrical system · Service brakesNHTSA 10637686
Seats & seat belts

Tl* the owns a 2001 chevrolet astro van. The contact stated that while driving at an unknown speed, the driver's and passenger's safety belts would unlatch independently. The vehicle had not been repaired or diagnosed. The manufacturer had not been notified. The approximate failure mileage was 162,732.

Filed Incident Seat beltsNHTSA 10628551
Brakes

Brake and abs lights come on intermittently, I had the code pulled at the auto parts store, it is the electronic abs control module and upon googling "chevrolet brake abs lights" it came to my attention that their appears to be thousands of vehicles with faulty abs electronic modules which prevents the abs function from working. *Tr

Filed Incident Service brakesNHTSA 10536053
Brakes

Going to stop at a slow speed engages abs , causing van to not stop unless breakers were slammed on hard and hops of stopping! *Tr

Filed Incident Service brakesNHTSA 10534307
BrakesCrash

While pulling into a driveway at lowspeed I applied the brakes. The abs light came on and all braking power was lost. My vehicle struck the one infront of me. I have been able to duplicate this low speed loss of braking. *Tr

Filed Incident Service brakesNHTSA 10485956
Electrical systemFire

After approx. One week of oper. Of my 2001 chevy astro a fire occurred that would have resulted in a total loss of the vehicle and contents if I had not been close by. After driving my vehicle for approx. 20 Miles and parking it my van caught fire after being shut off for 15 minutes. The vehicles positive and negative battery cables were run from the battery to the engine dangerously close to the steering linkage where it passes the engine support structure. If the vehicle is jacked up to the point where the tire...

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is still touching the ground and the steering wheel is turned half way to the left the passenger side inner tie rod end is rubbing into the positive and negative battery cables which are in a common harness.If the suspension is moving up and down on a bumpy road while the wheel is turned to the left direct contact between the steering linkage and the battery cables will cause repeated damage over time resulting in an eventual fire.If this fire occurred while on the highway people could have been hurt. If this had happened last night while my van was parked in front of my house the 7 people including two small children living here could have died from fire caused by very poor engineering. If you can jack up a vehicle and cause a movable part of the vehicles suspension or steering to come into direct contact with the positive battery cable the vehicles engineers were negligent. Also having both battery cables in the same harness is not a very good idea either my vehicle to the best of my knowledge has never been in an accident or had any major repair work done. This issue should be a safety recall. If you have not had a reported death from this issue yet it is only a matter of time. My first vehicle was a gm and I suspect my last will be, but gm has to answer for this act of stupidity. I have pictures I can email that show just how obvious this flaw is. *Tr

Filed Incident Electrical systemNHTSA 10460092
SteeringBrakes

Tl*the contact owns a 2001 chevrolet astro van. While traveling 5 mph, the contact noticed that the brakes would no longer engage and that the steering wheel had become difficult to turn. The vehicle had not been inspected or repaired. The current and failure mileages were approximately 160,000.

Filed Incident Steering · Service brakes, hydraulicNHTSA 10361105
Steering

Tl*the contact owns a 2001 chevrolet corvette. The contact stated that he took the vehicle in for recall nhtsa campaign id number: 04v060000 component: steering:column locking:anti-theft device. The vehicle was serviced for this recall in 2008 and now the failure has recurred. The contact stated that this is a safety issue due to the fact that the remedy for a safety issue failed creating the same safety condition. The failure and current mileages were 27,000. Updated 12/22/10. *Lj

Filed Incident SteeringNHTSA 10353602
Brakes

ABS AND BRAKE LIGHT COMES ON WHILE DRIVING. *TR

Filed Incident Service brakes, electricNHTSA 10328176
Engine & cooling

Tl* the contact owns a 2001 chevrolet astro van. During brake application, the vehicle would stall without warning. The vehicle has not been diagnosed. The current and failure mileages were 152000.

Filed Incident Engine and engine coolingNHTSA 10296201
Brakes

2001 Chevy astro van abs system . I have replaced every part and still have problems. I understand that this is a constant problem of this van. I think they should recall these vans before something bad happens. *Tr

Filed Incident Service brakes, hydraulicNHTSA 10288816
Wheels & tires

Noticed my tire losing air and have to fill it. Upon filling, I saw a split in the tire and silver metal showing through. The tire is splitting on the sidewall and yet I have lots of tread left on the tire. All the other tires are showing a "ring" of deterioration as well. Yet they all have significant tread left on them. We were told the tires were new when we purchased the vehicle in fall 2005. *Tr

Filed Incident TiresNHTSA 10283979
Transmission & drivetrain

Transmission, put van in gear and sometimes it does not engage. Finally vehicle makes a loud pop and jumps while foot on the gas. *Tr

Filed Incident Power trainNHTSA 10266274
Body, doors & structure

Tl*the contact owns a 2001 chevrolet astro. The contact stated that the exterior rear door handle failed without warning. It was difficult to open the door. The vehicle was taken to an authorized dealer for inspection and they replaced the rear door handle and mechanism. The failure recurred, but the vehicle has not been repaired again. The failure mileage was 34,000 and current mileage was 135,000. Updated 02/05/09 *bf updated 02/06/09. (Jb

Filed Incident Latches / locks / linkagesNHTSA 10253169
Fuel systemEquipment & accessories

I was driving down route 130 and the car just died so it was towed april 2008 and the fuel pump went in the car which cost 800.00 On july 6,2008 I was on my was to ewing twsp and the car died again it was towed and the fuel pump went again in the car. *Tr

Filed Incident Fuel system, gasoline · EquipmentNHTSA 10233794
Fuel system

A year and a half ago there as a loss of power and an engine miss. A fuel system cleaning in a shop cleared this up. Then at the end of december the van would no start. We had it towed to our local meineke. It was determined the sequential central port injector had failed. This is a documented problem for a defective part. I wrote a letter to gm to ask for reimbursement. They refused because I did not go to a dealership. And meinke used an after market part. *Tr

Filed Incident Fuel system, gasolineNHTSA 10217768
Brakes

Abs system activates at slow speeds causing increased stopping distance. This issue is sporadic, and appears to happen more often in cool or humid climate conditions. *Tr

Filed Incident Service brakes, hydraulicNHTSA 10207272
BrakesLightsCrash

1) Noticed that my brakes would "pressurize" when coming to a stop as if the anti-lock brakes were activating. I've experienced normal activation before on ice, snow, and loose gravel so I knew what it was doing. It began happening a lot so I took it to the dealer (basil chevrolet, wellsville, ny) on 9/24/07. They replaced the rotors, pads and told me "road test ok...On road test did experience antilock problem. Only once felt - unable to verify". 2) Took my van home and was seeing the problem as much if not more...

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so than before. Was quite upset that after spending over $400 dollars on the auto, I still didn't have the problem fixed that I took the van in for. Complained about it to the dealer and they said they could bring it in to "clean the sensors" for me but couldn't get me in until "next week". The very next day the problem arose while parking my vehicle at work. I lost all braking ability and smashed into the rear end of a truck. No damage to the truck at all but extensive damage occurred to the front of my vehicle. Smashed grill, bumper, hood, headlight, and possibly more that I haven't identified yet. Got stopped by the local police for the headlight issue. 3) Nothing done yet to fix the problem. I left the van at the aforementioned dealer for repair work on the brakes and the headlight. Hoping to pick it up today. *Tr

Filed Incident Service brakes, hydraulic · Exterior lightingNHTSA 10205184
SteeringSuspensionTransmission & drivetrainVisibility & wipersAirbags

Numerous things have gone wrong with my 2001 monte carlo. 5 Or 6 times the dealership has repaired the driver side airbag where it continually pops out. I am really concerned when it might explode w/o a crash or if there is a driver side crash if it will come out to protect me. Steering and front suspension pops. At 55,117 miles we had the oil changed (which has been done every 3000 miles) or less and on the multi point inspection sheet, it listed several things that "might need attention" soon. They are steering...

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linkage and steering components, cv axle boots or drive shaft and u joints. These things should not be worn out on a car with no more miles than this. My rear window defogger doesn't work. Noticed this after one of the airbag repairs. This car has been very well taken care of but still the noises persist and now to be told that these parts might need repair or replacement? We paid a lot of good money for this vehicle (this is a limited edition high sport vehicle) and feel gm should buy it back and reimburse every dime of it due to the poor quality of it or properly repaired or parts replaced at gm expense while providing an equal value vehicle while repair work is done. *Tr

Filed Incident Steering · Suspension · Power train · Visibility · Air bagsNHTSA 10204358
Lights

2001 Chevy astro with maintenance work done on fuses. Customer states he received a recall and had the work repaired and then the brake lights stopped working. Customer has replaced fuse about four times. *Kb

Filed Exterior lightingNHTSA 10204889
Wheels & tires

4 Cooper trendsetter were put on my van 6/18/07. On 9/6/07 I was driving on i4, and the left rear tire had a major failure. I felt the van start to weave, and at that time I thought it was the wind. The tire then just went completely flat. I was doing about 70 mph., And managed to bring the van to a stop. A major accident was averted. When I looked at the tire, large pieces of the tread were missing, the steel belts were visible and broken, and a hole was in the sidewall. I had run over nothing, and the tires had...

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970 miles on them. The dot number on the tire was 3dhf c2t 469 f13l. After I got home, I checked the web, and found that there was a recall on this style tire. Recall 147. The dot number didn't match. I did call cooper tire, and they have put it in as a insurance claim. There was some damage to the rear panel when the tire separated. I told them that I was nervous driving on these tires, but they kept it as a insurance claim. I am replacing all the tires for peace of mind.*Jb updated 12/12/07 *tr

Filed Incident TiresNHTSA 10202191
Lights

Tl*the contact owns a 2001 chevrolet astro. The vehicle was inspected by a dealer in 2005 for nhtsa recall # 05v099000 (exterior lighting:brake lights:switch). The vehicle had approximately 60,000 miles at the time of inspection. The dealer did not replace the switch and the brake lights on the vehicle stopped operating. The manufacturer will not replace the switch because the vehicle was previously inspected. The engine size was unknown. The current and failure mileages were 102,000.

Filed Incident Exterior lightingNHTSA 10191195
Brakes

2001 Chevy astro -- does not stop when brakes are applied. Just keeps "sliding". Only way to fix is to remove the fuse for the abs brakes. If fuse is in, when brakes are applied, the vehicle shutters and growls and just continues to slide and the vehicle does not stop. This happens when you are traveling at slow speeds such as coming to a stop or pulling into parking spaces. ---Very dangerous--thank god husband is a mechanic and realized that taking the fuse out would stop this problem, but causes it so that there is no abs. *Nm

Filed Incident Service brakes, hydraulicNHTSA 10181752
BrakesCrash

Tl* - the contact owns a 2001 chevrolet astro van. On several occasions when the driver applied the brakes the vehicle was unable to stop. The current mileage and the failure mileage was 27,000 miles. The first failure resulted in a crash into a fence. The second incident was a of couple months later, the driver drove through the garage door after applying the brakes and failing to stop the vehicle. The contact was unable to get out of the van at that time. The contact attempted to drive the van in...

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reverse ,and noticed that the pedal's placement was in an awkward position, it seemed higher than usual. The contact was driving in a storm and experienced a similar incident with the brakes. The most recent incident occurred december 28, 2006 when the contact attempted to place the vehicle in reverse and the engine accelerated. The contact applied the brakes and the van didn't stop. The contact researched he schematics and noted that the abs system could be affected by a function in the steering system and it could lock. The contact used a hydraulic jack, and when he started the car the wheels spun; however when he put the van back on the ground and applied the brakes there was no incident or failure in the brakes at that time. The contact stated the general motors manual , volume 1 of 2 gm-401 for the astro and mini van, page 5-4 under hydraulics list detailed information that could be related. *Ak

Filed Incident Service brakes, hydraulicNHTSA 10177230

Chevrolet Astro: every year compared

YearComplaintsRecallsCrashesFiresTop problemGrade
20059210Wheels & tiresA
200414211BrakesA
200389343BrakesC
200282393BrakesC
2001963101BrakesC
20001862274BrakesD
19991404182BrakesD
19982596237Visibility & wipersF
19973667237BrakesF
All Astro years

2001 Chevrolet Astro vs rivals

More sales usually means more complaints, so compare similar vehicles of the same year. The grade compares each vehicle with its own model's other years.

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Questions about the 2001 Chevrolet Astro

Does the 2001 Chevrolet Astro have any recalls?

Yes - NHTSA lists 3 recalls for the 2001 Chevrolet Astro: fuel system, gasoline (May 2006); exterior lighting (March 2006); switch (March 2005). Recall repairs are free at any authorized dealer. Enter your VIN at nhtsa.gov/recalls to see whether yours has been fixed.

What are the most common problems with the 2001 Chevrolet Astro?

By the complaints owners filed with NHTSA, the most common problem areas are the brakes (35), lights (19), body, doors & structure (7).

How many complaints has the 2001 Chevrolet Astro had?

96 complaints have been filed with NHTSA, the first on February 13, 2001 and the latest on November 23, 2015. Of these, 10 describe a crash and 1 a fire, and together they report 4 injuries and 0 deaths.

Is the 2001 Chevrolet Astro a reliable vehicle?

Its Safety Index is 50 out of 100 (grade C: about as many problems as a typical Chevrolet Astro year, for its age). The index weighs complaints, crashes, fires, injuries, deaths and recalls against how long the vehicle has been on the road, compared with the same model's other years. It is not a measure of every repair - read the complaints and owner experiences, and have any used vehicle inspected before you buy.

Which Chevrolet Astro years have the most complaints?
What should I do if my 2001 Chevrolet Astro has a problem?

If it is a safety problem, stop driving it if it is unsafe and contact your dealer. Report it to NHTSA at nhtsa.gov/report-a-safety-problem - enough reports start investigations and recalls - and share your experience here so other owners know what to look for.

Source: U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) complaints and recalls, checked . Complaints are owners' own reports and are not verified. How we use the data

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