1999 SUZUKI GRAND VITARA — Complaint #655833
Open-data reference.
NHTSA Complaint about SERVICE BRAKES, HYDRAULIC:FOUNDATION COMPONENTS:DRUM:WHEEL CYLINDERS filed January 31, 2008
NHTSA complaint #655833 (ODI reference 10216603) concerns a 1999 SUZUKI GRAND VITARA and was filed on January 31, 2008. The owner reports the failure occurred on January 30, 2008. The vehicle had 31,734 miles on the odometer at the time of the incident. The report was geocoded to Colorado based on the filer's self-reported location. The affected component is categorized as service brakes, hydraulic:foundation components:drum:wheel cylinders, one of NHTSA's standardized taxonomy codes used to group defect patterns across make, model, and year.
The filer flagged the following severity indicators: crash: no, fire: no, injuries: 0, fatalities: 0. No crash, fire, or fatality was associated with this report, which places it in the early-warning stream rather than the priority-review stream. Because a VIN was supplied, this complaint is tied to a specific vehicle and not just a model-year cohort.
Individual complaints are consumer-submitted and unverified by NHTSA engineers — the agency's role at this stage is to collect, index, and make them searchable. What matters for federal action is the pattern: when many owners of the same SUZUKI GRAND VITARA cohort independently describe similar service brakes, hydraulic:foundation components:drum:wheel cylinders failures, defect investigators have grounds to open a PE and request manufacturer data. Related filings for the same vehicle and component appear below, and the detail page for the full 1999 SUZUKI GRAND VITARA shows the complete component-level complaint distribution alongside any active investigations or recalls.
Complaint Description
TL*THE CONTACT OWNS A 1999 SUZUKI GRAND VITARA. THE CONTACT STATED THAT THE BRAKES MADE A GRINDING NOISE AND THE BRAKE ADJUSTMENT PIN IN THE REAR DRIVER SIDE WHEEL WAS LOOSE. THE SPRING THAT HELD THE WHEEL IN PLACE FAILED, WHICH ALLOWED IT TO MOVE FREELY INSIDE THE BRAKE DRUM. THE SPRING FLIPPED UP AND CAUSED THE BRAKE SHOE, DRUM, AND BRAKING KIT TO FAIL. PRIOR TO THE FAILURE, AAMCO INSPECTED THE REAR AND FRONT BRAKES AND STATED THAT THEY WERE 50% WORN. THE CONTACT PLACED THE WHEEL BACK ON THE VEHICLE AND DROVE APPROXIMATELY SIX BLOCKS WHEN HE HEARD THE NOISE. THE CONTACT TOOK THE VEHICLE BACK TO AAMCO BECAUSE THE GRINDING NOISE BECAME VERY LOUD. AAMCO STATED THAT THE FAILURE WAS NOT CAUSED BY THE INSPECTION. THE CONTACT CALLED SUZUKI'S CUSTOMER SERVICE LINE TO FIND OUT IF THE FAILURE WAS COMMON. SUZUKI STATED THAT NO ONE COULD TALK TO THEIR TECHNICAL DEPARTMENT UNLESS THEY WERE A DEALER. THE CONTACT NOTIFIED THE SUZUKI DEALER SO THAT THEY COULD CALL THE MANUFACTURER. THE PU
Complaint Details
| NHTSA Complaint ID | 655833 |
| ODI Number | 10216603 |
| Date Filed | January 31, 2008 |
| Failure Date | January 30, 2008 |
| VIN | JS3TD62V8X4 |
Source: NHTSA Vehicle Complaints Database. Component taxonomy and severity codes are standardized by NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation.
Read our methodology — how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.