NHTSA ODI Complaints 10812011

Original text and source

Original text

WHILE ON A HILL HOLDING THE VEHICLE WITH THE BRAKES ACTIVATED, A LARGE AMOUNT OF WHITE SMOKE CAME BILLOWING OUT OF THE ENGINE COMPARTMENT. I WAS ABLE TO DETERMINE THAT THE FLUID WAS CLEAR AND DRIPPING ON THE HOT EXHAUST MANIFOLD. THE BRAKE RESERVOIR DROPPED WITH SUCCESSIVE BRAKE APPLICATIONS. AFTER HAVING THE VEHICLE TOWED TO A REPAIR FACILITY, IT WAS DETERMINED THAT MULTIPLE FIXED METAL BRAKE LINES WERE CORRODING AND ONE HAD ENOUGH TO CORROSION TO CAUSE A FAILURE OF THE METAL CAUSING A LEAKING BREAK LINE. ALL FIXED METAL BRAKE LIES WERE REPLACE AT A VERY HIGH EXPENSE DUE TO THE LABOR TO INSTALL THE NEW LINES. PART WERE ONLY A FRACTION OF THE LABOR TO INSTALL NEW BRAKE LINES ALONG THE BODY FRAMING. IRONICALLY, THE REPAIR SHOP OWNER HAD A 2500 SERIES GM PICKUP TRUCK WHICH EXPERIENCE THE SAME BRAKE LINE FAILURES JUST MONTHS BEFORE. IN ALL MY YEARS OF VEHICLE OWNERSHIP, I HAVE NEVER EXPERIENCED A COMPLETE FAILURE OF A FIXED METAL BRAKE LINE. THEY ARE USUALLY MAKE OF MATERIALS WHICH PREVENT CORROSION OF THE METAL AND THEREFORE REMAIN USEFUL FOR STOPPING THE VEHICLE THROUGHOUT THE VEHICLE USEFUL LIFE.

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Source

Source: NHTSA ODI Complaints — Owner complaint filed with a government agency
Reporter type: Owner
Source reference: 10812011
Country / market: US
Language: en
Document version: Version 1 (1 held)
Note on the source: US federal government dataset. Complaints are unverified consumer reports, not confirmed defects.

Dates

Incident date: 2013-09-01
Received by source: 2015-12-24
Added to the source's file: Unknown: not returned by the source API
Issued / published: Unknown: not returned by the source API
First observed: 2026-10-05 03:45 UTC (initial bulk load)
This version fetched: 2026-10-05 03:45 UTC