Trailer brake concerns for Chevy 2500HD

[frankandpam]

My wife and I own a 2009 Chevrolet 2500HD Diesel with (at the time of the event ~30,100 miles). My wife and I are full time RVers pulling a 37-foot Montana 5th wheel.

While driving back to the campground we are staying at, the Driver Information Center (DIC) displayed the following message:

SERVICE TRAILER BREAK SYSTEM

As we were not towing anything, and the truck brakes gave no indication of trouble, we drove immediately home. We have never received this message before. Upon arriving home, I contacted the closest Chevrolet dealer in St George, UT, to schedule an appointment for the following afternoon. I then looked up the message in the truck manual. The Chevrolet manual (page 3-73) clearly states that you should turn the ignition off, check the connections, and then turn on the ignition. If the message “ still displays, either your vehicle or the trailer needs service.” The implication is that if the message does not reappear, there is no problem. Obviously there were no (visible) connections that could be checked, as we were not towing the 5th wheel.

The next day when we started the truck to go to the Chevrolet dealer, the message did not reappear. In spite of the manual‘s instructions (or lack of instructions when the light does not reappear), we took the vehicle to Chevy. The Chevrolet dealer’s service department inspected the truck. The summary report on the invoice says (and I quote):

“...C1115 stored as history...trailer brake system is working normal at this time.. Found DCC#2491825..which outlines wiring chaff concern near e-break pedal.. inspected wiring chaffing..circuits rubbing on bracket, repaired, and covered harness with conduit.. repositioned away from e-brake bracket..”

After speaking to the service department it is obvious that Chevrolet knows this is a problem, but this DOC (called a “bulletin” by the Chevrolet dealership) is not public knowledge. We were also told that this was a continuing intermittent problem as found by reading the on-board compute logs.

Failure of the trailer braking system while pulling a 14,000 trailer could result in major injuries to the driver, passenger and others on the road as well as substantial property damage. It is unthinkable that, Chevrolet, knowing that this is a problem with their braking system, with possible catastrophic consequences, is silent and does not inform the vehicle owners, or that the dealerships do not. How many of these trucks are on the highway towing large (both RV and commercial) trailers with their drivers having no knowledge of this potential problem. I hate to think of someone trying to stop on an 6- 8% downhill grade, typical in mountains everywhere, or on wet roads. After over a 100 years of building vehicles, the Chevrolet designers do not know how to run wires safely to prevent this from occurring?