The Chevrolet Trailblazer started as a trim option for the Chevrolet S-10 Blazer SUV before Chevy decided to make it its own model with the 2002 Chevrolet Trailblazer. While more recent Trailblazers have a decent reputation as solid if perhaps unexceptional SUVs, the 2002 Trailblazer is more likely remembered as an unreliable vehicle not worth considering.
In the two decades since it launched, the 2002 Trailblazer has racked up nearly 1,300 NHTSA complaints and 14 recalls, with 11 NHTSA investigations to boot. Problems with the 2002 Trailblazer involve multiple aspects of the vehicle, from annoying — but cheap to fix — faults with the electrics to more serious issues with the powertrain. The 2002 Trailblazer’s main electrical problem is the instrument cluster, which have a high failure rate. Some owners have the cluster go out entirely, while others end up with one that sporadically loses power.
However, it’s the transmission problems that make the 2002 Trailblazer a clunker that’s best avoided. Owner reports of transmission issues and failures litter the NHTSA website, covering everything from jerky shifting, missing gears, transmissions slipping out of gear, leaking transmission fluid, and wrecking themselves by randomly shifting down into low gear. Even in cases where the transmission remained intact, the only repair offered to owners was a whole new transmission.
The rest of the powertrain isn’t too hot, either, and some owners have suffered from total (and repeated) engine failures with well below 100,000 miles on the odometer. The cooling fan clutch is also a bad component that consistently fails on most 2002 Trailblazers.
