YearTell editorial · 2026-09-07
Chevrolet Silverado 1500 Complaints and Recalls by Year
In plain English
People filed 10,563 problem reports on the Chevrolet Silverado 1500 across 17 years (2008–2025). Owners named Engine more often than any other system.
2014 has the most reports (1,428). That is often age, not a ranking. Open the year you are buying.
Engine. Have a shop check for oil consumption, coolant leaks, rough idle and unusual engine noise. Then read that year-page for recalls and owner text.
Silverado 1500 is kept apart from 2500 and 3500 weight classes.
NHTSA complaint counts are self-selected reports. They are not normalised for sales volume and they are not a reliability score. YearTell does not publish stars, “best year” lists or advice to avoid a vehicle.
This guide reports NHTSA owner-complaint and recall counts for the Chevrolet Silverado 1500 from the 2026-09-07 snapshot. 10,563 owner reports are on file across 17 published model years (2008–2025). 2014 has the highest complaint count (1,428).
Older model years have had longer to accumulate reports, so a high lifetime total is not evidence that a year is worse to own. YearTell does not adjust these figures for how many vehicles were sold.
Where a system dominates the file, it is named below as a count, not as a diagnosis. Open the year-page for the component table, the recall list and a short set of owner narratives.
Years that appear most often in NHTSA complaints
| Model year | Owner complaints | Recall campaigns | System named most often |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 Chevrolet Silverado 1500 | 912 | 3 | Airbags (AIR BAGS) |
| 2009 Chevrolet Silverado 1500 | 438 | 3 | Airbags (AIR BAGS) |
| 2010 Chevrolet Silverado 1500 | 357 | 3 | Airbags (AIR BAGS) |
| 2011 Chevrolet Silverado 1500 | 561 | 4 | Airbags (AIR BAGS) |
| 2012 Chevrolet Silverado 1500 | 215 | 2 | Airbags (AIR BAGS) |
| 2013 Chevrolet Silverado 1500 | 301 | 2 | Body / frame (STRUCTURE) |
| 2014 Chevrolet Silverado 1500 | 1,428 | 6 | Steering (STEERING) |
| 2015 Chevrolet Silverado 1500 | 1,100 | 11 | Brakes (SERVICE BRAKES) |
| 2016 Chevrolet Silverado 1500 | 788 | 11 | Brakes (SERVICE BRAKES) |
| 2018 Chevrolet Silverado 1500 | 508 | 7 | Transmission / driveline (POWER TRAIN) |
| 2019 Chevrolet Silverado 1500 | 1,069 | 10 | Engine (ENGINE) |
| 2020 Chevrolet Silverado 1500 | 717 | 12 | Engine (ENGINE) |
| 2021 Chevrolet Silverado 1500 | 803 | 8 | Engine (ENGINE) |
| 2022 Chevrolet Silverado 1500 | 608 | 6 | Engine (ENGINE) |
| 2023 Chevrolet Silverado 1500 | 367 | 3 | Engine (ENGINE) |
| 2024 Chevrolet Silverado 1500 | 296 | 2 | Engine (ENGINE) |
| 2025 Chevrolet Silverado 1500 | 95 | 0 | Engine (ENGINE) |
Recall campaigns are manufacturer safety actions filed with NHTSA. A year can have many complaints and few recalls, or the reverse. The two series answer different questions.
If you are comparing two adjacent years, use the equal-exposure comparison when one exists. That window holds age constant so the later year is not punished for having had less time on the road.
A practical read: open the year you are shopping, note the system named most often, read every recall campaign, then skim the owner filings for that system. Take that list to a mechanic. Do not turn the complaint total into a score.
Model-year records cited
- 2014 Chevrolet Silverado 1500
- 2015 Chevrolet Silverado 1500
- 2019 Chevrolet Silverado 1500
- 2008 Chevrolet Silverado 1500
- 2021 Chevrolet Silverado 1500
- 2016 Chevrolet Silverado 1500
- 2020 Chevrolet Silverado 1500
- 2022 Chevrolet Silverado 1500
- Chevrolet Silverado 1500
How YearTell builds these numbers
Counts are not a reliability score.
Frequently asked questions
Which Chevrolet Silverado 1500 year has the most NHTSA complaints in this snapshot?
2014 has the highest owner-report count (1,428). That is a count, not advice to avoid the year.
Are these figures a reliability rating?
No. YearTell does not publish reliability scores. Read the methodology for what complaint counts cannot tell you.
Where does the data come from?
NHTSA owner complaints and safety recall campaigns, snapshot 2026-09-07. Each cited year-page links to the federal records.