all vehicles · every Silverado year · method

Chevrolet Silverado 2008

Safety complaints filed by owners in the first three years, per 1,000 sold.

0.21 per 1,000

better than this nameplate’s own median · from 99 complaints filed in the first three years, of 1298 ever. 95% lower bound 0.17.

Against its own model years

The model year carries far more information than the badge, so this is the comparison that matters.

Model year	Per 1,000	Complaints
2008	0.21	99
2009	0.13	52
2010	0.12	40
2011	0.17	68
2012	0.10	43
2013	0.17	77
2014	0.61	308
2015	0.48	271
2016	0.41	239
2017	0.42	246
2018	0.24	142
2019	0.64	371
2020	0.35	206
2021	0.37	206
2022	0.38	201
2023	0.52	280

What owners describe

Phrases over-represented in these complaints compared with the same component on every other vehicle. Counts are complaints containing the phrase.

Air Bags 776 complaints

takata	438	56%
takata recall	403	52%
tool	280	36%
tool confirms	278	36%
confirms	278	36%
confirms parts	277	36%

Electrical System 168 complaints

door	54	32%
truck	39	23%
locks	35	21%
door locks	26	16%
door lock	20	12%
chevy	20	12%

Unknown Or Other 112 complaints

airbag	47	42%
dash cracked	16	15%
passenger air	10	9%

When it breaks

20% of reported failures happened before 30,000 miles (median 66,000 miles, from 656 complaints that recorded one).

Failures arrive late and spread out, which looks like wear. Service history matters more than model year here.

What NHTSA did

3 investigations covering this model year, 1 of which list a recall campaign. Owners had filed 11 complaints about this component over roughly 2 months before an investigation opened.

NON-CRASH ENGINE COMPARTMENT FIRES

What owners and forums say

Not built yet. This panel is meant to carry community sentiment beside the filed-complaint data, so the two can be compared. Showing something weaker here would defeat its purpose.

Check this yourself

Example records behind this page:

10214726 · 10218823 · 10223022 · 10223263 · 10224418 · 10227043

Limits of this figure. It counts safety complaints filed with the federal government, which is a floor on failures and not a census: problems that only cost money are under-reported. Complaint rates also reflect how likely a brand’s owners are to file, which cannot be separated from how often the car fails. Sales are calendar-year and the denominator for this nameplate is automated checks only, not verified against an external source.