Complaint volume
503 consumer-submitted complaints are matched to this model year. Treat the count as a research signal, then read the actual summaries for repeated symptoms.
Complaint records
503 consumer-submitted complaints on record for the 2018 Chevrolet Silverado, grouped by component category.
Buyer interpretation
Complaint records are most useful when they turn into inspection points, seller questions, and comparison checks against nearby model years.
503 consumer-submitted complaints are matched to this model year. Treat the count as a research signal, then read the actual summaries for repeated symptoms.
The most common categories are power train, engine, service brakes. Use those categories as a test-drive checklist instead of judging the vehicle from the total count alone.
Enriched records include 10 crash reports, 4 fire reports, 8 injury reports, and 1 fatality report. These fields come from complaint records and should be read in context.
Mileage is available on 195 complaints, with an average reported failure mileage of 44,903 miles. Compare that with the mileage on the listing.
Build a buyer checklist to turn these issues into questions and inspection points.
503 total complaints on record
| Date | Component | Summary | Severity | Mileage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nov 2022 | ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,SERVICE BRAKES | I have done some research and found other trucks same year and make have had the same problem and have had recalls but the problem is when I hit the break the lights will all flash like the truck is going to stall and it will say service trailer break system and stablitrak system and will even shut my truck off while I’m driving causing me to have to either pull of the side of the road and start my truck back up | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Nov 2022 | POWER TRAIN | Motor vehicle accident 4/21/22. Vehicle stalled hit by 18 wheeler. Several times on several occasions after that on several days vehicle stalled in interstates with multiple 18 wheelers, trucks cars almost hitting me/my vehicle each time it stalled. Now and since May 2022, the transmission completely failed and is inoperable at this time. The stalling in the middle of interstate traffic where the speed limit on 4/21/22 is 55mph & on the interstate 65mph(The vehicle coasted slowly to the side of the road & stopped changing gears to go in either direction) | Crash: Yes Fire: No Injuries: 1 Medical attention | Unknown |
| Nov 2022 | STEERING,ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,ENGINE | Sudden loss of vehicle electrical power as well as steering and break control due to faulty negative battery terminal. Engine will stall and steering wheel will kick back and issue a stabilitrak service message. Vehicle will become inoperable while still moving with no way to control. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Oct 2022 | ELECTRICAL SYSTEM | 2018 CHEVROLET SILVERADO. CONSUMER IS SEEKING REIMBURSEMENT FOR REPAIRS MADE TO VEHICLE. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Oct 2022 | POWER TRAIN,UNKNOWN OR OTHER | While I'm very slowly backing up my attached small 2 wheel trailer the Transmission over heating warning light comes on. This has happened SEVERAL TIMES!!!! | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Oct 2022 | STEERING | 2018 Chevy Silverado Lt. Lost power steering on two separate occasions for 10 seconds to approximately 15 seconds then the a third incident where power steering was lost 100% and did not come. It was a good thing that I was leaving my house. No power steering at all. Turning around to home had to really muscle the steering steering. Did not clear with repeated attempts at engine restarts. Had towed to dealer. Dealer had no idea what was going on or had never experienced this before. Google searches indicated that this power steering issue has been going on since at least 2014. Battery and cables replaced. Incident happened again back to dealer and I suggested reprogramming the ECM and they did. All seemed good until 4 Oct 22 when driving I lost power steering again for about 5 seconds and then returned to normal. This is a real safety issue. I cannot drive with my granddaughter until this is rectified. Dash reported each time Power Steering drive with caution. Like I illuted to that this power steering problem is concerning and going on for years. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Oct 2022 | ELECTRICAL SYSTEM | Radio will not let you use part of the screen that controls the phone system. Can not use hands free calling. Cannot us any buttons on the bottom of the radio or the left side. Complaint #11479518 was also filed | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Oct 2022 | POWER TRAIN | Transmission issues with 78500 miles, one owner, no hauling other than a boat. headed to shop... multiple complaints on 2018 transmissions why no recall | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Oct 2022 | POWER TRAIN | Under light to medium load on the throttle, the transmission will shift very hard from 1st to 2nd gear and sometimes 2nd to 1st while decelerating. Another issue is that the transmission or torque converter will shutter, but that is not as often. It does not happen every time, but happens way more often than it should for it being a 2018 with 26k miles. The GM Authority website has this as a known problem, but my VIN is not associated to it for some reason. Apparently flushing the transmission with Mobil 1 Synchromesh fluid can solve the issue. The truck seems to hesitate while taking off something and I think it is related to this transmission issue which can be a huge safety risk. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Oct 2022 | POWER TRAIN,EXTERIOR LIGHTING,SEATS | April 2022 & 5 2022 Complete transmission failure in traffic ALMOST causing death in traffic, emissions failure, leather seat defect REPEATED left fog light failure | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Oct 2022 | ENGINE | During the mornings when first starting my truck, I get a stutter or hesitation to the engine when accelerating out of my driveway. This happens just about every morning. I have determined that the truck has to be off for about 10+ hours. The stutter/hesitation goes away after the car warms up in about 1 mile. Have had the truck into the shop but they can find NO problems. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Sep 2022 | ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,ENGINE,FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM | Faulty injector connectors get a loose connection and make truck shutter and check engine light come on . This has happened 3 times already and had to replace one faulty plug . This is all over the internet from other l5p owners. Yet gmc want do anything | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Sep 2022 | ELECTRICAL SYSTEM | Radio changing channels by itself, menus changing by itself, instrument screen changing from info to audio by itself, calls being made to last number by itself, navigation image jumping to different areas by itself not showing the vehicles location, causing confusion when trying to get directions. All this is very distracting for driver and could possibly cause distraction enough to cause an accident. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Sep 2022 | POWER TRAIN,UNKNOWN OR OTHER,SERVICE BRAKES | On Saturday Aug 6th, 2022 my girlfriend and I were driving in my 2018 Chevy Silverado and the car just came to a complete stop really hard. Once the truck froze up, the car would go FOWARD but very slow, jerkish, and sluggish. We were almost hit by three cars behind us when the truck froze up. The truck was towed to the dealership where they diagnosed the truck with METAL SHAVINGS in the TRANSMISSION. And the engine light came on four weeks after I bought the vehicle last October. This time…. There was NO engine light on. Nothing displayed on dashboard. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Sep 2022 | SERVICE BRAKES | I'm getting a persistent message about servicing the trailer brake system. There is no trailer hooked up to the vehicle. The message covers the speedometer and chimes over anything else. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Aug 2022 | ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,SERVICE BRAKES | While driving down the road, I received several non stop alert messages stating "Service Trailer Brake System". The messages were non stop and while I did attempt to acknowledge them and dismiss the alert, I was distracted from driving and had to pull over to attempt to acknowledge or dismiss the alert. After several minutes, I was able to dismiss the alert and continue on my way. This happened on Tuesday evening around 5:00 pm on August 30, 2022. I called Mike Anderson Chevrolet on Wednesday August 31, 2022 around 12:30 pm to advise them about the situation and was told it was water in the wiring. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Aug 2022 | ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,UNKNOWN OR OTHER | Radio is malfunctioning. Radio would randomly change channels. Than the radio would have a line in the bottom of the screen. Than the half the radio just quit. Now the radio or phone calls does not work at all. I do not have access to hands free calls. I believe there is a recall on the same stereo for the 2019 models. It has not been inspected but is available for inspection. No warnings lights prior to the radio not working. I have a video but I do not know how to attach. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Aug 2022 | POWER TRAIN | The transmission failed at 81k miles. Upon doing some research, it sounds like this is caused by the wrong transmission fluid that was installed by GM, not myself, the owner. If known about early enough, flushing the transmission 3 times and replacing with the newest transmission fluid is to correct the problem. I was not notified of this 'fix' and the transmission is already damaged to the point where it must be replaced. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jul 2022 | ELECTRICAL SYSTEM | I have a 2018 Chevy Silverado 4WD, Crew Cab truck purchased brand new in 2018. Over the last year, I have had intermittent, and relentless chiming of the "Service Trailer Brake System". This occurs any time, completely randomly during normal, everyday driving and while NOT towing. it is horrendously distracting, and won't stop once it starts, even after clearing the message, it will continue to chime again every 1-2 minutes until I park the truck and turn off the engine. I have taken it to my local Chevy dealer, they can't find anything wrong with my truck. I have checked fuses, switches and relays, to no avail. I see this is not a "once-off" problem, it would appear 10s of thousands of consumers have had the same issue posted about blogs, YouTube and more around the internet since at least model year 2017. This is a complete safety hazard and unacceptable! The chime is a distraction and prevents other vehicle safety features from being usable when it is going off. In addition, I imagine if I WERE towing, that means my braking system would be rendered unusable. That doesn't seem acceptable and there should have been a recall on this already based on my vast research. I am angered that this keeps happening even under normal driving conditions, and it is a defect of the trailer wire harness system, not something any vehicle owner has done, not due to abuse, or even normal wear and tear. I am angered that even my dealer can't find and fix the problem. However, it should not be my responsibility since this is a clear and obvious defect amongst nearly 100,000 similar model vehicles. I do not feel this is safe in any way and there needs to be a remedy "recall" performed so that other owners and myself can get this taken care of once and for all. Thank you. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jul 2022 | ENGINE | Our 2018 Chevrolet Silverado 1500 was purchased new and only serviced at Chevrolet dealerships. While on vacation we were driving on a 3-lane paved road and then engine started knocking for a few seconds and then a chime could be heard and the check engine light came on. The vehicle lost power and the vehicle was difficult to control. We were fortunate that other vehicles were able to avoid us since our truck slowed quickly (without the brakes being applied). The vehicle had to be towed to a local Chevrolet dealer for diagnostics. The dealer found that the hydraulic lifters on the right bank of the engine collapsed (resulting in a misfire) and there was extensive engine damage. The vehicle was equipped with a 5.3l engine with AFM/DFM (cylinder deactivation). Mileage was 64,562. Vehicle was repaired with "upgraded" valve train parts from General Motors as this failure mode seems to be somewhat common in AFM/DFM engines (can find class action information during web search). | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jul 2022 | SUSPENSION,POWER TRAIN,WHEELS | leaf springs malfunctioned & yes its available for inspection. safety issues of cracking noise sounds like cracking in the suspension or axle. on 7/7/22 Lorenzo at Richland Chevrolet in Shafter, California confirmed & had it all day for inspection. no warning lamps or messages were provided. First appeared on 6/30/22. continental crosscontact LX20 P275/55 R20 111 t eco plus+ Tires are chopping & shredding safety & hazard issues are the tires can shred apart & cause an accident or death. on 7/7/22 Lorenzo at Richland Chevrolet in Shafter, California confirmed tires were having that problem & if there was a recall on them then General Motors would reach out to us. Then prior, on 4/28/22 during oil change & tire rotation service Lorenzo confirmed tires were chopping also. no warning lamps or messages. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jul 2022 | TIRES | The contact's husband owns a 2018 Chevrolet Silverado 1500 equipped with Continental Tires, Tire Line: Cross Contact LX20, Tire Size: 275/55/R20, DOT Number: A32AWD401518. The contact stated that while her husband was driving at an undisclosed speed, the passenger's side front tire was vibrating. Upon inspection, the contact's husband noticed there was a bump on the passenger's side front tire. The vehicle was taken to a tire store where it was diagnosed that there was a tread bump on the passenger's side front tire due to a fractured tire tread belt. The passenger's side front tire was not replaced. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure and advised the contact's husband to take the vehicle to an authorized tire dealer for inspection. The failure mileage was 37,619. | Crash: No Fire: No | 37,619 |
| Jul 2022 | AIR BAGS | I have had intermittent warnings on the dash that would pop up and disappear after a few seconds. It said “Safety Restraint System”. Now the warning is on continuously and the horn no longer works. I had the codes scanned at a local shop and I was told a code pops up saying “B0013-04 Steering wheel airbag deployment loop stage 2- High resistance” I am worried the bag will not deploy in the case of a wreck. The vehicle has under 25,000 miles on the odometer. It is over 3 years of age so I worry it will not be under warranty. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jul 2022 | UNKNOWN OR OTHER | Starter had to be replaced with 22,775 miles and truck was toed. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jul 2022 | ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,SERVICE BRAKES | Service Trailer brake system audible message appearing due to faulty wire harness between body control modules. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |