Complaint volume
767 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
2021 Chevrolet Silverado Complaints
767 consumer-submitted complaints on record for the 2021 Chevrolet Silverado, grouped by component category.
767 Total complaints
18 Crash reports
11 Fire reports
12 Injury reports
Complaint data reflects consumer-submitted reports. A complaint is not proof
of a defect, recall, or manufacturer fault. Enriched severity fields come
from official bulk records when the complaint can be matched by ODI number.
Buyer interpretation
How to use these complaints before buying
Complaint records are most useful when they turn into inspection points, seller questions, and comparison checks against nearby model years.
Pattern to inspect
The most common categories are engine, power train, engine and engine cooling. Use those categories as a test-drive checklist instead of judging the vehicle from the total count alone.
Severity flags
Enriched records include 18 crash reports, 11 fire reports, 12 injury reports, and 0 fatality reports. These fields come from complaint records and should be read in context.
Mileage clue
Mileage is available on 162 complaints, with an average reported failure mileage of 55,888 miles. Compare that with the mileage on the listing.
Questions to ask the seller
- Have you had any problems related to engine, power train, engine and engine cooling?
- Can I see recent maintenance and repair records?
- Has the vehicle ever been towed, involved in a crash, or repaired for the same issue twice?
- Can we also check the recall record for this 2021 Chevrolet Silverado?
Used-car checklist
Use these complaints before the test drive.
Build a buyer checklist to turn these issues into questions and inspection points.
2021 Chevrolet Silverado
Build buyer checklist Compare with other years Sends year, make, and model to pre-fill your checklist.
How severe are the 2021 Chevrolet Silverado complaints?
18 Crash
11 Fire
12 Injury
0 Fatality
64 Towed
8 Medical attention
What are the most common 2021 Chevrolet Silverado complaint categories?
ENGINE 226
POWER TRAIN 130
ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING 43
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM 40
POWER TRAIN,ENGINE 39
UNKNOWN OR OTHER 24
STRUCTURE 19
STEERING 18
LATCHES/LOCKS/LINKAGES 14
SERVICE BRAKES 14
767 total complaints on record
Latest complaints
| Date | Component | Summary | Severity | Mileage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jul 2022 | ENGINE | I have a 2021 Chevy Silverado. The #3 Cylinder has failed and an all new lifter kit needs to be installed. Truck was knocking violently and died. Dealership stated the parts on back order nationwide and they have no clue when replacement parts will arrive. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jul 2022 | POWER TRAIN,ENGINE | At 7,316 miles my 2021 Silverado 5.3 V8 had lifter failure while driving, the truck would not accelerate correctly and I was forced to pull off the road, luckily it was able to turn off at the next road before the vehicles behind me caught up. The check engine light was blinking and was making a lot of popping noises. I was able to take back roads and drop it off at the dealership for repairs. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jul 2022 | ENGINE | This 2021Chevrolet Silverado 1500 LT Trail Boss I purchased new April 2021. Since I have owned it the check engine light would flash randomly with or without a load and now just this past weekend (7/17/2021) the check engine light stayed on. Took it to the Chevy dealer for repair and was told it was a lifter problem. I recently just purchased a camper, well under GM allowed towing capacity, and worried that if the engine should fail either up hill or down hill that there could be loss of control of vehicle from other systems shutting down. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jul 2022 | POWER TRAIN,UNKNOWN OR OTHER,ENGINE | Vehicle began having issues at 3 months old... Random service messages, defective headlight, wierd engine noises at startup and stalling upon acceleration/deceleration. I took it to the dealer several times about the issues I were having but they always say they aren't able to replicate any issues. 3 months later I was driving on the highway and the engine started knocking. Had it towed to the dealer and it took them 6 months to replace engine, tcm, starter, and other parts. After finally getting the truck back, it was still stalling and there was a check engine light... Dealer did not reassemble the vehicle properly and several parts and bolts were still missing. It went right back in the shop and catalytic converters were replaced. I also mentioned missing parts and bolts. I get the truck back again and it still seems like it wants to stall. I was turning into a parking lot a few days later and it seemed like it wanted to cut off. While I was distracted trying to see if the truck cut off, I hit a small pole... Truck was damaged way more than it should have been because the dealer did not reassemble it properly. Body shop said my bumper was only held on by 2 bolts and several other bolts and pieces were missing. They said if my bumper was attached properly the damage would not have been as bad. The vehicle was already unsafe because of stalling and the dealer made it structurally unsafe as well... I have opened cases with gm and they aren't doing anything about it. Here this truck is 14 months old and it's been in their possession more than mine... I have asked them about replacing the vehicle and they insist on fixing the issues but never do and I end up driving an u safe vehicle around. | Crash: Yes Fire: No Towed | Unknown |
| Jul 2022 | ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING,FUEL SYSTEM, GASOLINE | The contact owns a 2021 Chevrolet Silverado 1500. The contact stated that while driving at 70 MPH, the vehicle was losing motive power with the “Engine Power Reduced” message displayed. The temperature gauge indicated that the engine was overheating. The contact initially had the vehicle towed to the dealer and diagnosed with a defective fuel pump. The dealer replaced the fuel pump, the fuel pump system, and the fuel pump sensor; however, each repair failed to fix the failure. The contact towed the vehicle to AutoNation Chevrolet Pembroke Pines (8600 Pines Blvd, Pembroke Pines, FL 33024) where the vehicle was diagnosed with a defective catalytic converter; however, the part remained on back order. The manufacturer was notified of the failure and a claim was filed. The vehicle remained in the possession of the dealer unrepaired. The failure mileage was approximately 15,000. | Crash: No Fire: No Towed | 15,000 |
| Jul 2022 | POWER TRAIN,ENGINE | Add 1 more victim to the ongoing and growing list of GM owners of vehicles with 5.3/6.2Lmotors with DFM lifter failure. 50 miles after returning from a 500 mile trip from N. Wisconsin fishing trip this motor threw in the towel. Dealer assessment cylinder #6 lifter failure with an extra bonus of damage bad enough to require replacement of entire cylinder head! This motor has 11K. miles on it, and I have had oil changed multiple times as I am old school and don't buy into the whole 7500K. thing. Guess I should have saved my cash for something more fun! Check engine light did not come on till almost 2mi. after vehicle started running badly, flashing check engine light did not come on till I was almost home 15 mi. Had it towed to the dealer on my own dime! | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jul 2022 | ENGINE | Speed limit 70mph and driving on the highway, suddenly the vehicle began to shake and the engine light came on and the vehicle was making a forced deceleration to 40mph. Other vehicles had to swerve to avoid my vehicle, as I was attempting to pull off the highway safely. "service brake system" alarm also came on. The manual advised when getting this alarm to have the vehicle towed. Once at the dealership this note was on my service papers " Customer stated engine light was on and truck running rough and shaking, review of DTC's showed cylinder misfire on #3, tested showed possible issue with spark plug. Relocated coil to different cylinder to see if issue followed. Misfire still noted on cylinder 3, replaced spark plug and conducted test drive and note misfire still present on #3. Removed valve cover and noted failed lifter on intake valve for cylinder #3. All lifters replaced on left side of engine." The dealership stated that "this is a known problem for the 5.3L V8Ecotec engine, that the lifters FAIL." I am a female, I was traveling alone and had to find tow service and pay up front. Once transported 20miles to the nearest dealership, on a Saturday afternoon, I was stranded at a hotel for 2 days waiting for the dealership to open and check out the vehicle. If this is a "known" problem with this engine, THEY SHOULD BE RECALLED. Now I get to worry when the other side of the engine's lifters will 'fail' so they can be replaced under warranty. This is unacceptable in an almost new 2021 truck with 20,000 miles on it. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jul 2022 | POWER TRAIN,ENGINE | Vehicle engine has experienced engine lifter failure at 28,000 miles. Engine began shaking violently, check engine lights flashing, traction control light, and stability control lights all came one while driving on the highway several hours away from home. Vehicle had to be towed by Chevy roadside assistance to the nearest dealership. Chevy dealership inspected and said they have to order new lifters for my engine and it would take several weeks for repair. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jul 2022 | ENGINE,POWER TRAIN | The 2021 silverado v8 randomly started making a knocking noise. The steering wheel would shake randomly as I accelerated and stayed above certain speeds. I’m barely able to drive slowly residential speeds at most. If I drive any faster I’m worried for my safety that the car while break down in the middle of a busy road posing a danger to my family and those around me. I’m not sure if this is a lifter issue, or engine issue but it seems to be a widespread issue that I haven’t recurved any recall notice for. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jul 2022 | STEERING,SERVICE BRAKES | 2021 Silverado Trail Boss. Went to the store, came outside started the truck and it showed me ESC Warning and Power Steering Failure Drive with Care notice on the dash. The Steering was very hard to turn. I tried multiple times, and it did not work. I started reading information on line and found out that there are multiple truck owners who had same issue. I saw some information to leave the truck off for 20 - 30 min and try again. I left it off for 30 min and started again. At that time it started fine. I am going to the Chevy dealer because this can also happen while I am driving and it can cause an accident. My truck has only 12k miles. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jul 2022 | ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING | While driving down the road the engine began to run erratically and several seemingly random errors appeared relating to the parking brake, windshield washer fluid, and engine. The vehicle began shaking violently until stalling out on the road. After bringing the truck to the dealer and waiting for weeks to have it returned I was notified that there had been a lifter failure. Vehicle mileage had been at 12,600 miles at this point. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jun 2022 | ENGINE | Truck started having a rough idle and was popping and banging while driving. It was hesitating while driving in traffic and would slowdown and jerk while trying to drive to the dealership. It stalled at red lights multiple times. Once it got to a dealership and they identified it as #4 cylinder lifter was malfunctioning. They have not yet disassembled the engine yet to find out the extent of the damage. This is a known issue with these trucks and GM won’t issue a recall to proactively fix the issue before more damage is done to the motor. Some of which may not show up until after the warranty expires. There was no warning light or check engine light on at anytime. The dealership service department was very surprised by this. Now I’m without my truck for at least 2 weeks with no loaner of voucher for a rental. The truck has less than 19,000 miles on it and has had all regular maintenance done at a dealership. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jun 2022 | ENGINE | The contact owns a 2021 Chevrolet Silverado 1500. The contact stated while driving approximately 10 MPH, there was an engine misfire and then a knocking sound started coming from the engine. There were no warning lights illuminated. The contact had the vehicle towed to the dealer who stated that there might be a failure with the valve lifters; however, a diagnostic test had not been performed. The vehicle had not been repaired. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 40,000. | Crash: No Fire: No | 40,000 |
| Jun 2022 | ENGINE | "no start" issue. Intermittent no start increased in it's frequency until it wouldn't back in July 2021, it had approx. 9600 miles on it. Had it towed to dealership. They could not recreate problem. I raised hell, and started reading that others had similar problem. A TSB came out that advised tech to install .5 shim. That seemed to have worked until recently late May 2022, have appt. with dealership again. They didn't do a scan the next day to pull a code since one might have shown up at that point. Most likely nothing there now. truck has been driven an additional 10K miles since initial problem and now shows 21400 miles. I can't have this problem every 10K, since soon this will be coming out of my pocket. and it needs a fix as others are having the same problem. GM has had well over a year to sort this out so I'm hoping if it isn't the cam sensor it's something else fairly straight forward. Heading in for service again on 6/15/2022 for same complaint. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jun 2022 | ELECTRICAL SYSTEM | 2021 Chevy Silverado durmax brought it in three times now for starting issues 2nd time found data module was bad two weeks later brought it back for same issues. Dealer said they can’t find anything wrong I’ve broke down on hwy 5 in. Dangerous spot and know I don’t feel safe driving this. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jun 2022 | ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,SERVICE BRAKES | Can't pull a trailer without the SERVICE TRAILER BRAKE SYSTEM LIGHT coming on a dinging over and over. Had my trailer completely rewired only to find out its a malfunction on my truck not my trailer. My truck is a 2021 Silverado z71 trail boss with low mileage | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| May 2022 | ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING | The contact owned a 2021 Chevrolet Silverado 1500. The contact stated that approximately 35 minutes after parking and turning the vehicle off he was notified that the vehicle had caught on fire. The fire department was called to the scene and extinguished the flames. Upon inspection, it was determined that the fire originated in the engine compartment. A police and fire report was taken at the scene and the vehicle was towed away. During the incident, the vehicle was destroyed. The manufacturer and local dealer were notified of the incident. The failure mileage was 12,000. | Crash: No Fire: Yes Towed | 12,000 |
| May 2022 | ENGINE | I was driving and noticed several loud clunking noises coming from the Engine bay. The truck began to cut out, shake, and misfire. My dash began to flash and state I had a parking brake failure. I had no choice but to be towed. I have just shy of 17,000 miles. The dealership stated I had two lifter and 1 rod failure. They replaced the rod and all lifters on one side of the engine. I took the truck home for one night and it broke down again. The dealership stated it was fixed for a second time. When I picked it up again, I made it 1 mile down the road before the truck had the exact same symptoms with shuddering and misfiring. It is at the dealership for a third time. I was surprised to fin several class action lawsuits now filed against gm concerning the lifter issue. YouTube is full of lifter issue videos. This should be fully investigated and obviously warrants a recall for lifters, rods, and the camshaft. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| May 2022 | SERVICE BRAKES | When I start my Chevy Silverado 1500, three warning lights come on that are telling me that I have brake system failure 43 MPH top speed, Service ESC and Service Trailer Brake system. When I drive, the brakes are very mushy and the truck is very difficult to brake. 20 minutes later after stopping and getting ready to take the truck to the dealer, the brakes worked fine. The dealer couldn't replicate the problem at first, but finally had the issue when they were putting it on the rack to perform improve my tire alignment, so they said they updated the software. The truck brakes worked fine when I left the dealership. The next day (Saturday) I went to start the truck and the same issue happened. I can't take it in as Service is not available on Saturdays so I started looking online. Apparently there are several other owners dealing with this same issue and have been for years. I have read that it might be a variety of things causing this issue, but someone needs to get this resolved ASAP as I have read about some getting into accidents regarding this. My truck is only 16 months old and only has 14,000 miles on it. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| May 2022 | UNKNOWN OR OTHER | My 2021 Chevrolet Silverado started on fire and blew up in my driveway. I had just returned from the store, parked it and went inside. No more than 3 minutes later, my neighbor came running over to tell me my truck was on fire. There were no issues at all while I was driving the vehicle. The township fire department said this is the 4th 2021 Chevrolet Silverado that has burst into flames in the last 6 weeks. They said they all had the 2.7L Turbo engine, as well. The truck is a complete loss. I have contacted the dealership and Chevrolet about the issue and have not heard back yet. The fire started in the engine compartment and quickly raged out of control. The hood and engine disintegrated from the heat. The vehicle was towed away and the insurance adjuster has yet to go out and look at it. If I would've been stuck in traffic on the way home, I would have been in the vehicle and may not be here typing this report right now. It went up that fast. This is a major safety issue that needs to be thoroughly investigated before somebody loses their life. It nearly caught my house on fire, but thankfully there was only minor damage to some garage trim and the driveway is ruined. Please investigate this issue immediately. This was a pretty traumatic experience, to say the least. | Crash: No Fire: Yes | Unknown |
| May 2022 | UNKNOWN OR OTHER,ENGINE | On April 29, 2022 between 4:45 - 5:00 pm Eastern, I was dropping off my son at work when I suddenly experienced a variety of Truck Diagnostic Error messages on the front driver display window. In addition my OnStar advanced diagnostic alert system informed me with the following system issues: Engine and Transmission; StabiliTrak stability control; Antilock Brake; and Emissions. At that moment the truck experience a cut in power and slowed down with a knocking sound coming from what seemed under the truck. I slowly proceeded to drop off my son and drove back home and parked the truck. Truck was towed to local Chevy dealer on Friday of that day. A preliminary diagnosis was done Saturday, April 30 suggesting an Engine Lifter issue. On Monday, May 2, 2022, a final diagnosis determined engine lifter failure on one side of engine bank. Vehicle is still under Warranty with 17,400 miles on it. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Apr 2022 | STEERING | Intermittent power steering failure. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Mar 2022 | STRUCTURE | Unknown | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Mar 2022 | ENGINE | GM USES/USED SUBSTANDARD ENGINE COMPONENTS i.e. LIFTERS. GM KNOWS THSES ARE PRONE TO FAIL, YET ONLY REPAIRS THE VEHICLES THAT ARE AT AN AUTHORIZED DEALER PRIOR TO SALE. ALL THE VEHICLES THAT WERE ALREADY SOLD WILL NOT BE REAPIRED UNLESS ITS BROUGHT IN FOR SEVICE, GM WILL NOT NOTIFY CUSTOMERS OF THIS ISSUE. ALSO GM FAILS TO STOCK THESE PARTS EVEN THOUGH BY THERE OWN SERVICE BULLETINS SUBSTANDARD PARTS WERE USED TO BUILD THESE VEHICLES. GM WILL NOT SUPPLY LOANER VEHICLES TO PATRONS WHO DO HAVE THIS SERVICE DONE NOR WILL THEY TELL CUSTOMERS THAT THE PATRON COULD RENT A VEHICLE AND GET REIMBURSED FOR SAID RENTAL. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Mar 2022 | FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM | A squirrel chewed into the fuel line [Hose - GM (84871298), see: https://www.gmpartsdirect.com/oem-parts/gm-hose-84871298). This caused a fuel leak that could be directly observed only while the vehicle was running. On one occasion, however, a small pool of fuel appeared under the vehicle immediately after shut off. This part failure poses a fire and explosion risk. In addition, the wasted gasoline pollutes the atmosphere. The line was replaced at Lynn Layton Chevrolet of Decatur Alabama (invoice 608119). The part was inspected by Lynn Layton Chevrolet as part of that service ticket in order to determine the cause of the leak. To my knowledge, further inspection has not occurred. No warning lamps indicated the failure. The problem was detected by observing the trail of fuel when parking. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |