2001 Chevrolet Silverado 1500

Typical pattern

2.1% of complaints about the 2001 Chevrolet Silverado 1500 came in the first year, which is unremarkable for a 2001 vehicle — around the middle of the 216 model-years on record. The median complaint arrives at 9.8 yr in service. The most-reported system is service brakes, hydraulic (154 complaints), typically at 8.7 yr or about 75,000 miles.

Complaints: 620
Median age at failure: 9.8 yr
Median mileage: 87,057 n=490
Crash / fire / tow: 15.2% of reports
Safety recalls: 0

When each system is reported — middle 50% of complaints

System

0y2y4y6y8y10y12y14y

Service brakes, hydraulic

154 reports · 75,000 mi

8.7 yr

8.4%

Service brakes

133 reports · 116,500 mi

13.8 yr

15%

Fuel system

33 reports · 76,000 mi

7.3 yr

Structure

30 reports · 100,000 mi

11.2 yr

23.3%

Parking brake

29 reports · 50,000 mi

4.9 yr

10.3%

Electrical system

25 reports · 50,000 mi

6.1 yr

16%

Fuel system, other

21 reports · 70,000 mi

6.1 yr

4.8%

Tires

19 reports · 113,000 mi

8.9 yr

15.8%

Power train

19 reports · 87,000 mi

8.0 yr

15.8%

Steering

15 reports · 120,000 mi

7.4 yr

13.3%

In owners’ own words

Service brakes, hydraulic mileage not reported 4 mo in service

CONSUMER HAS TO PUSH DOWN ON BRAKES HARD BEFORE VEHICLE WILL STOP. CONSUMER HAS ALMOST RAN A STOP SIGN. *AK

Service brakes, hydraulic mileage not reported 6 mo in service crash / fire / tow

THE ABS BRAKES FAILED WHILE THE CONSUMER APPLIED THEM, THE PEDAL BECAME SOFT AND THE BRAKES DID NOT WORK CAUSING A REAR END COLLISION. NLM

Service brakes, hydraulic mileage not reported 4 mo in service

BRAKES ARE NOT WORKING PROPERLY. HAD TO PUSH BRAKES DOWN TWICE BEFORE VEHICLE STOPS. ALSO, BRAKES DONOT WORK GOOD ON DRY PAVEMENT. *AK

Tires mileage not reported 1.0 yr in service

TIRES SIZE P245R7516 THAT COMES WITH VEHICLE IS NOT AN APPROPIATE TIRE FOR THIS VEHICLE . APPROPRIATE TIRE SIZE IS LT245R7516. ALSO, OTHER TIRES ARE TOO SMALL FOR THIS VEHICLE, AND GMC FAILED TO PUT APPROPIATE TIRES ON VEHICLE. CONTACTED GMC, THEY TOOK COMPLAINT, AND STATED IT WAS A SALES PROBLEM.*AK

Other Silverado 1500 model years

How to read this

This is what owners reported, not a reliability rating. People file with NHTSA about alarming failures, not routine ones, and complaint volume tracks how many cars were sold.
Failure ages come from the incident date on each complaint, populated on about 83% of records. Mileage is shown where reported — NHTSA’s 2021 system change cut mileage capture to roughly 15%, so it thins out sharply after MY2020.
Every rank compares this vehicle only against others of the same model year. A 2025 car has not had time to accumulate five-year failures, so comparing early-failure share across years is meaningless.
Fourteen make-months distorted by media storms and mass recalls — Toyota in February 2010 ran 11× normal volume across 33 models — are excluded.
Recalls are manufacturer actions and authoritative; complaints are not. A recall listed here may already have been performed on any individual car. Check a specific VIN at nhtsa.gov/recalls.