2016 Chevrolet Silverado 15003rd gen (2014–2018), third year

Updated 2026-08-31NHTSA counts read on this date — 795 complaints. They rise over time.

On the 2016 Silverado, 92 Percent of the Brake Complaints Are Crew Cabs. The Record Is 73 Percent.

Brakes are still the top category here, at 252 filings against the 2015 truck’s 360. A third fewer, on a truck that is otherwise the same.

The thing that is not smaller is the pattern inside them. Decode the VIN on every filing and 91.7 percent of the brake complaints that give a cab are crew cabs, against 72.6 percent of the whole record. Nineteen points. That is the widest gap in this generation, and the third model year in a row it appears.

Owners have filed 795 complaints with NHTSA about the 2016 model year. Chevrolet sold 600,544 Silverados in calendar 2015 and 574,876 in 2016 — that figure covers the whole Silverado line and this page is the 1500 — and the 2016 model year sold across both years, so the denominator is in the hundreds of thousands. That is not a rate. 795 filings are not 795 owners, and the count earns its keep only because the other years in this series are counted the same way.

The basics

Carryover mechanically: the 4.3-liter V6, the 5.3-liter V8 and the 6.2-liter V8, in regular, double and crew cab. The 5.3 is the one that changes — it comes with either a six-speed or an eight-speed automatic this year, where the 2015 had only the six. EPA lists a mild-hybrid 5.3-liter this year that the 2015 does not have.

Specs

Displacement and cylinder count are from NHTSA’s vPIC catalog, which holds what the manufacturer submitted. Fuel economy is EPA.

What owners filed

Sections below are sorted by count and each complaint is counted once. They add up to 693. The remaining 102 are spread thin — NHTSA tagged 39 of them unknown or other, 12 fuel or propulsion, 11 exterior lighting, and 11 visibility and wipers.

Configuration comes from decoding the VIN attached to each filing. 773 of the 795 decode, and 736 of those come back as a crew or extended cab — 72.6 percent crew and 27.4 percent extended. vPIC calls the Double Cab an extended cab, and so does everything below. Regular cabs and filings whose VIN gives no cab sit outside every cab percentage below.

This is not a failure rate by configuration. Nothing here divides failures by how many of each cab GM built, because the complaint record does not contain that. Crew cabs outsold extended cabs, and that is already inside the 72.6 percent baseline. What the sections below measure is how far a section moves away from it.

Brakes — 252

Counted as filings NHTSA tagged service brakes, plus those that name the vacuum pump, the brake booster or brake assist.

Thirty-two percent of everything filed on this truck. Down 108 from the 2015; only the 2017-to-2018 drop is steeper.

Of the 241 filings here that give a cab, 91.7 percent are crew. The baseline is 72.6 percent. Nineteen points is the widest this gap gets across the nine model years, and it has now appeared three times running: fifteen points on the 2014, seventeen on the 2015, nineteen here.

The failures themselves read the same as the year before. 136 of the 252 put the failure at low speed, or name a place that means the same — backing up, a parking lot, a driveway, a drive-through. 86 describe a pedal that went hard, stiff or to the floor. 64 name the vacuum pump or the booster.

ODI 11531987:

“My 2016 Chevy Silverado had intermittent hard braking. Especially at slower speeds the brake pedal would get very hard to press and needed a lot of effort to stop. I was especially concerned having newer drivers in my household that the truck was unsafe. I nearly hit others vehicles especially at stoplights and in parking lots. The vehicle was taken to the GM dealer who said it was under recall and completed the repairs. However even though the recall repairs were completed the vehicle still continued to have hard braking issues. It was not resolved until I had the brake vacuum booster pump replaced by a 3rd party as GM was unwilling to complete the repair under the recall”

The recall remedy on the vacuum pump campaign is a reprogram of the brake control module, not a new pump. This owner had the campaign closed and the pedal still went hard.

What the record does not say is why the cab matters. It is not something owners write about; it comes out of the VIN.

Transmission — 191

Counted as filings NHTSA tagged power train, plus those that name the transmission, a shudder or the torque converter.

Up from 142 on the 2015 truck while everything else fell, which makes this the year the transmission starts climbing toward the top spot it takes on the 2017 truck.

34 filings describe a shudder, 29 a hard shift or a bang, 27 name the torque converter.

This section runs 65.9 percent crew against the 72.6 percent baseline — it leans the other way from the brakes, though not far.

Steering — 119

Counted as filings NHTSA tagged steering, plus those that name the power steering, the steering assist or StabiliTrak.

Down from 194 on the 2015 and 463 on the 2014. Neither of the two steering recalls that reach the 2015 reaches this model year.

Electrical — 47

Counted as filings NHTSA tagged electrical system.

Engine — 41

Counted as filings NHTSA tagged engine, plus those that name a lifter, cylinder deactivation or a misfire.

The smallest engine section in this generation. On the 2021 truck the same rule gives 315.

Body and structure — 15

Counted as filings NHTSA tagged structure.

Air bags — 15

Counted as filings NHTSA tagged air bags.

Suspension — 13

Counted as filings NHTSA tagged suspension.

Small, and the recall below is about a suspension part that GM says affects steering.

The rest is thin

102 filings. The largest groups are 39 that NHTSA tagged unknown or other, 12 fuel or propulsion, and 11 exterior lighting.

Recalls

NHTSA holds this model year under two model names — “Silverado 1500” gives eleven campaigns and “Silverado” gives two, with no overlap. Merged, this truck carries thirteen campaigns, down from eighteen on each of the two years before it.

Four are brakes, and they are the same four the 2015 truck carries.

19V645000 — the brake vacuum pump, reported September 2019, covering 2014–2018 Silverado and Sierra. “The amount of vacuum created by the vacuum pump may decrease over time,” and as it drops the braking effort rises and the stopping distance grows. The remedy is a reprogram of the brake control module rather than a new pump. 13 filings name it.

16V069000 — brake pedal and linkage, reported February 2016.

18V578000 — the same component and the same stated consequence, reported August 2018. On the 1500 it names only the Crew Cab Special Service, a fleet trim, and GM’s remedy note says those trucks need it despite being covered by 16V069000 already. Check it by VIN rather than by year.

19V761000 — reported October 2019 and conditioned on a 5.3-liter engine, a 3.08-ratio rear axle and four-wheel drive.

One campaign is specific to this model year and the 2017.

16V256000 — the front control arm, reported April 2016. GM’s stated consequence:

“Inadequate welds may allow the control arm to separate from the bushing, compromising steering and increasing the risk of a crash.”

A suspension part that GM describes in terms of steering. One filing names it by number.

The other eight

Seven of those eight are restraints. Two of them were reported in 2020 and 2021, four and five years after the truck was built.

13 filings on this model year say the owner’s VIN was not included in a recall they had read about. Counted as filings where “VIN” and a phrase like “was not included” — or covered, or listed, or in the recall — fall in the same sentence.

ODI 11557156:

“ok the problem is with the brakes, there were four incidents when the brake pedal gets hard and its hard to stop the truck. all four incidents happened backing into my driveway after stepping on the brake pedal 4 to 5 times it would hard. and it would be difficult to stop. The problem is with the brake booster vacuum pump. There was a recall for that exact problem on 2014-2018 silverados. I called the dealership, they told me my VIN # was not one of the listed ones for the recall. the vehicle is available for inspection if requested. the vehicle has not been inspected or confirmed by a dealer. there were no warnings lamps or messagesl. Im certain its the brake booster vacuun pump.”

What doesn’t show up in the complaints

NHTSA gives the 2016 Silverado 1500 five stars overall, five for the driver in the frontal test, five on side impact and four on rollover.

Nothing in the complaint record says the crash performance is a problem, and the air bag and belt filings track recall letters rather than crashes.

The mild-hybrid 5.3-liter matches the 4.3-liter V6 on combined fuel economy at 20 mpg in two-wheel drive while keeping the V8. No filing on this page is about the hybrid system.

What the complaint curve says

2016   37     2019  145     2022   65     2025   59
2017   50     2020  105     2023   96     2026   31
2018   90     2021   70     2024   47

The peak is 2019, the year both brake campaigns were announced. 2023 is the second-highest year, which is unusual — seven years in, with no campaign that year.

A complaint count going up can mean a letter arrived rather than that a truck got worse. 2019 fits that. 2023 does not, and the record does not say what it is.

Complaint databases collect complaints. Nobody files to say the pedal was firm. Rates are not comparable across models without running the same arithmetic on each. What this data supports is the ranking inside this truck and the cab split inside its largest section.

If you’re looking at one

Ordered by what it costs you if it goes wrong, not by how many people filed.

If it is a crew cab, test the brakes at walking speed before anything else. 136 filings put the failure at low speed, backing up, or in a parking lot, and 92 percent of the brake filings that give a cab are crew cabs. Back it up and stop it several times, then again after twenty minutes of driving.

Ask whether 19V645000 was completed and what the dealer did. The remedy is a software reprogram of the brake control module, not a new vacuum pump.

Ask about 16V256000 by number. The front control arm campaign covers this model year and the 2017 only, and GM describes the failure as compromising steering.

Drive it long enough to feel the transmission at highway speed. 191 filings are the transmission and 34 describe a shudder. No recall covers it on this model year.

Check the restraint campaigns by VIN. Seven of this year’s thirteen are air bags or belts, and two were reported four and five years after the truck was built — late enough that a used buyer may be the first person to look.

Numbers worth writing down

The 2017 truck is next, and the transmission takes the top spot by 23 filings.

Sources

• NHTSA complaint database — 795 complaints for the 2016 Silverado 1500, quoted above by ODI number
• NHTSA recall API — thirteen campaigns, merged from the “Silverado 1500” and “Silverado” model names, quoted from the campaign summaries and remedy text
• NHTSA vPIC — engine, cab and drive type, decoded from the VIN attached to each filing
• NHTSA safety ratings — 2016 Chevrolet Silverado 1500
• EPA fuel economy — city / highway / combined
• GoodCarBadCar Chevrolet Silverado sales figures

Complaint counts and quotes come from NHTSA’s public database, retrieved 2026-08-31; each quote lists its ODI number so you can look it up. Configuration comes from decoding the VIN attached to each filing — 773 of the 795 decode. Recall applicability depends on the VIN — check yours at nhtsa.gov/recalls. This summarizes what owners reported. It isn’t buying or repair advice.