2017 Chevrolet Silverado 15003rd gen (2014–2018), fourth year

Updated 2026-08-31NHTSA counts read on this date — 836 complaints. They rise over time.

The 2017 Silverado Is the Year the Transmission Passed the Brakes. 230 Filings to 207.

For two model years running, brakes were what owners complained about most on this truck. Not on the 2017. The transmission took over, 230 filings to 207.

Six recall campaigns cover this model year. None of them is the transmission.

Owners have filed 836 complaints with NHTSA about the 2017 model year. Chevrolet sold 574,876 Silverados in calendar 2016 and another 585,864 in 2017 — that is the whole Silverado line, not just the 1500 — and 2017 trucks were sold across both of those years. So 836 complaints sit against a few hundred thousand trucks. That still is not a failure rate. 836 filings are not 836 owners, and the number is only worth anything because every other year in this series is counted the same way.

The basics

Carryover: the 4.3-liter V6, the 5.3-liter V8, the 6.2-liter V8 and a mild-hybrid 5.3, in regular, double and crew cab. The 5.3 comes with either a six-speed or an eight-speed automatic this year, as it did on the 2016.

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 716. The remaining 120 are spread across the smaller categories, and the last section below breaks them out.

Configuration comes from decoding the VIN attached to each filing. 815 of the 836 decode, and 780 of those come back as a crew or extended cab — 75.0 percent crew and 25.0 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. What the sections below measure is how far a section moves away from the 75.0 percent baseline.

Transmission — 230

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

Up from 191 on the 2016 truck, while the brakes went the other way, 252 down to 207.

68 describe a hard or harsh shift, a bang or a clunk. 51 describe a shudder or a vibration. 33 name the torque converter. 19 say the shift felt like being rear-ended by another vehicle, in those words.

ODI 11185850:

“I BOUGHT MY PICKUP BRAND NEW FROM A CERTIFIED CHEVROLET DEALER AND HAVE HAD AN ISSUE SINCE I TEST DROVE IT. WHEN SHIFTING UNDER LOW THROTTLE FROM 1ST TO 2ND GEAR AND BACK DOWN FROM 2ND TO 1ST, THERE IS A TERRIBLE CLUNK. SOMETIMES ITS BARELY NOTICEABLE, AND OTHER TIMES IF FEELS LIKE I’VE BEEN REAR ENDED. THERE IS AN EXTREMELY NOTICEABLE HESITATION WHEN STARTING OFF FROM A COMPLETE STOP, WHICH COULD POTENTIALLY PUT MYSELF AND OTHER DRIVERS IN DANGER. I’VE BROUGHT MY VEHICLE BACK TO THE DEALER MULTIPLE TIMES AND HAVE BEEN TOLD THAT THERE IS NO FIX.”

55 of the 230 say the transmission was replaced or rebuilt. 20 of those list a mileage. They run from 10,000 to 160,000 miles, and 14 of the 20 land between 69,000 and 116,000.

ODI 11432409:

“In the last few weeks there have been five instances of the vehicle downshifting multiple gears at approximately 60 MPH with a hard shift. The vehicle was in 2wd mode during all events. This occurred twice on wet roads and resulted in a momentary loss of control which I was able to recover when the rear wheels suddenly slowed and skidded. The vehicle was taken to Brenegen Chevrolet in Onalaska, WI today. The dealer was unable to replicate the issue and charged me for diagnostic time. Vehicle mileage is 53k”

The record does not say which transmission. Both the six-speed and the eight-speed were sold behind the 5.3 this year, and the VIN attached to a filing does not say which one.

218 of the 230 list a cab, and 77.1 percent of those are crew, against the 75.0 percent baseline. Two points — no lean at all. Transmission complaints track the truck as a whole.

Brakes — 207

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

Down from 252 on the 2016.

87 put the failure at low speed, or name a place that means the same — backing up, a parking lot, a driveway, a drive-through. 57 describe a pedal that went hard, stiff or to the floor. 37 name the vacuum pump or the booster.

197 of the 207 list a cab, and 87.3 percent of those are crew. The baseline is 75.0 percent. Twelve points, the fourth model year running that this section leans crew, and the last one where it is this wide: on the 2018 truck the same arithmetic gives three points.

Steering — 79

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

Down from 119 on the 2016 and 463 on the 2014. No steering campaign reaches this model year.

Engine — 76

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

30 of the 76 name a lifter, 13 name the camshaft and 12 name cylinder deactivation or Active Fuel Management. Decode those 30 and 20 are the 5.3-liter and 10 are the 6.2 — both engines, not one. It is a small section on this model year and a large one later: the same rule gives 315 on the 2021 truck.

Electrical — 71

Counted as filings NHTSA tagged electrical system.

The strongest cab lean on this truck is here, and it points the other way: 70 of the 71 list a cab and only 54.3 percent of those are crew, against 75.0 percent. Twenty-one points toward extended cabs, on a section a third the size of the brakes.

Air bags — 24

Counted as filings NHTSA tagged air bags.

Body and structure — 22

Counted as filings NHTSA tagged structure.

Suspension — 7

Counted as filings NHTSA tagged suspension.

The smallest section on this truck, and one of the six recalls is a suspension part.

The rest is thin

120 filings. The largest groups are 43 that NHTSA tagged unknown or other, 16 fuel or propulsion, and 13 exterior lighting.

Recalls

NHTSA files this model year under “Silverado 1500” only. Searching the plain “Silverado” name turns up nothing extra here — on the 2015 it adds seven campaigns and on the 2016 two, but not on this truck. Six campaigns, down from thirteen on the 2016 and eighteen on the 2015.

Two are brakes.

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 the vacuum drops the pedal gets harder to push and the truck takes longer to stop. The remedy is a reprogram of the brake control module rather than a new pump. 20 filings name it by number, more than on any other year in this series.

19V761000 — reported October 2019, and it only applies if the truck has all three: the 5.3-liter engine, a 3.08 rear axle and four-wheel drive. Between 41 and 60 mph, a failed wheel-speed sensor can make the module brake the wheel on the opposite side. Five filings name it.

“Unintended activation of the driveline-protection system will cause unintended braking on the wheel on the opposite side of the failed sensor, causing the vehicle to pull to one side unexpectedly, increasing the risk of a crash.”

16V256000 — the front upper control arm, reported April 2016, covering this model year and the 2016 and nothing else. Inadequate welds near the bushing, and GM describes the consequence in terms of steering rather than suspension: the arm can separate from the bushing, “compromising steering.” Two filings name it.

Two are frontal air bags, and the second one is there because the first one may not have taken.

16V651000, reported September 2016, and 17V437000, reported July 2017. Both describe the same problem: while the air bag module runs a self-test, the front air bags and the seat belt pretensioners will not fire in a crash. GM’s summary of the second says why there is a second:

“While being previously remedied for recall 16V-651, the affected vehicles may not have received the complete software update necessary to remedy the recall condition.”

A recall that reads “completed” on a Carfax is not the same as a fixed truck. This is the case where GM says so itself.

The sixth is unlike the rest.

17V487000 — reported August 2017 and covering only the 2017 Silverado 1500 and Sierra 1500. Nothing on the truck is wrong. The owner’s manual is missing the instructions for the child seat tether and anchorage system, which puts the vehicle out of compliance with Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard 225.

“If the instructions are missing from the owner’s manual, the child seat may be installed incorrectly and not be properly secured, increasing the risk of injury in a crash.”

The remedy is a new manual. On a used truck the manual is often the first thing missing from the glovebox anyway.

12 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” shows up in the same sentence as “was not included,” “not covered,” “not listed” or “not in the recall.”

What doesn’t show up in the complaints

NHTSA gives the 2017 Silverado 1500 five stars overall, five for the driver in the frontal test, five on side impact and four on rollover. Regular, extended and crew cab all score the same, and so does the hybrid.

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

On fuel economy the six-speed beats the eight: 19 mpg combined against 18 in two-wheel drive with the same 5.3-liter engine, and 18 against 17 in four-wheel drive.

What the complaint curve says

2016    1     2019  108     2022   94     2025   81
2017   42     2020  114     2023  109     2026   44
2018   71     2021   89     2024   83

The peak is 2020 and the second-highest year is 2023, six years after the truck was built.

On the 2015 and the 2016 the tallest years sat directly on top of the brake campaigns, and a complaint count going up could mean a letter arrived rather than that a truck got worse. Some of that is here too. The vacuum pump campaign was announced in September 2019 and the wheel-speed campaign in October, and filings ran 16 in October and 15 in November against three to ten in every other month of that year.

It does not explain the shape, though. 2019 is only the third-highest year, the peak is the year after it, and the largest section on this truck has no campaign at any point.

Complaint databases collect complaints. Nobody files to say the transmission shifted cleanly. You cannot compare these numbers across models unless you count them the same way on both. What this data supports is the ranking inside this truck and the cab split inside its sections.

If you’re looking at one

Ordered by what it costs you if it goes wrong, not by how many people filed. The transmission is first because it is the largest bill on this truck and no campaign covers it. The campaigns under it are the safety items, and those repairs are free.

Drive it long enough to feel the transmission shift under light throttle, and again coming to a stop. 68 filings describe a hard shift or a clunk and 51 describe a shudder. Nineteen use the same phrase for it — like being hit from behind. No recall covers it.

Get the transmission service records and read them by name: fluid changes, torque converter, replacement. 55 filings on this model year say the transmission was replaced or rebuilt, and 33 name the torque converter. A truck that has already had the converter done is a different purchase from one that has not.

Have the dealer pull 19V645000 and tell you what they actually did. The remedy is a software reprogram of the brake control module, not a new vacuum pump.

Check 16V651000 and 17V437000 by VIN, and check both. The second campaign exists because the software update from the first may not have gone in completely. This is the one place where a closed recall on paper is documented as not finished.

Test the brakes at walking speed. 87 of the 207 brake filings put it at low speed — backing up, a parking lot, a drive-through — and 87.3 percent of the ones that list a cab are crew.

If it is a 2016 or a 2017, bring up 16V256000 by number. Those two model years are the whole campaign, and GM describes a suspension weld failing as a steering problem.

Numbers worth writing down

The 2018 truck is next, and it is the thinnest year in the generation at 514 filings.

Sources

• NHTSA complaint database — 836 complaints for the 2017 Silverado 1500, quoted above by ODI number
• NHTSA recall API — six campaigns, quoted from the campaign summaries and consequence text
• NHTSA vPIC — engine, cab and drive type, decoded from the VIN attached to each filing
• NHTSA safety ratings — 2017 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 — 815 of the 836 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.