1998 Chevrolet Silverado problems
Owners have filed 335 complaints with NHTSA about the 1998 Chevrolet Silverado. Brakes is the most reported problem area, at 32% of complaints. Next are wipers, windshield & visibility (13%) and steering (7%).
At a glance
- Complaints
- 335 filed with NHTSA
- Most reported
- Brakes 32% of complaints
- Crashes and fires
- 19 and 6
- Injuries and deaths
- 17 and 2
- Typical mileage
- 74,000 miles 96 complaints with mileage
Source: NHTSA owner complaints
Where the complaints are
Share of this model year's complaints by the part of the car involved. One complaint can name more than one part, so the shares can add up to more than 100%.
When problems show up
View the numbers
| Mileage | Complaints |
|---|---|
| 0k to 20k miles | 5 |
| 20k to 40k miles | 8 |
| 40k to 60k miles | 16 |
| 60k to 80k miles | 25 |
| 80k to 100k miles | 16 |
| 100k to 120k miles | 14 |
| 120k to 140k miles | 4 |
| 140k to 160k miles | 4 |
| 160k to 180k miles | 1 |
| 180k to 200k miles | 3 |
| 200k+ miles | 0 |
What the data shows
Of the 96 complaints that include odometer readings, half describe a problem before roughly 74,000 miles. For brakes specifically, the median reported mileage is about 65,000 miles (25 complaints with mileage).
Safety-related details: 19 complaints mention a crash; 6 complaints mention a fire; 17 injuries reported; 2 deaths reported.
Looking only at complaints filed within five years of the model year (so older and newer years are comparable), the 1998 ranks 10th most-complained-about out of 26 model years of the Chevrolet Silverado with enough data (182 complaints in that window).
What owners wrote
A few complaints as filed, shortened and with personal details removed. The first ones are among the most serious reports for this model year; the rest are typical.
Consumer called on behalf of the owner who was killed in the vehicle. Owner was traveling at about 50 MPH in good weather conditions when vehicle went over the rumble strips in the road. Started to pump the brakes, and realized there were none. Vehicle went through a stop sign, was hit from the side, and flipped into a ditch. Owner was killed from the impact.
Vehicle left roadway and went into a drainage ditch. The airbags failed to deploy resulting in the drivers death.
The driver's seat overheated while driving. The driver sustained injuries to both legs. The driver went to the hospital the next day. Driver took vehicle to the dealer, and mechanic determined that the left seat needed to be replaced. The consumer stated that the tailgate cables failed twice.
Dt: while driving on the road after about 5 minutes, an odor of smoke came from under the hood. The consumer stopped on the side of the road, looked under the hood and everything seemed fine. When the driver returned to the cab of the vehicle, it was filled with smoke. The fire dept was called to the scene to put out the fire.
Transmission went out it started that when you put it reverse it didn't want to go then put into drive then reverse it worked. Then while driving we pulled into parking spot and tried to reverse it was totally gone. Windshied wipers stop working on and off. You can hear the motor they won't move and at most times it effects the windshield washer fluid so it doesn't work.