1997 Chevrolet Van problems
NHTSA has received 41 complaints about the 1997 Chevrolet Van, and 12% of them involve fuel system. After that come transmission (12%) and brakes (10%).
At a glance
- Complaints
- 41 filed with NHTSA
- Most reported
- Fuel system 12% of complaints
- Crashes and fires
- 0 and 0
- Injuries and deaths
- 2 and 0
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%.
What the data shows
Safety-related details: 2 injuries reported. Its complaints are less severe on average than those of 80% of model years in our database.
Looking only at complaints filed within five years of the model year (so older and newer years are comparable), the 1997 ranks 3rd most-complained-about out of 4 model years of the Chevrolet Van with enough data (15 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.
Seat belt attaches to door which blocks entrance and exit of vehicle, also when disconnected they hang loosely in front of entrance/exit.
The inside plastic stem that joins to the metal rod from the heating/cooling unit split, causing control knobs for air conditioner/heater to break.
Consumer complains that door mounted shoulder belts prohibit entering/exiting of vehicle when connected, when not connected, they hang loosely.
Steering locked on taking a left turn within a parking lot. Remembered that chevrolet had serviced a recall on the vehicle in feb 2003. However, they only replaced the lower pinion bearing, but did not replace the steering gear. Took it to the chevy dealership immediately. Their inspection pointed to a worn steering gear as the cause of the steering lock. This happened within 17,000 miles of their servicing the recall. Read about numerous failures under investigation (pe01038) all pointing to the same failure.
I have a 1997 chevy venture. I have been having problems with the rack and pinion. There is a recall on them but chevy says there is no recall. I first talked to someone on the phone and they told me that yes there was a recall. They told me to take it to the chevy dealer. I took it and they said there was no recall. So I called the chevy 800 number again and now they say there is no recall. But I still see the recall here. So what can I do.