Cadillac STS vs Chevrolet Silverado 3500

Both cars' complete complaint records, side by side.

Read the totals carefully. NHTSA publishes no sales figures, so the car that sold more collects more complaints regardless of quality. The rows worth weighing are the proportions — the share of complaints that involved harm, and which part dominates.

Measure	Cadillac STS	Chevrolet Silverado 3500
Complaints on file	610	1,453
Model years covered	1998–2011	1994–2026
Worst model year	2005	2000
Best model year	2002	2023
Crashes reported	74	75
Fires reported	26	28
Injuries reported	43	32
Deaths reported	0	5
Most complained-about part	Airbags	Brakes
Share of complaints involving harm	23.4%	9.6%

Cadillac STS by year

3 16 15 17 10 15 9 145 197 67 77 24 6 9

98 99 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11

Complaints filed with NHTSA, by model year. Bar colour is the FaultScore grade: A B C D F ungraded

What breaks

Airbags 106 17.4%

Electrical System 86 14.1%

Engine & Cooling 83 13.6%

Transmission & Drivetrain 47 7.7%

Fuel & Propulsion 42 6.9%

Brakes 34 5.6%

Stability & Traction Control 31 5.1%

Steering 25 4.1%

Chevrolet Silverado 3500 by year

1 2 78 100 73 114 97 64 60 46 60 61 42 36 10 4 42 31 36 10 78 72 14 27 34 53 56 35 21 72 19 5

94 96 97 98 99 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26

Complaints filed with NHTSA, by model year. Bar colour is the FaultScore grade: A B C D F ungraded

What breaks

Brakes 349 24.0%

Engine & Cooling 158 10.9%

Electrical System 145 10.0%

Fuel & Propulsion 143 9.8%

Transmission & Drivetrain 133 9.2%

Steering 89 6.1%

Tires 72 5.0%

Other & Unspecified 64 4.4%