Ford F-250 SD vs Chevrolet Silverado 1500

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	Ford F-250 SD	Chevrolet Silverado 1500
Complaints on file	9,519	23,671
Model years covered	1991–2026	1994–2026
Worst model year	2018	2019
Best model year	2012	2012
Crashes reported	233	1,091
Fires reported	247	355
Injuries reported	162	547
Deaths reported	12	52
Most complained-about part	Steering	Brakes
Share of complaints involving harm	6.9%	8.6%

Ford F-250 SD by year

1 3 4 2 12 11 52 1 304 277 331 282 229 345 381 353 85 175 33 48 189 97 32 37 459 450 1,837 639 1,943 364 214 163 76 57 19 14

91 92 93 94 95 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

Steering 2,489 26.1%

Suspension 2,238 23.5%

Engine & Cooling 1,054 11.1%

Fuel & Propulsion 515 5.4%

Electrical System 512 5.4%

Transmission & Drivetrain 464 4.9%

Other & Unspecified 445 4.7%

Brakes 296 3.1%

Chevrolet Silverado 1500 by year

10 6 10 693 452 711 732 627 620 960 951 643 464 1,056 1,094 553 453 698 279 392 2,201 1,431 1,054 957 756 1,568 1,075 1,102 875 538 429 151 130

94 95 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 4,779 20.2%

Engine & Cooling 3,057 12.9%

Electrical System 2,683 11.3%

Transmission & Drivetrain 2,479 10.5%

Airbags 2,407 10.2%

Other & Unspecified 1,560 6.6%

Steering 1,530 6.5%

Body & Structure 934 3.9%