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	9,504	23,432
Model years covered	1991–2026	1994–2026
Worst model year	2018	2019
Best model year	2012	2012
Crashes reported	233	1,086
Fires reported	246	354
Injuries reported	162	547
Deaths reported	12	52
Most complained-about part	Steering	Brakes
Share of complaints involving harm	6.9%	8.7%

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 37 459 448 1,837 639 1,938 360 213 161 76 57 19 13

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 2,487 26.2%

Suspension 2,238 23.5%

Engine & Cooling 1,053 11.1%

Electrical System 511 5.4%

Fuel & Propulsion 509 5.4%

Transmission & Drivetrain 462 4.9%

Other & Unspecified 443 4.7%

Brakes 296 3.1%

Chevrolet Silverado 1500 by year

10 6 10 693 452 711 731 627 620 960 951 643 462 1,056 1,094 553 451 698 278 392 2,200 1,426 1,050 957 752 1,545 1,038 1,068 845 522 396 135 100

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 4,765 20.3%

Engine & Cooling 2,949 12.6%

Electrical System 2,656 11.3%

Transmission & Drivetrain 2,437 10.4%

Airbags 2,406 10.3%

Other & Unspecified 1,550 6.6%

Steering 1,524 6.5%

Body & Structure 929 4.0%