Volkswagen Golf vs Chevrolet Silverado 2500

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	Volkswagen Golf	Chevrolet Silverado 2500
Complaints on file	2,013	5,011
Model years covered	1985–2023	1994–2026
Worst model year	2015	2005
Best model year	2021	2010
Crashes reported	77	242
Fires reported	44	151
Injuries reported	74	130
Deaths reported	1	8
Most complained-about part	Engine & Cooling	Brakes
Share of complaints involving harm	9.7%	10.6%

Volkswagen Golf by year

15 20 4 9 41 10 11 6 11 57 84 4 7 28 76 118 152 99 32 33 27 16 2 1 5 97 151 68 67 14 185 115 146 38 90 8 12 132 22

85 86 87 88 89 90 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

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

What breaks

Engine & Cooling 313 15.5%

Fuel & Propulsion 309 15.4%

Electrical System 212 10.5%

Airbags 195 9.7%

Transmission & Drivetrain 159 7.9%

Other & Unspecified 111 5.5%

Brakes 100 5.0%

Windows, Mirrors & Wipers 97 4.8%

Chevrolet Silverado 2500 by year

7 6 2 74 82 95 156 379 408 561 431 337 218 253 226 79 27 128 70 71 52 245 157 69 70 104 139 105 130 71 208 44 7

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 1,336 26.7%

Electrical System 701 14.0%

Engine & Cooling 469 9.4%

Transmission & Drivetrain 417 8.3%

Airbags 367 7.3%

Fuel & Propulsion 314 6.3%

Steering 285 5.7%

Other & Unspecified 222 4.4%