Torque converter failure on the 2017 Chevrolet Colorado
When torque converter failure gets reported
Owners of the 2017 Chevrolet Colorado report torque converter failure at a median of 25,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 15,000 miles and a quarter after 40,000 miles, from 14 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 96,000 miles. It is the 2nd most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 5,000 miles at the tenth percentile to 65,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 61,840 miles across the middle 80% of reports.
A spread this wide points at use rather than design. Towing, climate, service history and city mileage all move a failure like this, so the median is a weak guide to any individual car.
57% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4,090 miles | 13,875 miles | 24,675 miles | 38,000 miles | 65,930 miles |
Read the 10th percentile as “one report in ten arrived this early”. Exact figures are shown in this table because it is the table of record; everywhere else on the site they are rounded to the precision the sample can carry.
What a percentile can and cannot tell you here
These five numbers describe the readings owners gave, in order. The median is the middle one: half the reports arrived below it. The 10th and 90th are the edges of the bulk of the distribution, and the distance between them is the part worth reading. A tight spread — say 70,000 to 95,000 miles — points at something that wears out on a schedule, and the schedule is knowable. A wide one, 20,000 to 190,000, points at a fault that hits some cars and never troubles others, which means the mileage on the listing in front of you tells you very little about your odds.
What these figures are not is a survival curve. Every reading here comes from a car whose owner filed a complaint, so the sample contains only failures: it cannot say what share of the fleet made it past 150,000 miles untouched, because those owners had nothing to report. Nor is the mileage the moment of failure — it is the odometer reading as recalled at the time of filing, which may be weeks later and is sometimes rounded to the nearest ten thousand by the person typing it.
Percentiles are shown at all only once 8 readings exist for the vehicle and mode. Below that the middle of a handful of numbers is noise wearing a decimal point, so the figures are withheld rather than dressed up.
What happens, and what it costs
Putting it right typically runs $1,100–$3,200 at an independent US shop. That range is an editorial estimate held in this site's failure-mode catalogue, not a figure from NHTSA, and it is a repair cost rather than a diagnosis cost.
The same failure on other years
The same failure is reported on 4 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2018, at a median of 15,000 miles, and latest on the 2020 at 40,000 miles.
By volume the 2017 is the worst of them, which makes this a problem of this specific year rather than of the model as a whole.
If one year stands out to the left, that is the year to avoid; if the whole line sits at a similar mileage, this is wear rather than a defect in one production run.
Tick median reported mileage Solid middle half of reports Faint 10th to 90th percentile Colour how bad the failure is when it happens
What owners wrote
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint narratives, trimmed for length. The mileage is the one the owner gave.
The problem with my chevrolet colorado 2017 truck started with when the new truck barley had under 200 miles on its odometer. The issue is the truck starts to vibrated at a speed of 50-55 MPH like if you are going thru speed bumps and the noise stops when you go over 60 miles per hour. I have done a simple 20 minute reserch and have found out that there are other individuals that have had the same issue with their same year colorado truck's. I took my truck to the dealership where I bought the truck. They knew exactly what the issue was. They are in the process of replacing the torque converter. Looks like a major concern to me.
After about 600-700 miles on new vehicle, after truck sits overnight when first started you could feel what seems to be the the torque converter was engaging as it the transmission had lost pressure. Then while driving anywhere between 40-65mph converter seem to be unlocking and locking which cause a very bad shutter as if you were driving over bricks, and then when coming to a stop the transmission down shifted into 1st gear very very hard, which is hard on the drive line. Took back to dealer they keep it 3 days and flushed trans fluid with a new special fluid. The shuttering has stopped but the other 2 problems remain, so I'm thinking now they'll have to change the converter out.
Also reported on the 2017 Chevrolet Colorado
Other powertrain problem
Other electrical problem
Other engine problem
Other steering problem
Wiring harness or short circuit
Infotainment screen failure
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 19 is a floor and not a count of affected cars. Mileages are typed in by owners and cluster on round numbers. And the mode itself is assigned by software reading the complaint text, which is reliable in bulk and fallible one report at a time.
Questions this page answers
At what mileage does torque converter failure happen on the 2017 Chevrolet Colorado?
Across 14 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 25,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 15,000 miles and a quarter after 40,000 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is torque converter failure on the 2017 Chevrolet Colorado?
19 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 543 per 1,000 vehicles. Complaints are voluntary, so this is a floor rather than a count of affected cars.
What this is and is not. These are the mileages at which owners chose to complain to a federal agency, which is not the same as the mileage at which the part fails on every car. It skews toward failures that happened outside warranty, cost real money, or frightened someone. It is still the only public dataset that carries failure mileage at all, and the shape of a few hundred readings is informative even when a single one is not. Methodology · JSON · this failure on other cars
Source Owner complaints and recall records published by the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, model years 1996–2027 Figures rebuilt Published by AtWhatMileage How every figure is computed