Control module (ECM/PCM/BCM) failure on the 2017 Chevrolet Silverado 1500
When control module (ecm/pcm/bcm) failure gets reported
Owners of the 2017 Chevrolet Silverado 1500 report control module (ECM/PCM/BCM) failure at a median of 50,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 30,000 miles and a quarter after 65,000 miles, from 13 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 92,000 miles. It is the 10th most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 15,000 miles at the tenth percentile to 115,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 96,568 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.
31% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 16,774 miles | 28,500 miles | 50,760 miles | 66,710 miles | 113,342 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 $700–$3,000 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 21 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2020, at a median of 15,000 miles, and latest on the 2002 at 130,000 miles.
By volume the 2014 carries the most reports, with 29; the 2017 has 23. A mode that appears across most years of a model is usually a design choice rather than a bad batch.
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.
When coming to a stop hearing a clunk in the drive train had same issue with 2016 silverado chevrolet replaced control module and calibrated gears on 2016 but when I told them about the same issue with the 2017 I was told this is normal so why would they waste time and money trying to repair an issue in their words is not an issue is beyond me, this needs to be recall item befroe mechanical failures resut in injuries or loss of lives.
Our 2017 silverado 1500 truck went into low power mode while driving on the interstate at 75 MPH. It started to run really rough and all of a sudden all the lights were flashing on the dash and it lost power. The light on the dash was flashing low power mode. Couldn't get above 35 MPH putting us in a very dangerous position with traffic flowing 70 MPH + had to try to maneuver off the interstate. Turned it off to reset it and it drove normal but the check engine light was on. Took it to the dealer and they said they had to reprogram the ECM. I found several other instances of this problem being reported on gm and chevrolet discussion forums.
Tl* the contact owns a 2017 chevrolet silverado 1500. While driving 25 MPH, the vehicle shifted hard from first to second gear. The failure occurred everyday since the vehicle was purchased in april of 2017. The vehicle was taken to o'reilly chevrolet (6160 e broadway blvd, tucson, az 85711) where it was diagnosed that the transmission control module failed. The dealer reprogrammed the transmission, which failed to remedy the failure. The vehicle was brought back to the dealer and the valve body for the transmission was replaced and the transmission fluid was changed. The failure recurred. The manufacturer was notified of the failures. The failure mileage was 16,000. *tt
Also reported on the 2017 Chevrolet Silverado 1500
Other brake problem
Other powertrain problem
Other electrical problem
Other engine problem
Other steering problem
Misfire or rough idle
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 23 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 control module (ecm/pcm/bcm) failure happen on the 2017 Chevrolet Silverado 1500?
Across 13 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 50,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 30,000 miles and a quarter after 65,000 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is control module (ecm/pcm/bcm) failure on the 2017 Chevrolet Silverado 1500?
23 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 0.3 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