Chevrolet Silverado 2500: which years to buy, and what breaks on them
Best and worst years of the Chevrolet Silverado 2500
Of the 29 model years of the Chevrolet Silverado 2500 that carry enough owner reports to score, 2013 comes out best at 63 out of 100 and 2019 worst at 81. The scores rank each year against other cars of the same model year, so an older one is not penalised for having had longer to break.
4,988 owner reports across 31 model years, 3,354 of them carrying an odometer reading. 29 years carry enough reports to score.
The year to buy, and the year to avoid
Both figures are ranks against other vehicles of the same model year, so the two are comparable even when the years are a decade apart. Each links to that year's full report.
2013 Chevrolet Silverado 2500
Best of 31 years on 71 owner reports, its own worst problem being airbag inflator rupture. Evidence behind the score: high confidence.
2019 Chevrolet Silverado 2500
Risk 81 of 100 from 104 reports, worst problem other engine problem.
Severe High confidence confidence
How much the year actually matters
The gap between the best and worst year is 18 points on a 100-point scale, which is wide enough to be worth acting on when two cars are otherwise comparable.
Across every year of the Chevrolet Silverado 2500, owners have filed 4,988 reports with NHTSA. The 2003 accounts for the largest share at 561, which can mean a genuinely troublesome year or simply the year that sold best and has been on the road longest.
What tends to break across the Chevrolet Silverado 2500
Taking the most-reported failure from each model year, the recurring problems on the Chevrolet Silverado 2500 are loss of braking (worst mode in 8 years), airbag inflator rupture (worst mode in 6 years) and other powertrain problem (worst mode in 4 years). A fault that heads the list in most years is characteristic of the design; one that heads a single year is usually a batch or a supplier.
Every model year, scored
Shorter is better, and the outlined row is the best year of the line. A year with too few reports to score is shown without a bar rather than as a zero, because no data is not the same as no problems.
What each column means
Reports counts owner complaints filed with NHTSA against that model year. Filing is voluntary and unverified, so the count is a floor on how often something went wrong, never a census. It also rises with how many cars were sold, which is why the next column exists.
Per 1,000 divides those reports by an estimate of how many of that model year are on the road, so a common car and a rare one can be compared. The estimate comes from the vehicle counts in recall campaigns covering the same model year, which is the only per-model fleet figure published free of charge; where no recall covers a year, this column is blank rather than guessed.
Median report is the odometer reading at the midpoint of that year's reports: half of the readings owners gave were below it. It is a description of when problems get reported, not a prediction of when this car will break, and it needs at least eight readings before it is shown at all.
Risk is a 0–100 score combining how often reports arrive relative to fleet size, how serious they are, and how early they land, ranked against other vehicles of the same model year only. Confidence says how much evidence sits behind it: a low score on thin evidence is a shrug, not a clean bill of health. Both are defined in full on the methodology page.
Generations, and why the boundary matters
The Chevrolet Silverado 2500 splits into generations: 1996–2000 (best 1999, worst 2000), 2001–2006 (best 2002, worst 2006), 2007–2010 (best 2010, worst 2007), 2011–2016 (best 2013, worst 2015), 2017–2019 (best 2017, worst 2019) and 2020–2026 (best 2023, worst 2024). Comparing years inside one generation is the fair comparison — same body, same engines, usually the same suppliers.
Generation boundaries here are inferred from the pattern of model years in the data rather than taken from manufacturer documentation, so they are occasionally a year out. Where a boundary matters to a purchase, check it against the build date on the car.
| Generation | Years | Best year | Worst year | Spread |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1996-2000 | 1996–2000 | 1999 Chevrolet Silverado 2500 68 | 2000 Chevrolet Silverado 2500 71 | 3 |
| 2001-2006 | 2001–2006 | 2002 Chevrolet Silverado 2500 71 | 2006 Chevrolet Silverado 2500 76 | 5 |
| 2007-2010 | 2007–2010 | 2010 Chevrolet Silverado 2500 64 | 2007 Chevrolet Silverado 2500 69 | 5 |
| 2011-2016 | 2011–2016 | 2013 Chevrolet Silverado 2500 63 | 2015 Chevrolet Silverado 2500 72 | 9 |
| 2017-2019 | 2017–2019 | 2017 Chevrolet Silverado 2500 73 | 2019 Chevrolet Silverado 2500 81 | 8 |
| 2020-2026 | 2020–2026 | 2023 Chevrolet Silverado 2500 64 | 2024 Chevrolet Silverado 2500 76 | 12 |
How to use this page
Use it to eliminate rather than to select. The years at the top of the risk column are the ones where enough owners reported enough serious failures to be worth avoiding when there is a choice; below that, the differences are smaller than the difference between a well-kept car and a neglected one.
Every figure comes from owner complaints filed with NHTSA and from recall records, both voluntary in the sense that nobody audits them for completeness. Counts are floors. The AtWhatMileage methodology page sets out each formula.
Questions this page answers
What is the best year for the Chevrolet Silverado 2500?
Of the model years we can rate, 2013 Chevrolet Silverado 2500 scores best at 63 out of 100, based on 71 owner reports. 2019 scores worst at 81.
Which years of the Chevrolet Silverado 2500 should you avoid?
2019 has the highest risk score in this model line at 81 out of 100. The scores compare each year against other vehicles of the same model year, so they are not affected by age alone.
How the generations are drawn. NHTSA does not publish generation boundaries, so ours are inferred from breaks in the recall and complaint record and from the model's own year range. They are close to the enthusiast consensus but not authoritative — if a boundary looks wrong for a car you know well, tell us and we will fix the table rather than argue with you.
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