Model years Chevrolet Colorado
2016 Chevrolet Colorado
Complaints about this year name power steering far more often than the other years of this generation — 57% of them, about 10× the usual rate of 5.6%.
Generation 2 of the Chevrolet Colorado, which began in 2015 and ran to 2022. Everything below compares this year against the others in that generation, not against a different car wearing the same name.
NHTSA opened a defect investigation into this model year.
| Complaints filed | 695 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 81 |
| Involving a crash | 14 |
| Involving a fire | 1 |
| Recalls | 4 |
| NHTSA crash rating | 4/5 |
| EPA combined | 21.5 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- power steering — 57.1% of this year's complaints, against 5.6% across the other years of this generation (10.2×).
- stabilitrak — 17% of this year's complaints, against 1.2% across the other years of this generation (13.8×). Owners wrote it as: stabilitrak, steering stabilitrak, stabilitrak power, steering suddenly.
- difficult — 27.6% of this year's complaints, against 10.3% across the other years of this generation (2.7×). Owners wrote it as: difficult, became, very difficult, difficult turn.
Words owners used for the same problem are counted together, so a fault written four different ways is measured once. Grouped by which complaints they appear in, not by a list anyone wrote in advance.
Also unusual this year
- stabilitrak — 15% of complaints, 27× usual
- difficult — 15% of complaints, 6× usual
- restarted — 8% of complaints, 8× usual
What owners wrote
Happened twice now while driving, power steering suddenly lost and two messages on dash: Loss of Power Steering and Stabilitrak. Pulled over and turned off ignition. When restarted all errors automatically cleared and systems appear to be functioning correctly…
StabiliTrak Warning light comes on and the power steering cuts out at the same time. The vehicle becomes very difficult to drive after the malfunction. The vehicle must be pulled to the side of the road, powered off, and then restarted to get the power steerin…
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 17V621000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.
- 18V358000 FUEL SYSTEM, GASOLINE Fixed free of charge.
- 15V807000 LATCHES/LOCKS/LINKAGES Fixed free of charge.
- 16V125000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.
How this was worked out
Every year of the Chevrolet Colorado was compared against its own history rather than against other cars, which removes popularity and age from the answer — a common car draws more complaints at equal reliability, and an older one has had longer to accumulate them. A year is flagged when it drew at least 2.5× this model's median and at least 50 complaints.
This is a fault record, not a review. Nobody files a federal complaint to say the car was fine, so it shows what tends to go wrong — not whether owners liked it, and not whether it is a good car.
Source: NHTSA complaints, recalls and investigations, retrieved . Look this vehicle up directly on NHTSA's site to check anything here.
Own a 2016 Chevrolet Colorado? What happened to yours?
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