general problems of the 2021 Chevrolet Silverado 1500 - part 1

The contact owns a 2021 Chevrolet Silverado 1500. The contact stated that the vehicle failed to start. The vehicle was taken to the local dealer, where it was diagnosed and determined that the battery needed to be replaced. The vehicle was repaired on two occasions, but the failure persisted. While attempting to open the trunk, the trunk failed to open. The manufacturer was not contacted. The failure mileage was approximately 500.

General motors is selling vehicles that are unsafe, unreliable, and unfit for consumers. My experience shows a clear pattern of negligence, misrepresentation, and disregard for public safety. On or about April of 2021, I purchased a 2021 chevy silverado rst z71 from vetter chvrolet for about $56,000. Gm promoted this vehicle as safe and dependable. Within the short 4 years of owning this truck, I faced major failures: engine issues, transmission problems and electrical malfunctions causing the parking break to engage on its own, at highway speeds of 70-80 mph on which nearly caused a serious accident, and failed electronic stability control (esc) system. This system helps maintain vehicle control, and a problem with it can affect braking, steering, and handling, despite following gm’s maintenance guidelines, gm delayed repairs, denied coverage on certain failures, and left me with thousands in out-of-pocket costs. The vehicle remains unreliable and unsafe. For myself and my family, 2 children under 3 years old and one on the way. This is not an isolated issue—gm has a long history of recalls and defect cover-ups. These vehicles put lives at risk, cause financial hardship, and violate consumer trust. No one should fear for their safety in a vehicle marketed as “dependable. ” this has impacted me by having : • expensive repairs • loss of transportation for extended periods • ongoing fear of driving a defective vehicle with my family in it. Loss of use of my vehicle • fear and emotional distress driving an unsafe product I have contacted gm and the dealership multiple times. Responses were dismissive, repairs were inadequate, and gm refuses accountability. Requested resolution: full reimbursement for all related costs buyback (preferred) of the vehicle or permanent repair at no cost public acknowledgment and stronger quality control. Warning to consumers: think twice before trusting gm. Their failure to correct dangerous defects shows profits matter more than safety.

See attached document for complaint.

Tailgate experienced issues with not unlatching when button is pushed and also unlatching when button is not pushed.

The contact owns a 2021 Chevrolet Silverado 1500. The contact stated while driving at various speeds, or while attempting to reverse, the infotainment system displayed a blank screen; however, approximately a minute later the infotainment screen displayed as intended. The contact stated that the radio became silent and then thirty seconds later the infotainment system operated as intended. A dealer was contacted. The vehicle was taken to the dealer where it was determined that the infotainment system needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure and opened a case. The approximate failure mileage was 44,540.

Engine started making clicking noise when accelerating. Followed by a large screeching noise. Dash read "shift to neutral and start again" pulled to stop and tried to start. Does not crank at all.

My 2021 silverado has the same issue as the current recall, whereas the tailgate open by itself when the vehicle is operations. This happens when it rains. The first time I noticed it I lost a cooler out of the back of my truck on the interstate highway. The second time it came down when hauling a trailer and cause minor damage to the tailgate. I have since removed the fuse that controls the tailgate. I notified Chevrolet of the issue, but the stated that my truck is not under the current recall.

I am filing a formal safety complaint regarding a persistent and unacceptable failure with my 2021 Chevrolet silverado trail boss. The vehicle intermittently fails to start due to a recurring “service steering column lock” error. While the key fob still locks, unlocks, and remote starts the truck, the push-to-start system becomes entirely non-functional once inside the vehicle. This defect is not only frustrating — it’s dangerous. My wife has already been stranded twice, once in below-freezing temperatures in January, and again in may, causing her to be late for work and left alone at night in unsafe conditions. A truck purchased for over $60,000, marketed as rugged and dependable, should not be experiencing a critical failure like this at just 48,000 miles. What’s more concerning is that this appears to be a known issue within the gm community, with no official recall despite technical service bulletins (tsbs) acknowledging the problem. Customers are being left with unreliable transportation and no consistent fix. This failure is both a mechanical and safety issue, leaving drivers vulnerable without warning. I urge NHTSA to investigate this defect, pressure gm for a formal recall, and ensure corrective action is taken before someone is injured due to being stranded or the failure progressing to more critical steering or ignition malfunctions.

I purchased this truck 3/20/2025. I have since realized it wasn't me doing something wrong. The truck hesitates and shakes during shifting upon acceleration from a stop and when putting it in park and attempting to turn the truck off it has a message on the display saying "shift to park" and it will not turn off until you repeatedly restart it and play woth the gear shift to get it to register that it's in park. I have made an appointment to take it to the dealership to be looked at. The truck has 75,000 miles on it.

The tailgate is opening automatically without anyone near the vehicle or keys. It has only started recently and I see similar vehicle models are being recalled for the same issue. My concern is that this could happen while driving down the road, posing a risk to other drivers if there are items in the bed of the vehicle. Prior to the tailgate opening unexpectedly, the button to push on the tailgate that opens it quit working. It will only open with the keys or button in the cab, or now at random times.

No check engine light, and my transmission didn't engage gear. I left vehicle off for the night, started it and it worked perfectly fine. Still, no check engine light was on.

Tailgate, inadvertently opens. Causing, causing items in my truck bed to be exposed, although I haven’t lost anything while traveling. I have witnessed this occurrence while truck is locked sitting in my driveway, last incident was last night, 13 Feb 25. Also, noticed it when pulling out of a repair shop after getting brake pads put on vehicle. Wife had witnessed it a few months ago while driving back from town. I noticed a recall had been made about Chevrolet trucks and inadvertently opening tailgates. However my truck was not listed as a recall, when I checked VIN. Called Chevrolet garage to see if they could find my VIN on the recall list. Most of the recalls were on the 2500 and 3500 series but it also listed trucks with switch in cab for tailgate to open. I do have an appointment for the problem at Chevrolet garage in the 18th. To fix problem and prevent causing a hazard on the roads.

I turned my truck on after grocery shopping and a notice to "service power steering" popped up on my dashboard. I took it to a mechanic shop where they ran diagnostics. They discovered a TSB # 21-na-149 and error code u0131. They believe there is an intermittent fault within the wiring causing the power steering to go out. My biggest fear is that this happens while I am negotiating a curve and lose power steering causing a crash or someone to get injured. There was also a "service esb" notice on the dashboard after the power steering notification.

The truck jerks when first driving and will jerk and lundge at various times and speeds. There is a almost grinding nosie. It often says "reduced engine power" and the engine light comes one, the "service esc" notice comes on with the vehicle light, when this happens the truck will barely accelerate even if flooring the gas, continues to make a grinding noise. This happens frequently, but then lights go away, then come back on. Dealership pulled multiple codes (image attached). This is a huge safety risk due to failure of acceleration, and the jerking that causes the truck to jerk while in motion and slow.

Started the vehicle and the steering wheel would not turn. Warning said: service esc & service power steering drive and the stability control light came on. After ready many complaints about the same thing, we turned the car off for 20 minutes and then on again and it worked. But this is dangerous.

I washed my truck and now suddenly the tailgate opens and closes whenever it decides and I have paint that is bubbling and it looks as if it’s gonna all chip right off the hood.

The rear power tailgate was randomly opening and closing on its own, on several different occasions. The safety risk was, if the tailgate would have opened when traveling down the roadways, items in the back could have fell out and possibly striking another vehicle and causing an accident. The truck has been taken to gandrud Chevrolet in green bay WI, confirmed there was a faulty tailgate switch and replaced. There was no warning before the switch failed, it just happened on its own.

1. The automatic tailgate opens by itself randomly. It appears to be malfunctioning. I am unable to open it from the tailgate now. When it’s open it continues to attempt to unlatch making the noise. It’s opened while driving. 2. So far I lost a cooler on the highway due to this problem which would cause a road hazard to other drivers. 3. I brought it to the dealer they said it’s not there problem due to my VIN not matching the recall even though there’s a recall for this problem with same year trucks. 4. It has not been inspected due it not being an official recall. 5. No warning lights regarding this issue.

Unknown. Park switch module is not working correctly. The vehicle keeps displaying message saying the vehicle needs to be the parking position.

I was driving down the highway when my tailgate open on its own. This has happened 4-5 times where items could have fallen from my truck bed and caused an accident. There is an active recall for this issue but according to my VIN my vehicle isn’t affected but it clearly is. Dealer has inspected and confirmed it’s the same issue as with other models.

My windshield wipers stop working on low and high and from time to time my vehicle will not go in reverse. When it does finally go in reverse it's a very hard jerk, also when I'm driving it gets a drag an acts like it wants to stop going. It happens frequently and it has been going on for months.

Unknown - the truck began jerking/braking on its own while driving last week. I took it to a local transmission shop where it has sat for the past week as they said the transmission control module/tcm needs to be replaced but the part needed is on back order. This issue sounds similar to the recent transmission recall (n242454440) though our VIN does not show there to be a recall on our exact vehicle. Our truck meets the specifications of the recall and having it inoperable has placed a hardship on my family. How can I get it fixed under this recall at a local gm dealer?.

Vehicle attempted to do an 'over the air' update to the infotainment system. This prompted an error message, stating the update failed and return to the dealership. Took vehicle to gm dealer, diagnostics were run, and dealer stated that an update was not available, and the module for the infotainment system was bad. Quoted me $1600 for replacement and install. Have read multiple reports with owners' having the same issue. Infotainment system attempts to do an update, and it fails. The owners are left paying out of pocket for something that was not their fault. This needs to be a recall. Not only are you paying a hefty amount for a repair that is not your fault, but the entire infotainment system doesn't not work (stereo, cooling/heating info, back up camera etc).

The inner tailgate on my 21 silverado is not functioning properly. The upper electronic button on the tailgate operates the inner tailgate and will release when opening the vehicle. It will continue to release by itself and can cause damage to the vehicle or to other vehicles while carrying a load.

There is a current recall out there for the tailgates releasing on 20-24 chevy silverado 2500 and 3500. I own a 1500 and am having the same issue. Water is getting into the rear electronic switch and releasing the tailgate unbeknownst to me. I have lost items that were in the bed on the pickup on the road while traveling. Can the recall include the 1500 models also?.

While leaving work I started the truck like normal and the dash lit up like a christmas tree. Saying service esc, service power steering,and service brake system. The esc light was on as well as the check engine light. There was no forewarning about this.

Push-button tailgate electrical failure. Tailgate opens on its own while driving and while truck is off. This is a known issue that has already been recalled by gm but my truck was not included in the recall, even though the problem and repair are exactly the same as the currently recalled vehicles. I had to pay a gm dealership to make the repair as the vehicle was unsafe to drive due to potential for flying debris from the bed while driving.

Lifter failure of the right bank in 2021 at 19,000 miles. At the time of failure engine was 2. 5 quarts low on oil. Ever since, this truck has been using oil excessively. I am currently involved with an oil consumption test. Of which over the last 5k miles I have had to have more oil added by the dealership.

The tailgate activates on its own, whether the truck is on or off, in motion or parked, the tailgate will activate and open at random times. There is no button that is pressed down, and no user error making this happen. When driving the vehicle, the tailgate will slam open and if you are pulling a trailer, the tailgate will slam into the trailer hitch and cause damage. Also, contents falling out of a truck bed is also a serious concern for other drivers. The truck was read for codes, and the code u0140 came up for the body control module that is malfunctioning. The truck has not been inspected by the manufacturer as of yet, but if need be, it can be arranged. The first time this error was noticed was in August 2024, and has been happening on & off since then. There were no dashboard lights on showing an issue was present when it first started and even now there are still no warning lights. Please consider issuing a recall, this is a major safety issue for other drivers.

Multiple times at varying speeds my 2021 silverado has produced engine misfire codes. I have never been able to get to it quick enough to see what cylinders are misfiring so it always gives me a general p0300 code. The following first two times it was confirmed by widrick truck and diesel in carthage, NY. The last time it happened, the code disappeared before I would take it to the chevy dealership. Widrick said they can’t fix the problem because they don’t know what it is, and Chevrolet denies there is a problem at all. The truck still has less than 50k miles on it.

Electric tailgate opener button switch on tailgate failed and allowed tailgate to open while traveling. Lost a tote containing tools onto the roadway when accelerating from an intersection. Luckily it was a rural road with no traffic and no one hit tool tote in the roadway. This seems to be a serious safety hazard especially if a motorcycle would of hit lost cargo in the roadway.

My check engine light came on. When taking it to the dealership, they say it's the catalytic converter. The converter is not an electronic part, so we replaced the O2 sensors and the check engine light came back on. I've taken this truck to several people who repairs cars, and the vehicle is only 3 years old , should not need to be replaced. A converter should last 10-15 years. In doing some research, I found the the 2019 recalled for the ecm module. Causing the same issue as the faulty reading on a catalytic converter. I am now out of warranty due to being 2,000 miles over the limit.

When you drive the truck for at least an hour then you turn it off the entire front like vibrates or shakes . It almost feels like something is still turning in the transmission but everything is turned off. This particular truck has already had the engine replaced at 14,000 miles bc it was faulty. It also has issues with tires. The radio and lights also all go off for brief time and then it comes back on. At times the drives side seat belt will lock and it pins you to the seat where you cannot move and you have to remove the seat belt. It is becoming more of an issue. I believe the transmission to be going out. Today, I wasn’t sure if the vibration in the truck was going to stop. So I stopped driving the truck and went and got another vehicle to drive.

Rear tail gate opens when parked and while driving. It also opens when key has been removed.

Back in March 2024 the tailgate opened on its own only a few times. Now April 2024 it opened on its own several times without a button being pushed. After it opened it made several clocks like the tailgate is trying to lower. Now the tailgate button does not work and can only open it with the key fob.