Are New Trucks Like the Chevy Silverado Really Less Reliable Than Older Ones?
Recently, a Chevy Silverado owner posted about their transmission failure, leading to a fascinating discussion about reliability in modern vehicles.
For the most part, automotive enthusiasts tend to agree on just a few topics, in spite of their many differences of option. One such belief is that older trucks are simply more reliable than newer ones, a problem stemming from overly complicated powertrains, a boatload of electronics, and other tech that seemingly tends to go bad before those vehicles even hit six digits on the odometer. In fact, this notion seemed to be precisely the reason why a 2019 Chevy Silverado owner recently suffered a premature transmission failure – prompting him to post about it in the 2019-2025 Chevy Silverado & GMC Sierra Owners Facebook group – but it also sparked a fascinating discussion about reliability, too.
“Well, I got a call yesterday I didn’t expect. My 2019 Chevy Silverado RST with only 93,000 miles needs a new transmission. I guess they don’t make these trucks like they used to. Wonder if Dodge or Ford is having the same issue; if not, I might make the switch. Had GM all my life,” said the owner, Mark Hensley. This post wound up prompting a ton of replies from others sharing frustrations over various issues they’ve experienced or seen happen with modern trucks, too.
“They are all having the same types of issues because they all have to have similar overly complicated systems to meet government mandates on fuel mileage and emissions,” said fellow member Marcus Klem. “Yes, every other make and model has different issues. To find out for yourself, join each make/model group to find out. Then again, most people join these groups looking for guidance on problems they’re having. This is fairly normal for new vehicles, even a decade ago. This is why I always bought used in the past,” added Dustin Deyagher.
This points all make perfect sense, and are ideas that folks have batted around for a long time now. However, there are a few important takeaways here as well – starting with the fact that when we leave reviews or post about things like our vehicles online, we tend to only do so when we have negative experiences, or extremely positive ones. Driving around in a Chevy Silverado that never gives us trouble, well, that’s somewhat boring and isn’t exactly worth posting about on social media, unless of course we hit some sort of mileage milestone along the way.
This particular notion is represented in this same post as well. “My dad has a 2019 Silverado with 20,000 miles and a 6.2L engine. Not a lick of issues. My 2019 truck with a 5.3 had a transmission go at 138,000 miles and lifters go out at 180k. I now have a 2023 with the 3.0, and my transmission went out 2 days ago with 38k on it,” said David Nguyen. While there are likely some others out there experiencing transmission failures in these pickups, it’s worth pointing out that most probably aren’t, in fact.
Throw in the fact that there are many variables when it comes to reliability – such as proper maintenance and usage of said vehicle – and it becomes a bit more difficult to definitively say that new vehicles are less reliable than older ones. Sure, we can cherry pick specific models and compare them, but overall, this is a complex topic, and we would need a whole heck of a lot of data to truly answer that question with any sort of confidence.
Photos: Chevrolet
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