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Chevrolet · NHTSA safety record

2013 Chevrolet Avalanche 1500

Every safety complaint, recall and defect investigation the US government holds on this vehicle.

Owners have filed 29 safety complaints about the 2013 Chevrolet Avalanche 1500 with the US government. Of those, 1 describes a crash and no death is recorded. One recall campaign is open against it, covering the steering.

The most complained-about system is the body structure, named in 8 complaints, 28% of the total. The typical failure was reported at 49,689 miles, the median across the 26 complaints that gave an odometer reading.

Compiled from NHTSA's complaint, recall and investigation files · Covers May 2014 to April 2021 · How this is counted

What is on file

29 complaints on file

29

Complaints

1

Describe a crash

0

Mention fire

0

People injured

0

Deaths

A complaint is an unverified account by the person who filed it, not a finding of fault. One complaint is one ODI number, which is how NHTSA counts them.

A recall is the manufacturer conceding a defect, and the repair is free. Whether one covers your particular car is a question only its VIN can answer, because a campaign covers a production range rather than a model year.

Which system owners named

Complaints naming each system
UNKNOWN OR OTHER 11 · 38%
STRUCTURE 8 · 28%
AIR BAGS 6 · 21%
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM 2 · 7%
EXTERIOR LIGHTING 2 · 7%
STEERING 2 · 7%
ELECTRONIC STABILITY CONTROL (ESC) 1 · 3%
ENGINE 1 · 3%
FUEL SYSTEM, GASOLINE 1 · 3%
POWER TRAIN 1 · 3%
SERVICE BRAKES 1 · 3%
SUSPENSION 1 · 3%
0 8 15

Red marks a system with a recall campaign against it. One complaint can name several systems, so these add up to more than 29.

When the complaints arrived

By the year NHTSA received them

By the year NHTSA received them, which is not the year the failures happened. They peaked in 2016 at 9.

12 9 6 3
14 15 16 17 18 19 21

This is the year the complaint was filed, not the year the failure happened. The range runs from 2014 to 2021.

Crash test ratings

NHTSA New Car Assessment Program

NHTSA has not crash tested the 2013 Chevrolet Avalanche 1500. Its New Car Assessment Program tests a selection of each year's vehicles and does not reach motorcycles, heavy trucks, motorhomes or most low-volume models, so an absence here says nothing about how the vehicle would perform. It is not a low score.

What owners have reported about this vehicle is below, and it is a different question: a crash test measures what happens to the people inside in a controlled impact, while a complaint records what broke during ordinary use.

Recall campaigns

1 on file

STEERING:COLUMN LOCKING:ANTI-THEFT DEVICE

13V001000 · January 2, 2013

The defect
General Motors (GM) is recalling certain model year 2013 Cadillac Escalade, Escalade ESV, and Escalade EXT; Chevrolet Avalanche, Express, Silverado HD, Silverado LD, Suburban, and Tahoe; and GMC Savana, Sierra HD, Sierra LD, Yukon, and Yukon XL vehicles, manufactured between November 7, 2012, through December 18, 2012, for failing to comply with the requirements of Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) No. 102, "Transmission Shift Lever Sequence, Starter Interlock, and Transmission Braking Effect", and FMVSS No. 114, "Theft Protection and Rollaway Prevention." The vehicles may have been built with a fractured park lock cable or a malformed steering column lock actuator gear in the lock module assembly.
The risk
As a result, the vehicle may shift from Park with the ignition key removed or the ignition key in the OFF position. The vehicle may also shift out of Park without application of the brake pedal while the key is off. Either of these scenarios may cause the vehicle to roll away after the driver has exited the vehicle, resulting in a possible vehicle crash and/or injury.
The remedy
GM will notify owners, and dealers will inspect the affected vehicles and replace the steering column as necessary, free of charge. The recall began on January 21, 2013. Chevrolet owners may call 1-800-630-2438. Cadillac owners may call 1-866-982-2339. GMC owners may call 1-866-996-9463.

General Motors LLC · up to 54,686 vehicles across all model years covered

In owners’ own words

Quoted from the complaint file

Quoted from NHTSA's complaint file. These are unverified accounts by the people who filed them, not findings of fault.

AIR BAGS

crash · 68,000 miles

A VEHICLE RAN A STOP SIGN AND I T-BONED THE OTHER VEHICLE AT APPROXIMATELY 30MPH. MY AIR BAG DID NOT DEPLOY WHICH IT IS MY UNDERSTANDING THAT IT SHOULD HAVE DEPLOYED.

NHTSA complaint 10759363. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

STRUCTURE:BODY
THE DASHBOARD IS CRACKED WHICH IS EXPOSING THE AIRBAG

NHTSA complaint 11408598. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

UNKNOWN OR OTHER

75,000 miles

MY DEALER WORKED ON MY AC COMPONENTS IN 2015 (NOT SURE OF THE EXACT DATE) TO REPLACE THE AC CONTROLLER COMPONENTS, SHORTLY AFTER THE REPAIR MY DASH CRACKED WHILE SITTING IN MY DRIVEWAY ABOUT TO CRANK THE VEHICLE. ON THE DRIVER SIDE OVER THE LAST 3 YEARS IT HAS CONTINUED TO INCREASE IN SIZE AND NOW IS CRACKED COMPLETELY CAUSING THE DASH TO BE TWO SEPARATE PIECES. SAFETY ISSUES AND CONCERNS ARE IF A CRASH OCCURS WILL THE OCCUPANTS OF THE VEHICLE BE SAFE OF SHARP FLYING DEBRIS WITHIN THE CAB. MY CONCERN IS NOT ONLY FOR MYSELF BUT MY PASSENGERS. I HAVE INQUIRED SEVERAL TIMES ABOUT REPLACING THE PART BUT IT WAS NOT COVERED UNDER THE EXTENDED WARRANTY AT THE TIME IT INITIALLY CRACKED. MILEAGE OF

NHTSA complaint 11173023, quoted in part. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

UNKNOWN OR OTHER

51,254 miles

DASH BOARD CRACKED IN SEVERAL PLACES

NHTSA complaint 11109906. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

STRUCTURE:BODY

11,000 miles

THE ADHESIVE SECURING THE 4 PIECES OF DOOR TRIM IS BREAKING DOWN AND THE TRIM PIECES WILL EVENTUALLY FALL OFF ON THEIR OWN, A POTENTIAL HAZARD TO OTHER MOTORISTS DEPENDING ON WHEN AND WHERE IT HAPPENS. THESE ARE SUPPOSED TO BE A NO MAINTENANCE ITEM. REPORTED TO CHEVROLET, CASE # 8-4199057982, AND THEY DO NOT SEEM TO BE CONCERNED THAT THIS "LIFE OF THE VEHICLE" INSTALLATION IS DEFECTIVE AS THE 3 YEAR BUMPER-TO-BUMPER WARRANTY IS EXPIRED. AS A PRINCIPLE ENGINEER IN BOEING'S RESEARCH AND TECHNOLOGY DIVISION (WE TEST STUFF TO MAKE SURE IT'S SAFE), MY INFORMED OPINION IS THE DEFECT IS CAUSED BY POOR SURFACE PREPARATION PRIOR TO BONDING, ADHESIVE MATERIAL USED PAST IT'S WORKING LIFE, ADHESIVE

NHTSA complaint 11101732, quoted in part. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

AIR BAGS

83,000 miles

AT +/-83000 MILES THE DASH DEVELOPED A CRACK LEADING INTO THE PASSENGER AIR BAG HOUSING. IT ALSO IS BROKEN AND, WHEN DRIVING, LOOSELY VIBRATING BETWEEN THE INSTRUMENT PANEL AND THE PASSENGER AIR BAG HOUSING. GIVEN THE DANGERS ASSOCIATED WITH AIR BAGS, THIS IS A CLEAR AND PRESENT DANGER TO ANYONE IN THE VEHICLE.

NHTSA complaint 11100738. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

UNKNOWN OR OTHER

105,000 miles

DASHBOARD CRACKING NEAR AIRBAG. SEEMS TO BE GETTING WORSE THE MORE I DRIVE.

NHTSA complaint 11082364. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

Compare

Other years of the Chevrolet Avalanche 1500

Model year Complaints Recalls Deaths
2011 28 2 —

Other 2013 Chevrolet models

Malibu 835 Equinox 751 Cruze 586 Volt 308 Silverado 1500 301 Impala 272 Tahoe 232 Sonic 217

Complaints on file, same model year.

Every Chevrolet on this site — 304 vehicles.

If this is your car and a dealer keeps failing to fix it, your state's lemon law may require the manufacturer to replace it or buy it back. How many repair attempts it takes, and how long you have to file, is set by the state you bought in and by nothing on this page.

Where these numbers come from

A complaint is one owner's account and has not been verified by NHTSA or by us. A vehicle with more complaints is not necessarily worse: models that sold in larger numbers collect more of them. How this is counted.

Compiled and maintained by
Independent developer and analyst