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2016 Chevrolet Colorado

Gas Diesel Pickup truck

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Specs & fuel economyRecallsComplaintsCrash ratingsCompare
D
Safety Signal
61 / 100
DSafety Signal · 61 / 100
4Recalls · 1 critical
699Complaints · owner reports
4★Crash rating · NHTSA overall
25 mpgFuel economy · best combined

The 2016 Chevrolet Colorado is sold in the U.S. as a gas and diesel pickup truck with 8 EPA-rated configurations. The most efficient version, the Colorado 2WD, is EPA-rated at 25 mpg combined. NHTSA lists 4 recall campaigns for this model year, 1 rated critical, which gives it a Safety Signal grade of D. Owners have filed 699 complaints, most often about steering. NHTSA crash-tested it at 4 stars overall.

Specs & fuel economy (EPA)

ConfigurationPowertrainDriveEngine / motorCityHwyCombAnnual fuel*
Colorado 2WDGasRWD2.5L 4-cyl192622$2,850
Colorado 2WDGasRWD2.5L 4-cyl202622$2,850
Colorado 2WDGasRWD3.6L 6-cyl182521$2,950
Colorado 4WDGas4WD2.5L 4-cyl192421$2,950
Colorado 4WDGas4WD3.6L 6-cyl172420$3,100
Colorado Cab Chassis 2WDGasRWD3.6L 6-cyl151716$3,900
Colorado 2WDDieselRWD2.8L 4-cyl turbo223025$3,600
Colorado 4WDDiesel4WD2.8L 4-cyl turbo202823$3,900

*EPA estimate at 15,000 miles/year and EPA reference fuel/electricity prices. Source: fueleconomy.gov vehicle records.

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Recalls (4)

Fuel System, Gasoline

critical
895 vehicles

Problem: General Motors LLC (GM) is recalling certain 2015-2018 GMC Canyon, 2016-2017 Buick Envision, 2016-2018 Chevrolet Colorado and Malibu, 2017-2018 GMC Acadia, 2018 Buick LaCrosse, Cadillac ATS, Chevrolet Equinox, and GMC Terrain vehicles. The high pressure fuel pump may detach from its mounting flange, possibly resulting in the pump damaging the high pressure fuel line.

Risk: A damaged fuel line can create a fuel leak, increasing the risk of a fire.

Fix: GM will notify owners, and dealers will replace the high pressure fuel pump, and high pressure fuel pipe, free of charge. The recall began July 2, 2018. Owners may contact Buick customer service at 1-800-521-7300, Cadillac customer service at 1-800-458-8006, Chevrolet customer service at 1-800-222-1020, or GMC customer service at 1-800-462-8782. GM's number for this recall is 18188.

NHTSA campaign 18V358000 · reported May 31, 2018 · General Motors LLC

Air Bags

high
16 vehicles

Problem: General Motors LLC (GM) is recalling certain 2015-2016 GMC Canyon and Chevrolet Colorado, and 2016 Chevrolet Volt vehicles. The driver's frontal air bag may improperly inflate during second-stage deployment in the event of a high speed crash.

Risk: An improperly inflated air bag increases the risk of injury in a crash.

Fix: GM will notify owners, and dealers will replace the driver's frontal air bag module, free of charge. The recall began November 8, 2017. Owners may contact Chevrolet customer service at 1-800-222-1020, or GMC customer service at 1-800-462-8782. GM's number for this recall is 17387.

NHTSA campaign 17V621000 · reported Oct 5, 2017 · General Motors LLC

Air Bags

high
1,579 vehicles

Problem: General Motors LLC (GM) is recalling certain model year 2016 Chevrolet Colorado vehicles manufactured January 19, 2016, to February 2, 2016, Chevrolet Malibu vehicles manufactured January 9, 2016, to January 26, 2016, and 2016 GMC Canyon vehicles manufactured January 21, 2016, to February 4, 2016. The driver frontal air bag may improperly inflate during second-stage deployment in the event of a high speed crash.

Risk: An improperly inflated air bag increases the risk of injury.

Fix: GM will notify owners, and dealers will replace the driver side frontal air bag module, free of charge. The recall began on April 14, 2016. Owners may contact Chevrolet customer service at 1-800-222-1020, and GMC customer service at 1-800-462-8782. GM's number for this recall is 28030.

NHTSA campaign 16V125000 · reported Mar 2, 2016 · General Motors LLC

Latches/Locks/Linkages

high
8,763 vehicles

Problem: General Motors LLC (GM) is recalling certain model year 2016 Chevrolet Colorado trucks manufactured August 25, 2015 to September 24, 2015, and GMC Canyon trucks manufactured August 28, 2015 to September 24, 2015. The affected vehicles have a console compartment lid latch assembly that may fail to keep the compartment door closed in the event of a crash. As such, these vehicles fail to comply with the requirements of the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) number 201, "Occupant Protection in Interior Impact."

Risk: If the console compartment door does not remain closed in a crash, the contents stored in the console may strike the vehicle occupants, increasing their risk of injury.

Fix: GM will notify owners, and dealers will replace the console compartment door latch assembly, free of charge. The recall began on January 5, 2016. Owners may contact Chevrolet customer service at 1-800-222-1020, or GMC customer service at 1-800-462-8782. GM's number for this recall is 16370.

NHTSA campaign 15V807000 · reported Dec 1, 2015 · General Motors LLC

Owner complaints

699 complaints filed

14 involved a crash, 1 a fire, 6 injuries, 0 deaths reported by owners.

Filed by year — 2015: 2 · 2016: 38 · 2017: 37 · 2018: 26 · 2019: 60 · 2020: 57 · 2021: 77 · 2022: 65 · 2023: 119 · 2024: 96 · 2025: 93 · 2026: 29

Most-cited components

  • Steering — 450
  • Electrical System — 116
  • Power Train — 97
  • Unknown Or Other — 48
  • Engine — 47
“MY 2016 CHEVY COLORADO CREW CAB Z71 4X4 VIBRATES AT HIGHWAY SPEED. THE DEALERSHIP HAS REPLACED ONE TIRE, BALANCED X 3 AND ROTATED AND ROAD FORCE TESTED. THE PROBLEM PERSISTS. I WAS TOLD BY THE SERVICE MANAGER THAT BECAUSE I BOUGHT AN OFF ROAD TRUCK WITH ALL SEASON TIRES IT WILL VIBRATE ABOVE 70 MPH. I FEEL IT IN MY SEA…”Jul 11, 2016 · Wheels · NHTSA owner report
“APPROACHING AN INTERSECTION AND OBSERVED A YELLOW LIGHT. I WAS TRAVELING 35MPH AS POSTED AND APPLIED THE BRAKES ONLY TO HAVE THE PEDAL GO ALL THE WAY DOWN TO THE FIRE WALL. THE TRUCK HAD NO BRAKING POWER AND ONLY SLOWED TO ABOUT 15MPG AFTER APPLYING FOR ROUGHLY 40-50 YARDS. I ENDED UP RUNNING INTO THE INTERSECTION COLL…”Jun 9, 2016 · Service Brakes · NHTSA owner report
“ENGINE SEEMS TO LAG UNDER QUICK ACCELERATION. PROBLEM OCCURS MOST OFTEN WHEN ACCELERATING FROM A TURN OR WHEN CHANGING LANES UNDER ACCELERATION. SPEEDS OF OCCURRENCE MOSTLY APPROXIMATELY 20-25 MPH. REQUESTED CHECKS AND SERVICE AT A DEALERSHIP ONLY TO BE GIVEN A SERVICE BULLETIN FROM GM STATING THIS WAS A NORMAL PART OF…”Jun 6, 2016 · Engine · NHTSA owner report

Complaint counts are raw owner reports to NHTSA, not verified defects, and scale with how many were sold. Use them to spot patterns, not to rank.

Crash ratings

ConfigurationOverallFrontalSideRolloverRollover risk
PU/CC 4WD★★★★☆★★★★☆★★★★★★★★☆☆21%
PU/CC RWD★★★★☆★★★★☆★★★★★★★★☆☆22%
PU/EC 4WD★★★★☆★★★★☆★★★★★★★★☆☆21%
PU/EC RWD★★★★☆★★★★☆★★★★★★★★☆☆22%

NHTSA New Car Assessment Program.

Compare the 2016 Colorado with

2016 Ram 15002016 Toyota Tacoma2016 GMC Sierra

Other Colorado model years

A

2026 Colorado

1 recalls · 14 complaints

A

2025 Colorado

1 recalls · 27 complaints

D

2024 Colorado

3 recalls · 121 complaints

C

2023 Colorado

3 recalls · 132 complaints

A

2022 Colorado

1 recalls · 51 complaints

A

2021 Colorado

1 recalls · 74 complaints

A

2020 Colorado

0 recalls · 83 complaints

A

2019 Colorado

0 recalls · 149 complaints

B

2018 Colorado

1 recalls · 182 complaints

B

2017 Colorado

1 recalls · 216 complaints

Sources & method

Safety Signal starts every model-year at 100 and subtracts points per open NHTSA recall campaign by severity: critical 15 (fire risk, park-outside or do-not-drive advisories), high 8 (brakes, steering, airbags, loss of drive power, structure, battery), moderate 6, minor 3 (software, labels, lighting fixed by an update). Floor 35. A ≥ 90, B ≥ 80, C ≥ 70, D ≥ 60, otherwise F. Complaint counts and NHTSA crash ratings are shown separately and are not blended into the grade.

EPA figures come from fueleconomy.gov vehicle records (ids 36589, 36590, 36591, 36595, 36596, 36599, 37118, 37120). Recalls, complaints, investigations and crash ratings come from NHTSA's public flat files, refreshed weekly.

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