Owners have filed 1,050 complaints on the Chevrolet Aveo, covering 2004–2011. The system named most often is Electrical System (224 reports). Worst years by volume: 2007, 2005, 2004; cleanest: 2010, 2011, 2009. 101 reports describe a crash, 65 a fire, 4 a death. On average the car was 5.2 years old when the problem happened.
What breaks on Chevrolet Aveo
Grouped by the system owners named — percentages are shares of all 1,050 Aveo complaints. Open any row for the full reports in owners' own words.
Electrical System 224 Read
I had a accident the car cought on fire
The contact owned a 2004 chevrolet aveo. The contact received notification of NHTSA campaign number: 14v2610000 (exterior lighting). While driving approximately 40 mph, the contact's vehicle tapped another vehicle. The contact noticed flames under the hood of the vehicle. The vehicle became engulfed in flames and was…
The contact owns a 2011 chevrolet aveo. The contact was driving approximate 30 mph with the air conditioner activated when a strong odor of sulfur emitted through the air vents. While parking, the brake pedal traveled to the floor and a burning smell circulated inside of the vehicle. There was no warning indicators…
Air Bags 178 Read
Our son had a car accident on high I -49 n, the air bags did not deploy. The brakes would not break. He substained head ,neck trauma , back and leg in the vehicle
I was rear ended by another vehicle while driving in traffic on the highway in slow and go traffic. I was driving at a slow pace, about 15 mph.the other vehicle was traveling at about 30 mph. When he hit me, he forced my vehicle into the one in front of me. My airbag did not go off. My car burst into flames about 5…
Enclosed are some picture of a recent accident were my son almost lost his life in a frontal collision and the airbags were not deployed, as far as he can recall and the impact injuries
Engine And Engine Cooling 143 Read
The contact owns a 2008 chevrolet aveo. While driving approximately 50 mph the driver struck a deer in the roadway. The vehicle spun out of control. He then gained vehicle control, and pulled over to the side of the road and exited the vehicle. Suddenly, the vehicle engulfed into flames without warning. The fire…
As I was driving on the 805 freeway between h st and l st in san diego california my car started to smoke from the engine. I decided to pull over to let my car rest. This has never happened to me before. When I pulled over at 10:09 am the smoke started to come in through the air conditioner. I then got out to avoid…
Car type: 2005 chevy aveo problems I have had with this car; 1. Oxygen sensor needed replacement by 41,xxx miles 2. At 82,xxx mi. Wiring problems in fuse box wires came loose (possibly a fire hazard) burnt the wiring harness. (char marks on the wiring harness) caused the interior (instrument cluster panel) and…
Exterior Lighting 76 Read
The contact owns a 2008 chevrolet aveo. While driving approximately 40 mph at night, the headlights became inoperable without warning. In addition, the contact stated that there was smoke emitting under the hood and into the vehicle. As a result, the contact discovered that the headlight plug and wiring were melted.…
The contact owns a 2008 chevrolet aveo. After driving the vehicle for prolonged periods of time, fumes emitted from the front of the vehicle. When the contact opened the hood, smoke appeared. The contact sustained injuries that did not require medical attention. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The…
I was rear ended and it was not a bad accident but needed a bumper and I noticed that after this happened my airbag sensor light came on. When we took the vehicle in for repair I told the technician that I was more concerned about the airbag sensor light then the bumper. They said they would look at it. When we picked…
Power Train 68 Read
The contact owns a 2005 chevrolet aveo. The contact stated that the transmission locked up on his vehicle. While making a right turn, he stated that the front half of his vehicle stopped, but the rear continued to move. The speed was unknown. The vehicle rolled over three times down an embankment and was destroyed.…
Car went through garage door. I placed car in park to leave car momentarily. I t did not go into park properly and car proceeded forward through garage door. The cup holder had a coffee mug with a handle in it. I am assuming it stopped car from going into park fully. I had left car and shut door when car began to go…
The contact owns a 2004 chevrolet aveo. The vehicle was parked and shut off when a child was able to shift the vehicle into gear without applying the brake. The vehicle began to roll forward until crashing. A police report was not filed and there were no injuries. The vehicle was not taken to have the failure…
Engine 64 Read
I was driving down the interstate on my way home to knoxville from athens, tn, and I heard my car make a funny noise, and then I heard a loud noise, and the engine began to smoke, I pulled over off of the interstate onto an exit and then the car basically died when I made it to the side of the road. The smoke was…
In mid-february after one of our many blizzards, my wife was driving her sedan home. There was a pile of snow on our street that had hardened over. I guess she miscalculated its height (and hardness) and when she went over it, the car lurched up and she heard a loud grinding sound against the undercarriage. The engine…
The contact owns a 2004 chevrolet aveo. While driving 45 mph, smoke appeared under the hood. The contact stated that the coolant pump housing fractured and coolant leaked out, which caused the smoke. The vehicle was not taken to a dealer to be diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer stated that the vehicle was not…
Steering 50 Read
After buying my car brand new the air bag light went on and stayed on till this day. At the beginning I thought it was only the passenger air bag and went and asked about it at the dealership where they actually informed me that it wasn't only the passenger airbag thats not working, rather none of the airbags work.…
My daughter brought a 2011 chevy aveo in wisconsin. When she came back home there were several occasions that I used her car. The first time I drove her car I drove it to work. While I was driving at 55 mph the car jerked very hard to the left. I had to really hold the steering wheel harder than usual to gain control…
The contact owns a 2009 chevrolet aveo. The contact stated while driving at 35 mph the steering wheel became difficult to turn and the vehicle veered to the right and went into an embankment. The contact also stated that three of the tires became detached from the wheels and the air bag did not deploy. The contact…
Vehicle Speed Control 48 Read
The contact owns a 2011 chevrolet aveo. The contact stated that while driving with the cruise control set at 70mph the contact fell asleep behind the wheel and crashed into six cable poles. The driver side frontal air bag deployed. The vehicle continued to accelerate at 70mph unto oncoming traffic and the contact was…
The contact owns a 2006 chevrolet aveo. While attempting to park at approximately 5 mph with the brake pedal depressed, the engine began to rev. The vehicle jumped a curb and scraped a building with the driver's side fender before idling normally again. There were no injuries, but a police report was filed. The…
The contact owns a 2005 chevrolet aveo. The contact stated that as she was driving 5 mph into a parking space the vehicle accelerated and crashed into a fence, a driveway and then stopped on a porch. No one was injured. The vehicle was destroyed. A police report was available if needed. The manufacturer was not…
Aveo years to avoid — and the clean ones
Complaints per model year. More reports usually means more cars on the road as well as more trouble, so read the crash and fire columns alongside the count.
| Model year | Complaints | Top system | Crashes | Fires |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | Air Bags | 6 | 1 | |
| 2010 | Air Bags | 5 | — | |
| 2009 | Air Bags | 12 | 3 | |
| 2008 | Air Bags | 14 | 14 | |
| 2007 | Air Bags | 17 | 11 | |
| 2006 | Air Bags | 11 | 15 | |
| 2005 | Air Bags | 17 | 12 | |
| 2004 | Air Bags | 19 | 9 |
The same model year, different builds
Every complaint carries the first 11 characters of the VIN — plant, year, body and engine. That is a production series, and complaints are spread across them very unevenly.
| Measure | Value |
|---|---|
| Distinct production series | 295 |
| Average complaints per series | 3.6 |
| Worst single series | 13 complaints |
| Average age at failure | 5.2 years |
A model average of 3.6 hides a worst series at 13. Enter a VIN above to see the numbers for that exact build instead of the model as a whole.
Owners reported these. Find out if yours is one of them.
- Complaints matched to the exact production run, not just the model
- What the car is worth given what tends to fail on it
- The original window sticker and factory options
- Full research report as a PDF for the pre-purchase inspection
- No ads, on every page
- No ads, no tracking — and much more
How we count
Every figure here comes from complaints owners filed with NHTSA — 1,100,006 of them, covering 1,982 models built between 1981 and 2026.
A complaint is an unverified report: someone wrote down what happened to their car. It is not a confirmed defect and not a recall. What makes the volume useful is the pattern — when thousands of owners of the same build describe the same failure, that is a signal no marketing brochure will give you.
Two things we do that the source does not. First, we compute the age of the car at the moment of failure from the incident date and the model year. Second, we group complaints by the first 11 characters of the VIN — the production series — so a bad plant run does not disappear into a model-wide average.
Frequently asked questions
What are the worst years for the Aveo?
By complaint volume, 2007, 2005, 2004 drew the most owner reports. Bear in mind that popular years put more cars on the road, so check the crash and fire columns too.
Which Aveo years are the cleanest?
2010, 2011, 2009 have the fewest complaints on file. For recent years that can simply mean the cars are young.
How many complaints does the Chevrolet Aveo have?
1,050 owner complaints filed with NHTSA, covering 2004–2011. Of those, 101 describe a crash and 65 a fire.
Are these complaints verified?
No. They are unverified reports from owners. NHTSA publishes them as filed and investigates only a fraction. The value is in the pattern, not in any single report.
Can I check complaints for one specific car?
Yes — enter its VIN above. We match the first 11 characters, which identify the plant, year, body and engine, so you get complaints on that exact production series rather than the whole model.