Owners have filed 5 complaints on the Chevrolet Citation, covering 1981–1984. The system named most often is Engine And Engine Cooling (1 reports). Worst years by volume: 1981, 1984; cleanest: 1984, 1981. On average the car was 15.0 years old when the problem happened.
What breaks on Chevrolet Citation
Grouped by the system owners named — percentages are shares of all 5 Citation complaints. Open any row for the full reports in owners' own words.
Engine And Engine Cooling 1 Read
Replacements were done to the map sensor & the ignition control module due to vehicle stalling, problem still exist due to possible engine failure
Fuel System 1 Read
I have put several thousand dollars in this car to make it safe and keep it running, however my mechanic is was confused why the car still would not run. I found out that the defect in in the carb. And that the deceleration valve is stuck closed. The cost will be to rebuild is $425.00. I should have bought another car…
Power Train 1 Read
Flywheel failed
Visibility 1 Read
Windshield wiper switch only works when turned by using washer direction instead of turning on view on switch
Steering 1 Read
When warming up the vehicle and pulling off there is no power steering . The vehicle loses all power steering when making a left turn. Also, there is a leak coming from under the engine. Comsumer states that she has to drive very slow when making a left turn, and turning to the right there is no power steering.…
Citation 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1984 | Engine And Engine Cooling,electrical System | — | — | |
| 1981 | Power Train | — | — |
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 | 5 |
| Average complaints per series | 1 |
| Worst single series | 1 complaints |
| Average age at failure | 15.0 years |
A model average of 1 hides a worst series at 1. 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
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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 Citation?
By complaint volume, 1981, 1984 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 Citation years are the cleanest?
1984, 1981 have the fewest complaints on file. For recent years that can simply mean the cars are young.
How many complaints does the Chevrolet Citation have?
5 owner complaints filed with NHTSA, covering 1981–1984. Of those, 0 describe a crash and 0 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.