Owners have filed 4 complaints on the Chevrolet S-10 Pickup, covering 1987–1988. The system named most often is Engine (1 reports). Worst years by volume: 1988, 1987; cleanest: 1987, 1988. On average the car was 23.3 years old when the problem happened.
What breaks on Chevrolet S-10 Pickup
Grouped by the system owners named — percentages are shares of all 4 S-10 Pickup complaints. Open any row for the full reports in owners' own words.
Engine 1 Read
The contact owns a 1988 chevrolet s10. The contact stated that the vehicle was parked with the engine in operation. The owner of the vehicle was performing an unknown repair when one of the engine cooling fan blades fractured and dislodged into the air. The blade then struck the owner sharply in the neck, immediately…
Engine And Engine Cooling 1 Read
I am a detective with the council bluffs iowa police department. There was a fatal incident that occurred in which the adult male victim had the engine running and in park. The carburetor was taken apart and there was a can of carburetor cleaner was on the ground. A single blade of the cooling fan apparently broke…
Steering 1 Read
The contact owns a 1988 chevrolet s10 pickup. The contact stated that while driving at various speeds, the steering column would start to wobble. The vehicle was not taken to the dealer. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was…
Tires 1 Read
Driving down the massachusetts's pike, taking exit 10 off it, went threw the toll and hit a gigantic pothole. It was about 9:30 at night, so it was pitch black outside when turning on to the ramp and not being able to see the pot hole. A front right tire was flattened and a flat bed truck needed to come to bring us 80…
S-10 Pickup 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1988 | Engine | — | — | |
| 1987 | Tires | — | — |
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 | 3 |
| Average complaints per series | 1.3 |
| Worst single series | 2 complaints |
| Average age at failure | 23.3 years |
A model average of 1.3 hides a worst series at 2. 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 S-10 Pickup?
By complaint volume, 1988, 1987 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 S-10 Pickup years are the cleanest?
1987, 1988 have the fewest complaints on file. For recent years that can simply mean the cars are young.
How many complaints does the Chevrolet S-10 Pickup have?
4 owner complaints filed with NHTSA, covering 1987–1988. 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.