Owners have filed 330 complaints on the Chevrolet Tracker, covering 1996–2004. The system named most often is Suspension (75 reports). Worst years by volume: 2000, 2001, 2003; cleanest: 1997, 1996, 1998. 48 reports describe a crash, 4 a fire. On average the car was 6.0 years old when the problem happened.
What breaks on Chevrolet Tracker
Grouped by the system owners named — percentages are shares of all 330 Tracker complaints. Open any row for the full reports in owners' own words.
Suspension 75 Read
I was driving home from work when my car swerved to the right and went of the road and hit a grove of trees head on. My car was totaled and none of my airbags went off. Why does this happen I could have been killed. Also I received a safety notice about my cheverolet tracker 4 days before this happened having a…
I was driving on a two-way residential street, just picked up our two youngest grandson's from school, when the passenger side tire jammed, very unexpectedly, up in the area between the engine and frame of the tracker. The tracker went mid air, and then rolled. Consumer handwriting is illegible. .updated 07/02/14
My chevy tracker has a broken crossmember/subframe/k-frame. Front suspension arms are mounted to this piece, it is the most important mounting point. It completely broke while driving, luckily at a very slow speed, no maj. Injury. Gm knows the bad part was in every tracker/vitara -they say it wasn't treated properly,…
Structure 36 Read
Rusted through front crossmember resulted in loss of steering and braking control
The contact owns a 2004 chevrolet tracker. The contact stated that the manufacturer did not notify the contact of a manufacturer's service campaign for rust and corrosion on the cross member. The vehicle was taken in for an inspection, and the vehicle failed. The inspector indicated that the cross member bar had…
The contact owns a 2003 chevrolet tracker. The contact stated that the front driver's side door is defective. While driving various speeds, the door opens whether it is locked or not. He took the vehicle to the shop and was informed that the failure was caused by the door spring. The spring was replaced. The current…
Engine And Engine Cooling 29 Read
While driving 55 mph vehicle caught on fire . The dealer stated the oil filter malfunctioned, causing oil to leak onto the motor and transmission. No injuries reported
The contact owns a 2001 chevrolet tracker. While driving at approximately 35 mph, oil leaked from the vehicle. The contact also noticed white smoke coming from the engine and smelled a strong oil odor. The failure recurred numerous times. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of…
Engine oil down 2.5 quarts at 20,000 cumulative miles and within 3,000 miles of recent oil change. Dealership doing dye test on second instance of being down 1.5-2 qts on subsequent 2800 miles. Dealer and chevrolet indicate this is normal
Steering 29 Read
On the approach to a toll plaza, @ 30mph experienced total loss of steering. Resulting in a crach. The left front tire turned in causing left rear side of vehicle to turn into a concrete barrier wall. No other vehicles were involved due to the time of day (4:30am) it was found that the "knuckle" joint which controls…
Driving on expressway car started to vibrate and shake severely. The car was pulling to the left and steering became difficult, experiencing partial loss of control. I pulled over to shoulder of highway and upon investigation noticed the cross beam was rusted through and the left drivers side control arm had broke…
I purchased a vehicle from a friend that is 20 years old but runs great and he takes great care of his vehicles. This one was his away car, in that he was here only 6 months of the year and drove this one mainly when he was here and only put on about 2-3 thousand miles per year. He told me he was scraping the car so I…
Air Bags 27 Read
The safety airbags exploded and burning my face and the passenger side passenger it was very hard and his arm and the of explosion of the airbags she was spraying and burning the face and was
Myself and 2 daughters were in a head on wreck 2/04/2010 when a guy pulled out in front of us, neither of the airbags deployed. My daughter hit the windshield and I hit the steering wheel and dash. The pregnant one was thankfully in the back seat
The contact owns a 2004 chevrolet tracker. The contact stated that while driving in the snow, she lost control of the vehicle and crashed the front of end into an embankment. The air bags failed to deploy. The contact suffered contusions and bruising to the torso region. A police report was taken. The vehicle was not…
Service Brakes 25 Read
Vehicle was stopped when rear-ended by another vehicle travelling about 30 mph. Passenger side front seat-belt failed to tighten and passenger struck the dashboard. The brakes failed and driver had to use emergency brake to stop rolling. Fluid was seen on the driver's side front wheel well. Both front seats were…
While driving 60 mph tapped brakes to disengage cruise control, brakes locked up, and vehicle spun around 180 degrees and rolled 25 feet down a ravine. Driver and passenger suffered neck and back injuries. Vehicle was totalled
While driving, vehicle ran into the back of another vehicle at 40 mph due to ABS anti- lock brakes locking up. Also, seat belt did not lock, and airbags did not deploy, one person was injured in the accident. *ak
Electrical System 23 Read
2003 chevrolet tracker has problems with the battery, the transmitter for the door, the air conditioner, and the defroster. *mr the windows would freeze in the winter in severe cold weather. The consumer would have to scrape the interior windows. The problem would occur in all of the windows of the vehicle including…
I pulled into my carport, put vehicle in park, turned off vehicle, remove key, exited vehicle and notice vehicle was still own and running
I pulled into car port, put vehicle in park, turned off key and went into house, son came out of house and noticed that vehicle was still on
Power Train 22 Read
Went to put on brakes driveshaft came out, causing right rear wheel to slide rear ending another car
Squeak from front axel/power train during cold ambient temperatures
The sales man , jam jamison sold me this car which was brand new when I got it. This car has been giving me so many problems. The car's transmission does not work at all. I have tried so many times to fix the car but it just comes back to me the same way. When I run the car the transmission makes a really loud noise.…
Tracker 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2004 | Air Bags | 3 | — | |
| 2003 | Air Bags | 11 | 1 | |
| 2002 | Air Bags | 6 | 2 | |
| 2001 | Air Bags | 9 | 1 | |
| 2000 | Air Bags | 11 | — | |
| 1999 | Air Bags | 5 | — | |
| 1998 | Electronic Stability Control | — | — | |
| 1997 | Air Bags | 2 | — | |
| 1996 | Air Bags | 1 | — |
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 | 195 |
| Average complaints per series | 1.7 |
| Worst single series | 11 complaints |
| Average age at failure | 6.0 years |
A model average of 1.7 hides a worst series at 11. 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 Tracker?
By complaint volume, 2000, 2001, 2003 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 Tracker years are the cleanest?
1997, 1996, 1998 have the fewest complaints on file. For recent years that can simply mean the cars are young.
How many complaints does the Chevrolet Tracker have?
330 owner complaints filed with NHTSA, covering 1996–2004. Of those, 48 describe a crash and 4 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.