Total Complaints
1 filings
CHEVROLET W4500 · model year
1 NHTSA complaints, and 1 active recall for this specific cohort.
NHTSA overall rating
Not crash-tested
New Car Assessment Program
The 2004CHEVROLETW4500 carries 1 consumer safety complaint in NHTSA's Office of Defects Investigation database for this specific model-year cohort. Within that volume, owners reported 0 crashes, 0 fires, 0 injuries, and 0 fatalities. No NCAP 5-star crash-test rating is available for this model year in the federal database.
Component-level analysis is where model-year complaints become actionable: the top complaint category for the 2004 W4500 is fuel system, other:fuel injection system with 1 filings. Concentration in one or two component groups is the classic signature of a systemic defect; a flat distribution usually reflects normal aging, warranty complaints, or isolated build-plant variability. This model year has 1 active recall campaign, which means the manufacturer is obligated to remedy the covered defect at no charge for the life of the vehicle — the full NHTSA campaign numbers are listed below.
NHTSA currently has 57 investigation files overlapping the 2004 W4500, and 2 remain open. Owners comparing this cohort against neighboring years should pair the counters above with the complaint-by-year trend on the parent model page — a spike in a single year often tracks to a platform refresh, a new transmission supplier, or an updated ECU calibration. Use the related-complaint feed below to read raw owner narratives before deciding whether any pattern here affects your specific use case.
Total Complaints
1 filings
Crashes Reported
0 reports
Source
NHTSA ODI
Federal complaints database
At or below the fleet median complaint volume.
| Component | Count |
|---|---|
| FUEL SYSTEM, OTHER:FUEL INJECTION SYSTEM | 1 |
FUEL SYSTEM, DIESEL:STORAGE:TANK ASSEMBLY
ON CERTAIN TRUCKS EQUIPPED WITH RPO IK9, DUE TO INSUFFICIENT DURABILITY AND TESTING, THE FUEL SWITCHING MANIFOLD SOLENOIDS LACK WATER OR SALT INTRUSION RESISTANCE, WHICH CAN LEAD TO FAILURE OF ONE OR MORE SOLENOIDS. FUEL SWITCHING MANIFOLD SOLENOID FAILURE WILL CAUSE INCORRECT FUEL DELIVERY RESULTI
ON SEVERAL OCCASIONS WITH THE TRUCK THERE HAVE BEEN SIGNIFICANT AMOUNTS OF SMOKE BELLOWING FROM THE EXHAUST. IN SOME CASES, OTHER AUTOS BELIEVE THE VEHICLE WAS ON FIRE. INJECTORS HAVE BEEN FOUND TO BE FAULTY ON THREE OCCASIONS REQUIRING REPLACEMENT AT SIGNIFICANT COSTS. SMOKE FROM THE EXHAUST IS DUE TO THE FAULTY INJECTORS NOT ALLOWING FUEL INTO THE ENGINE SO AS A RESULT THE ENGINE IS BURNING ONLY OIL AND NO DIESEL FUEL. ENGINE IS EXPOSED TO EXCESSIVE HEAT AND COULD START ON FIRE. *JB
Mileage: 73,029
Loss of motive power due to engine failure
Loss of Motive Power due to the Battery Energy Control Module
Electric Vehicle Battery Fires
Outboard Front Seat Belt Anchor Cable Failure
Fuel Line Leak
Data as of 2025. Sources: NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) complaints database, NHTSA recall campaign API, NHTSA NCAP crash-test ratings, and NHTSA FARS for fatality cross-reference.
Read our methodology — how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.