Reliable Auto DB

2016 Chevrolet SS reliability

Is it reliable?

NHTSA's file on the 2016 Chevrolet SS holds 24 complaints after 11 years, a rate of 4 per year. That is more complaints per year than most SS years here — over the median of the other years, which is 2. NHTSA has 7 recalls on file, including Front, Steering, and Electric power steering.

2014 Chevrolet SS
Photo by That Hartford Guy, resized from the original. Wikimedia Commons CC BY-SA 2.0
Complaints

24

Per year

4

Recalls

7

Years on the road

11

What owners report

The complaints owners file most often name Steering (12 of 24), then Seat belts (6) and Electrical system (4).

Next to 2015 and 2017

The 2015 SS has 17 complaints, 2 per year, and the 2017 has 7 complaints, 1 per year. The 2016 has more complaints per year than the 2015. The 2016 has more complaints per year than the 2017.

The complaint rate is complaints filed in this year’s first 3 years on the road, divided by however many of those years have passed. Recalls are a separate count. The numbers are for the US-market 2016 Chevrolet SS. How we count. Data as of .

Recalls (7)

Recall seat belts, front 2020-10-15 · NHTSA campaign 20V638000
Summary General Motors LLC (GM) is recalling certain 2014-2016 Chevrolet SS and Caprice Police Pursuit Vehicles (PPV) that were previously repaired under NHTSA recall number 16V-518. The repair may not have been performed properly. The driver's seat belt tensioner cable may be repeatedly bent over the seat side shield as the driver enters and exits the vehicle causing the cable to fatigue and separate.
Remedy GM will notify owners, and dealers will inspect the vehicles to determine whether the new seat trim was installed and replace the trim as necessary. Dealers will also inspect and replace the pretensioner cable assembly, as necessary. Repairs will be performed free of charge. The recall began November 17, 2020. Owners may contact Chevrolet customer service at 1-800-222-1020. GM's number for this recall is N202312100
Recall Steering 2020-05-07 · NHTSA campaign 20V254000
Summary General Motors LLC (GM) is recalling certain 2015-2016 Chevrolet Caprice Police Pursuit vehicles (PPV) and SS vehicles. Corrosion of the connector between the electric power steering module and the torque sensor connector may cause a loss of electric power steering assist.
Remedy GM will notify owners, and dealers will replace the steering gear assembly, free of charge. The recall began May 26, 2020. Owners may contact Chevrolet customer service at 1-800-222-1020. GM's number for this recall is N192285350.
Recall Electric power steering 2019-11-07 · NHTSA campaign 19V801000
Summary General Motors LLC (GM) is recalling certain 2014-2016 Chevrolet SS vehicles that previously received an inspect-only remedy under recall 17V-382. Corrosion of the connector between the electric power steering module and the torque sensor connector may cause a loss of electric power steering assist.
Remedy GM will notify owners, and dealers will replace the steering gear assembly, free of charge. The recall began December 27, 2019. Owners may contact Chevrolet customer service at 1-800-222-1020 or GM customer service at 1-586-596-1733. GM's number for this recall is N192265980.
Recall air bags, frontal 2017-07-10 · NHTSA campaign 17V437000
Summary General Motors LLC (GM) is recalling certain model year 2014-2016 Buick Lacrosse and Chevrolet Spark EV, Caprice PPV and SS vehicles, 2014-2017 Buick Encore and Chevrolet Corvette, Silverado 1500 and GMC Sierra 1500 vehicles, 2015-2016 Cadillac Escalade and Escalade ESV, Chevrolet Tahoe, Trax, Suburban and Silverado 2500 and 3500 and GMC Yukon and Yukon XL vehicles, and 2015-2017 GMC Sierra HD 2500 and 3500 vehicles. While being previously remedied for recall 16V-651, the affected vehicles may not have received the complete software update necessary to remedy the recall condition. Without the update, certain driving conditions may cause the air bag sensing and diagnostic module (SDM) software to activate a diagnostic test. During this test, deployment of the frontal air bags and the seat belt pretensioners would not occur in the event of a crash.
Remedy GM will notify owners, and dealers will reflash the SDM software. Vehicles that have had a previous air bag deployment will have the SDM replaced. These repairs will be performed free of charge. The recall began on August 4, 2017. Owners may contact Buick customer service at 1-800-521-7300, Cadillac customer service at 1-800-458-8006, Chevrolet customer service at 1-800-222-1020, or GMC customer service at 1-800-462-8782. GM's number for this recall is 17287.
Recall Electric power steering 2017-06-15 · NHTSA campaign 17V382000
Summary General Motors LLC (GM) is recalling certain 2014-2016 Chevrolet SS vehicles. Corrosion of the connector between the electric power steering module and the torque sensor connector may cause a loss of electric power steering assist.
Remedy GM will notify owners, and dealers will inspect the steering gear assembly, replacing it as necessary, free of charge. The recall began August 2, 2017. Owners may contact Chevrolet customer service at 1-800-222-1020. GM's number for this recall is 17248.
Recall air bags, frontal 2016-09-08 · NHTSA campaign 16V651000
Summary General Motors LLC (GM) is recalling certain model year 2015-2017 Chevrolet Silverado 2500 HD, 3500 HD, Tahoe, Suburban, GMC Sierra 2500 HD and 3500 HD, GMC Yukon, GMC Yukon XL, Cadillac Escalade and Cadillac Escalade ESV vehicles and 2014-2017 Chevrolet Corvette, Silverado 1500, Trax, Caprice Police Pursuit Vehicle, GMC Sierra 1500, Buick Encore, and 2014-2016 Buick Lacrosse, Chevrolet Spark EV and SS vehicles. In the affected vehicles, certain driving conditions may cause the air bag sensing and diagnostic module (SDM) software to activate a diagnostic test. During this test, deployment of the frontal air bags and the seat belt pretensioners would not occur in the event of a crash.
Remedy GM will notify owners, and dealers will reflash the SDM software. Vehicles that have had a previous air bag deployment will have the SDM replaced. These repairs will be performed free of charge. The recall began on October 13, 2016. Owners may contact Buick customer service at 1-800-521-7300, Cadillac customer service at 1-800-458-8006, Chevrolet customer service at 1-800-222-1020, or GMC customer service at 1-800-462-8782. GM's number for this recall is 16007.
Recall seat belts, front 2016-07-08 · NHTSA campaign 16V518000
Summary General Motors LLC (GM) is recalling certain model year 2014-2016 Chevrolet Caprice Police Pursuit vehicles manufactured May 14, 2013 through June 14, 2016, and Chevrolet SS vehicles manufactured May 15, 2013 through April 27, 2016. The driver's seat belt tensioner cable may be repeatedly bent over the seat side shield as the driver enters and exits the vehicle causing the cable to fatigue and separate.
Remedy GM will notify owners, and dealers will inspect the tensioner cable assembly, replacing any cable that is damaged. For vehicles that do not require a tensioner assembly replacement, a cable guide will be installed. All vehicles will receive new seat trim with a redesigned opening for the cable routing. These repairs will be performed free of charge. The recall began on November 3, 2016. Owners may contact Chevrolet customer service at 1-800-222-1020. GM's number for this recall is 31340.

Complaints by component (24 total)

Steering
12
Seat belts
6
Electrical system
4
Lane departure
2
Back-over prevention
1
Engine
1
Powertrain
1
Crash-flagged

0

Fire-flagged

0

Injury reports

0

Death reports

0

Complaints filed per year

3201662017320185201932020120212202212024
Excerpts from recent NHTSA complaint filings
  • "A few days ago I was heading home from work and sport mode automatically turned on and the “service power steering” warning came on. Then the steering wheel stiffened up 2 times for a few seconds while I was driving. I…"
    Steering, Electrical system · filed 2024-08-08
  • "Collapsed lifter on cyl 6. Lifter tick / knock since 100,200 miles. Car has a warranty until 5/2026 or 171,000 miles and they refuse to honor it. Car has a steering issue. Two separate chevy dealerships unable to fix.…"
    Steering, Powertrain, Engine · filed 2022-07-30
  • ""service side detection system" and "park assist unavailable", are errors due to water intrusion to proximity sensors. In addition sensor modules are physically bulging and there was some corrosion on my passenger side…"
    Lane departure, Back-over prevention · filed 2022-06-11
  • "The driver information center is displaying "Service Side Detection System" alert. On the SS Forum this appears to be an increasingly popular problem with these cars"
    Lane departure · filed 2021-06-23
  • "THE BLIND SPOT SENSOR STARTED NOT TO WORK SPORADICALLY STARTED NOT TO WORK AT 36,500 MILES. NOW THEY DON'T WORK AT ALL AND AT LEAST I AM NOTIFIED OF THIS TWO TO THREE TIMES EVERY USE OF THE VEHICLE. TALKED AND…"
    Electrical system · filed 2020-09-04

NHTSA crash ratings

Version Overall Front Side Rollover
2016 Chevrolet SS 4 DR RWD Not rated Not rated Not rated Not rated

Stars are how this vehicle did in NHTSA crash tests. They are a safety result, separate from the complaint record. Not rated means that test was not run for this version.

Fuel economy

Trim Engine Transmission Drive City Hwy Combined Annual fuel cost
SS 6.2L, 8-cyl Automatic (6-speed) Rear-wheel drive 14 20 16 MPG $5000
SS 6.2L, 8-cyl Manual 6-speed Rear-wheel drive 14 22 17 MPG $3800

Specs and fitment

VF Commodore-based SS, 2014–2017
Body styles Sedan
Oil dexos1 SAE 5W-30 (6.2L LS3) , 8 qt capacity
Tire size 245/40ZR19 front / 275/35ZR19 rear

Known issues for this generation

Recall 17V-382 covers certain 2014-2016 Chevrolet SS vehicles: corrosion of the connector between the electric power steering module and the torque sensor can cause loss of electric power steering assist. Dealers inspect and replace the steering gear as necessary. Follow-on campaigns 19V-801 and 20V-254 address vehicles that previously received an inspect-only remedy or additional Caprice PPV/SS units, replacing the steering gear assembly. Recall 16V-518 covers certain 2014-2016 SS vehicles where the driver seat-belt tensioner cable can fatigue against the seat side shield; dealers inspect or replace the cable and install redesigned seat trim. Campaign 20V-638 later reworked vehicles where that prior repair may not have been completed correctly.

Compare

Previous year 2015 Chevrolet SS Next year 2017 Chevrolet SS See every Chevrolet SS model year →

Frequently asked questions

Is the 2016 Chevrolet SS reliable?

NHTSA's file on the 2016 Chevrolet SS holds 24 complaints after 11 years, a rate of 4 per year. That is more complaints per year than most SS years here — over the median of the other years, which is 2. NHTSA has 7 recalls on file, including Front, Steering, and Electric power steering.

What are common problems with a 2016 Chevrolet SS?

The complaints owners file most often name Steering (12 of 24), then Seat belts (6) and Electrical system (4).

Is the 2016 Chevrolet SS more reliable than the years next to it?

The 2015 SS has 17 complaints, 2 per year, and the 2017 has 7 complaints, 1 per year. The 2016 has more complaints per year than the 2015. The 2016 has more complaints per year than the 2017.

Has the 2016 Chevrolet SS been recalled?

The 2016 Chevrolet SS has 7 recalls on file with NHTSA. See the recalls table on this page for dates, components, and remedies.

How many complaints have owners filed about the 2016 Chevrolet SS?

Owners have filed 24 complaints about the 2016 Chevrolet SS with NHTSA.

What mpg does a 2016 Chevrolet SS get?

EPA-rated combined fuel economy for the 2016 Chevrolet SS is 16.5 MPG. See the fuel economy table on this page for city and highway figures by engine and transmission.

What oil does a Chevrolet SS take?

GM service data for the 6.2L LS3 cites dexos1 SAE 5W-30 and about 8 qt with filter.

What are the factory tire sizes on the SS?

Staggered fitment is 245/40ZR19 front and 275/35ZR19 rear on the performance sedan.

Did the Chevrolet SS have electric power steering recalls?

Recall 17V-382 covers certain 2014-2016 SS models for EPS connector corrosion that can drop assist, with follow-on campaigns 19V-801 and 20V-254 replacing steering gear; 16V-518 and 20V-638 address driver seat-belt tensioner cable routing.