Chevrolet Corvette
Problems & Worst Years

Wheel damage accounts for almost everything in the Chevrolet Corvette's NHTSA complaint file, which covers the 2017 and 2019 model years. For 2017 — the higher-volume year at 179 total complaint occurrences — four of the five top-reported issues describe the same experience from different angles: wheels bent under normal driving conditions (65 reports), recurring wheel cracks and bends (48), cracked aluminum wheels (41), and wheel cracking generally (20). That is 174 of the year's 179 occurrences. The only other issue to register is a small cluster of power steering assist failures, five reports in all. Two recall campaigns, 19V086 and 25V175, apply to the 2017 car.

The 2019 model year repeats the pattern at lower volume, 104 occurrences, but with higher stakes on paper: both of its safety-severity problems are wheel-related — wheel cracking (62 reports) and rear wheel cracking specifically (13) — alongside wheel warping and bent rims (19). Beyond the wheels, 2019 owners logged a handful of transmission shuddering and vibration complaints (6) and low tire pressure warnings (4), neither of which amounts to a trend.

For a shopper, the takeaway is unusually specific: inspect the wheels. Look closely for hairline cracks and evidence of bends or repairs, ask directly whether any wheels have been replaced, and treat persistent low-tire-pressure warnings as a reason to look harder rather than an annoyance. On a 2017, verify that the recall campaigns have been closed out.

Two caveats keep this in proportion. Complaint counts capture what owners filed with NHTSA, not a measured failure rate, and the newer of these two years has had less road time to accumulate reports. These are the top-reported issues, not a verdict on every car. A careful pre-purchase inspection — wheels very much included — and a clean service history will tell you far more about any individual Corvette than the model year on the title.