CarComplaints.com Notes: In many ways, the 2012 Cruze continues the legacy of its predecessor. It's a legacy of sluggish transmissions and coolant leaks, but it's still a legacy.
On the flip-side, there's more concerns about brake problems.
However, there were far more Cruze vehicles sold for the 2012 model year so we'll give it our "Beware of this Clunker" badge rather than the "Avoid Like the Plague."
10.0
really awful
Crashes / Fires:
5 / 0
Injuries / Deaths:
0 / 0
Average Mileage:
59,402 miles
About These NHTSA Complaints:
This data is from the NHTSA — the US gov't agency tasked with vehicle safety. Complaints are spread across multiple & redundant categories, & are not organized by problem.
So how do you find out what problems are occurring? For this NHTSA complaint data, the only way is to read through the comments below. Any duplicates or errors? It's not us.
The contact owns a 2012 Chevrolet Cruze. While driving at any speed, the stabilitrak and power steering lights illuminated. The vehicle failed to accelerate, lost power, and stalled. The vehicle was taken to a dealer where it was diagnosed that the ECM and the BCM were not connecting. The technician reset the computer; however, the failure recurred. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The VIN was unknown. The approximate failure mileage was 40,000.
My radio flickers on and off, my ABS llight, check engine light and other lights flicker off and on real fast and on my odometer I get a reading "traction control" and something about stabilitrak control. Everything flickers so fast it's hard to see everything that lights up. Apparently many others have had the exact same issues.
Driving the radio cuts in and out meanwhile service stabilitrac warning comes on. Does this around 6-12 times in a 30 minute drive to and from work. On a few instances the vehicle lost all power while driving. This occures on a daily basis. This happens while driving and at a stand still. Also the check engine light has come on numerous times. It is a P0597 code stating temp sensor is inoperable. Non of these issues should be going on in a 2012 with less than 45,000 miles on it.
My niece got in car and tried pulling out of parking space. Right rear wheel did not spin as if parking prake was pulled hard but the parking brake wasn't engaged. Dash showed service stability control. Tried reverse with no luck. Put car in neutral. Wheels freed up but the light with two squiggly arrows was still lit on dash. Drove around block and all reverted to being fine. Am very concerned seeing this is a common problem with the electrical computer system on Chevy Cruze but no recall has been issued. I guess I will be calling an attorney.
The main console in the car starting turning on and off, the lights doing this as well. It affected the turn signals when I was making a turn, making them turn on and off as well. Turned off headlights as well, while I was on my way home. Once I got home I turned off the car and restarted it, and the whole system rebooted and I had to fix the date and time. This happened again when I used the auto-start on the key fob, drove a little bit as the console kept turning on and off, pulled over and tried to restart car. Couldn't remove the key from ignition, eventually got car to restart after trying to restart it for about fifteen minutes. The next day the same thing happened, so I parked the car and turned it off and tried to restart it again. Wouldn't start and the key would not come out of ignition for at least forty-five minutes. Finally got the car to start and drove home. When I got home, turned car off but could not get the key out of ignition. Sat for another fifteen minutes trying to get key free. Eventually able to remove, restart and turn car off normally. But after locking the car, and then coming back to get things out of car, the doors would not unlock and I cannot get into the vehicle.
- Urbana, IL, USA
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Purchased car new for my daughter going to college. Car has been good but she called me that she started her car in a parking lot and she had a stabilitrac light, power steering, and tones going off. She was scared but I called a repair shop and they suggested to turn off and on. She did this and all but stabilitrac went off. She drove to take to dealer. She stopped to get gas and when turned car back on, all lights stopped. She drove car home and took to local repair. He said he could not find issue. A week later, she was driving on the interstate and the lights came on again. She video taped the lights. She pulled off and turned car off and then on and everything was reset. We are concerned that error cant be tracted but continues to be issue.
Since March 2015, I have been experiencing issues with and I have video evidence while in failure mode, of what I believe to be failures of the body computer(s) in this vehicle. The dashboard displays have been going on and off under a wide variety of driving situations, and while sitting at idle. They fault when the vehicle is simply driving down the highway. More often I notice it when utilizing turn signals, hazard lights, and breaking. During these faults, the center information display for the HVAC and entertainment will frequently turn off. This kills the radio. It at times kills the HVAC systems and the turn signals (at least the noise for the turn signal indicators). At times, the center display above the steering column will go black and then display a message about the stabilitrak having failed and requiring it to be checked or the ABS needing to be serviced. Then it returns to normal mode. The frequency has increased to every time I drive the vehicle. Also on at least 3 occasions the ABS has actually failed. On one of those occasions, I hit another vehicle while parking. Thankfully there was no damage to either vehicle. When connecting the vehicle to a diagnostic device, no issues are indicated. I'm in the military in germany where the roads and highways are extremely hilly and it snows heavily. I'd rather not die in an accident before this issue is rectified.
My Chevy Cruze has been experiencing similar problems from past repairs and would shut off while driving. While driving the car would lose power, multiple warning lights would flash on the dash, the car would lose the ability to accelerate and the doors would unlock while driving. This has occurred several times yesterday (6/23/15): While driving over a bump at a low speed and while merging onto the freeway at about 60mph. During yesterday's incident I had to go into the emergency lane and put my emergency lights on as my car lost the ability to accelerate. The car lost power for a few seconds and the car would gain power immediately after. There have been two prior incidents where my car has lost complete power while driving, both times a safety report has been filed. This is a very scary issue and hope that this does not occur again.
The electrical system, radio, power steering, stops working intermittently. I slowed down recently to turn and the power steering quit and I hit the curb. I had a private mechanic tighten cables to battery which worked for months but now the problem is back.
While driving the car would continuously reboot the radio and the warning stabilitrak light as well as the power steering warning will show up on the dash. The car would experience very stiff steering and I almost got into a crash 3 times because of it. I took it to the autonation Chevrolet laurel, md dealership and they could not diagnose a problem with the battery. Another technician from tnt auto in columbia, md said that all the wires seem to be on there tight too.
I was driving the vehicle to work and the stabilitrak control and engine power loss kicks on to the vehicle and makes me have to control of the vehicle, I've almost caused several wrecks do to this happening, I've been in and out to the dealer several timesmall with this vehicle tomorrow I'm taking it in for the 7the time now this is a safety issue and it's putting me and my fiance life at risk, please some thing has to happen to get this taken care of!
While driving approx. 40 mph, vehicle stalled, traction stability and check engine lights illuminated, and steering locked. The radio shut off and the radio screen/ env control panel flickered on and off continuously. I continued to drive the car since I was a short distance from home. Checked the battery connections and all seemed to be tight. Drove car to work today but didn't have the issue. I literally just bought this car a week ago and it passed md state inspection. I am wondering now if the inspection included a obd check.
I was moving up in my driveway when my vehicle lost power and the a chiming noise came on and the stabilitrak appeared and will not come off I followed the instruction that I was read in my manual but now this keeps happening I don't feel that I should be responsible for this since there has been more the one complaint on the same issue.. this should be a Chevy problem abd there should be a recall..
I am writing in reference to my 2012 Chevy cruise eco. I purchased it new with only 5 miles on it. I have never been in an accident and I am religious with maintenance scheduling. On Feb. 19th was the first time we noticed it. My wife was leaving the driveway and the top speed that could be achieved was 10 mph and the service stabilitrack light came on. This happened three more times since then. The worst was the morning of Feb. 23 2015 when I was coming home from work. I was traveling at approx. 55 mph when the system reduced power to 10 mph. I was able to stop safely but ten minutes prior I was on an interstate. The outcome could have been much worse. I have done some research and I've come to find out that this is not an isolated incident and a major safety issue yet there has been no recall notice. I hope I don't regret buying a Chevrolet.
While driving to work I was signaling to switch lanes for my exit off the freeway. Began to merge and my steering wheel locked. Luckily it's wasn't for long and the freeway was not busy. However the fact that my newly purchased vehicle has a glitch is saddening. What's even worse theirs no maintenance light or check engine light, something to make the dealership believe their is a problem. Only a flashing light that says check stabilitrack, traction control, powering steering and at the same time my ABS service light begins to flash. Really hope Chevy puts out a recall..
This is the second incident (March 2014 & February 3, 2015 resulting in the loss of the power/control while operating the vehicle, both incidents were terrifying. I purchased my certified used Chevy Cruze in February 2014. In March/April 2014 immediately after startup (traveling under 10 mph / approx. 60,000 miles) the car began experiencing electrical issue; the displays on the dash would flash intermittently followed by warning lights (power steering, brakes, traction control etc.) and a complete loss of power to my car while driving, no steering, no brakes etc. I filed a complaint in 2014 (NHTSA - no. 10574169 #14311:special coverage adjustment negative battery cable loose. I immediately brought my car into the dealership for servicing. Ultimately, the positive and negative battery terminals were replaced and the service was covered under warranty. Yesterday, February 3, 2015, I experienced a similar incident. Shortly after starting my car (traveling 5mph / approx. 84,000 miles) the car began to shake violently, the check engine light turned on and again the car began experiencing similar power loss to my car while driving. My car was towed to the dealership and the cause was again identified as a negative battery terminal, a bad intake/gasket leaking and a small engine oil seep. These are some of the same issues identified with the initial incident in 2014 when these parts were replaced. This is a terrifying scenario and to have the same issues occur in such a short time period after the parts were replaced is not comforting and leaves me with fear that this could occur again, I do not want to continue to take chances with the safety of this vehicle. I hope this is taken seriously and resolved to avoid this from continuing to happen to myself and others in the same situation and to hopefully avoid this from turning into a serious and/or deadly situation.
I turned my car on one morning after I just had it in the shop to get the recalls fixed on it. Im seeing service stabilitrak and service traction and ABS lights. I can no longer turn on or off my traction control. My brakes are now grabbing really bad and im getting a really weird feel when I have my foot in the gas and turn my wheel. My car is not the same after the recalls were done.
The vehicle dash board flickered all the lights and displays came on the radio display went black, service stabilitrack indicator came on, the bluetooth went out, the brake light and traction control lights came on. This is happening at any time it can happen when you first start the car or after you driving for a while. It now happens all the time and has gotten worst, now the steering wheel locks while your in a turn and on three occasions I almost crashed into a wall. The car also hesitates and feels like it's going to shut off.
2012 Chevy Cruze with less than 25,000 miles on it. While driving, the traction control light will come on the dic and then service stabilitrack and the car would die down for a brief second and the radio will cut off. I made an appointment to a dealer and they said to drive with the traction control off until it gets in. Now it is doing the same thing with the traction control off. It is also doing this in reverse! this car is still under warranty with GM, but I'm afraid that I will have the same luck as others on here who are experiencing the same problems and nothing will get fixed. I'm also afraid that this will occur at an even greater rate and longer while driving causing an accident! something needs to be done to fix this problem in this model!
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Conway, NH, USA