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 / 3
Injuries / Deaths:
3 / 0
Average Mileage:
50,940 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.
At 91,000+/- miles the transmission interior broke into multiple pieces while driving it home from the dealership. This was after the dealer told us nothing was wrong with the transmission. There were no codes and no warning. Previous mechanic sent us to the dealership and informed me that no codes were cleared.
Daughter has complained about loss of power while on the interstate in Kansas City. On this particular morning, my husband pulled out of the driveway and the car would not go out of first gear. He was able to drive it down the street to the Chevrolet dealership. It was initially just diagnosed with a cracked turbo. We told them to replace it. They replaced it and then determined the transmission was burned up. The mechanic said he thought the fact that the turbo didn't work properly caused the transmission to burn out at 85,000 miles. Have had problems on and off for a year with the turbo and have always taken it in and had those issues fixed as soon as the light comes on the dash. Finally there was a recall on the turbo and we had the actuator replaced in Nov. 2019 and less than a month later, the turbo cracked and the transmission failed and no light ever came on, on the dash. Had to spend $5400 to fix these issues. I'm concerned and don't understand why there isn't a complete recall on the turbos as we've read in many places that people have had problems with these turbos, leaving huge costs to consumers. Contacted Chevrolet and of course, they refuse to help with any of these costs.
Right front axle making noise for a while now it is leaking. Is this related to the othe Chevy axle recall? can't get parts as they are no longer manufactured
On multiple occasions while car is driving, check engine light turned on and car was unable to accelerate. (also happened once after car had been parked) it only lasts about an hour before car can accelerate again and then check engine light will eventually turn off. Also, car feels rough shifting between gears and has trouble accelerating often.
My service engine light has come on and not it will not shift gears all the time. Sometimes it drives forward. Sometimes it doesn't. I need this issue to be addressed. When you have over 100 complaints for the same thing corporate needs to listen. If someone dies because of this no amount of compensation will be enough
- Lithia Springs, GA, USA
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Transmission went out at 46,942 miles in 2012 Chevrolet Cruze on 10/14/19. I was on my way home from work at night. Luckily I was on a small, empty road in town close to home. The engine revved but would not up shift. I pulled over and shut the car off hoping it might be a computer issue. When I turned it back on, the shifter moved but the transmission would not shift out of park. Towed it to my dealer, were it has always been serviced. The cause was a wave plate failure; gears 3-5-R were lost. Decided to replace the transmission with a new one to the tune of $4,500. Contacted GM/Chevrolet. Was told that there was nothing that could be done as far as financial assistance goes. The car was out of the 5-year/100,000 warranty period. I had just finished paying it off. This car has less than 50,000 miles, and is conservatively driven. The original brake pads still have half their life left. It is a problem when a modern car can not get to 50,000 before a catastrophic failure like this happens. I sent GM corporate a letter of complaint asking them to investigate the old transmission. Consumers should not have to pay the price of a shoddy product. What happens when this causes serious issues? I was given a $100 voucher for future repairs or services for my trouble. That was a kindness from a customer service standpoint, but not on a corporate level. I wanted my issue to be heard by the bosses, but like any big company it goes unheard and disregarded. People need to speak out against big companies. I understand sometimes things break, but not when the machine is taken care of. Flukes don't happen consistently, and this is a consistent problem with these drive trains. I was going to keep the car anyway and get a newer one in the spring. Not now. Now I have to pay on it for another year. I hope this does some good if just to give people a warning.
The vehicle has only 80,000 miles on it and it just quit running.I was able to have someone help to push it out of the road. I was told by a repair shop that the transmission is bad. I understand that GM is aware of the bad transmission but have not recalled the vehicle to fix it.
When driving my vehicle (2012 Chevy Cruze) on the highway (I-75 North between auburn hills and clarkston), the check engine light appears, RPM's fluctuate and the automobile loses acceleration even though the accelerator is depressed. The dashboard cluster light (P, R, D) blinks rapidly. The vehicle could not accelerate and the engine seems to lose power. The vehicle did this multiple times as power and acceleration was lost. Upon receiving a diagnostic reading, the code indicated a transmission control system or output shaft speed sensor. I am submitting this complaint due to the unsafe deceleration of speed on the highway during rush hour traffic. The potential for a fatal accident is great. Additionally, this model seems to have an issue due to several on-line inquiries and complaints.
I noticed that my vehicle seemed to be having issues when I pressed on the brake, so I took it in. I found out that it was a completely unrelated issue, and had to do with a crack running through the manifold. This was causing oil and coolant to leak onto the alternator. If I had not caught this early enough, they said I would have not been able to get it fixed. They repaired the leak, but a couple weeks later I noticed my car losing significant amounts of coolant/oil. This is causing oil and coolant to affect the turbo setting of my manual car, and has cost me up to $2,000 in repairs. This has been the underlying problem as to why I had to get my flywheel replaced 2 years ago, which was another $1,500. This is also what caused the transmission failure 3 years ago, another thousand dollars. I noted that the vehicle began leaking fluid after being stationary or moving while/after running for 10 minutes or longer.
I bought the car used about 2 years ago from a certified Chevy dealership. At the time I had concerns about the transmission because it was shifting hard (especially when it down-shifted at low speed) so I brought it back to the dealership to look at. I also had a few other issues like an anti-freeze odor. The mechanic at the dealership told me the transmission adapts to the person driving it, so I attributed the problem to that and figured it would "re-learn" how I drove and adjust. Well, it never did, and suddenly, without any warning the trans completely gave out driving while I on on my rural back-roads. Several months and two transmissions later, the message "transmission hot idle engine" persists and no one can find the reason why.
Our Chevy Cruze had started shifting strange while driving, losing power and it would start to idle rough, and just shut off, a day later the engine light came on and we ran a code scanner on it to find out what was wrong. 7 error codes came up and it all led to a failed PCV valve. Two days later it was in the shop and we are now faced with a major repair cost.
The transmission related to reverse, 3rd and 5th gear and the transition between gears went out. No real warning before this happened. Vehicle was stationary when it wouldn't work in reverse, then would not drive more than 24 mph on road.
The contact owns a 2012 Chevrolet Cruze. While driving 70 mph, the vehicle unintentionally decelerated. When the failure occurred, the vehicle took time to accelerate and the check engine indicator illuminated. Also, while the vehicle was at a stop light, it violently vibrated and stalled, but was able to restart. The vehicle was taken to feldman Chevrolet of lansing (2801 E Michigan ave, lansing, mi 48912, (517) 507-4948) where the contact was informed that the turbo in the engine needed to be replaced. The contact mentioned that the part was previously repaired. The vehicle was not repaired again. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was 150,000.
The contact owns a 2012 Chevrolet Cruze. While driving 50 mph, the vehicle began swerving across the road and the contact lost complete control. The vehicle also made an abnormal animal sound, similar to a cow moo-ing. In addition, the vehicle accelerated on its own and jerked violently back and forth. The contact was able to pull the vehicle over as it lost power. The check engine indicator illuminated. The vehicle was towed to jimmy vasser Chevrolet (583 soscol ave, Napa, ca 94559, (707) 255-7600) to be diagnosed, but no failures were found. The mechanic stated that there was no failure with the vehicle. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failures and stated that a new transmission was needed. The manufacturer offered to pay 10% of the repair cost. The failure mileage was 123,000. The VIN was unknown.
The contact owns a 2012 Chevrolet Cruze. While driving, the check engine indicator illuminated. The contact stated that the vehicle jerked and shuddered, and the transmission shifting was affected. The contact provided the dealer (turner Chevrolet, 1251 paxton St, harrisburg, pa 17104, (866) 629-7151) with engine codes: P015B (O2 sensor delayed response for oxygen sensor) and PO171 (bank 1 system 2 lean). The dealer was supposed to call the contact back to explain the codes. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not notified. The failure mileage was 96,600.
Purchased my 2012 Chevy Cruze March of 2016. July 2016 the car will continue to run after the key was out ignition I took it to naperville Chevy they changed thermostat. October 2016 the car would run on highway or street all of a sudden service traction light comes on the car only go to 20mph suddenly then it will turn off. Took it to Chevy again they said trans module they fixed it March 2017 it happened again they didn't know the problem because no engine light on it happened every 4 months October 2018 trans line leaking with the same sign no faster than 20mph jerking they fixed lines January 2019 car jerking again car goes 20 mph but the car will stop at stop sign and will I accelerate to go the car won't move at all I have to turn it off to drive again
Car was stopped at a red light, ready to make a left-turn and completely shut off for no reason. It turned on after some minutes but there are many complaints online (https://www.cargurus.com/cars/discussion-T65940_ds765514) of the same issue with this make and model (including newer ones), a lot being while the car is actually driving. This is so dangerous!! we don't feel safe continuing to operate the car since finding out it's a recurrent problem for people with this car who have had no resolution even after filing multiple claims with car company and taking it to the mechanic.
From the time I bought this vehicle (off lease) the transmission never felt right. The car would jerk from gear to gear and the rpms would sky rocket. I expressed this concern multiple times with the dealership I bought the car from and they assured me everything was okay and that it was just the type of transmission. After just getting my car out of the shop for a separate issue the Cruze left me on the side of a very busy highway that is notorious for accidents. As I tried to speed up the rpms would once again sky rocket but the car would not accelerate. After about a minute of this happening I pulled over to the side of the road. After putting the car in park I sat for a moment. When trying to drive the car just would not move. I tried forward and reverse and neither worked. So there I sat with car whizzing by me with a car that did not work. After towing the car to the shop he gave me the gut wrenching new that my 7 year old car's transmission is shot. I now have a $4,000 repair which I cannot afford. Oh and the kicker is I owe $8,000 still.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Timberlake, NC, USA