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:
10 / 3
Injuries / Deaths:
1 / 0
Average Mileage:
44,336 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.
Infotainment system not working. The stereo system does not work properly. It will turn on or off on without input from a human. Not having a stereo is not a problem, but the turn signals and hazard light clicking are not present when the radio is not operating. Not having audio of the turn signals requires the driver to take their eyes off the road to observe whether either turn signal are operating. This driver has ridden around with a turn signal for some lengths of time, possibly confusing other drivers. The radio and vehicle dings and clicks should be independent for safety alerts.
Dangerous to drive this car 2012 Chevy cruz. My cc 12 decided to jerk, shake, all panels starting flashing, shake, make noise and increase speed and then suddenly brakes kick in and it stopped in the middle lane of I95. Becus powertran is over by 1 year, Chevrolet wont do anything about it. They said to take to official Chevy dealership. Which now incurred a cost of 370 with discount. Their rep told me a each time I call tha the powertrain is over however considering the trouble with the vehicle, you are on the perimeters of this. We get the diagnostics and work with you possible picking up some if not all of the cost. No such thing, instead their senior advisor advised me I am [xxx] out of luck on a 6 yrs old car with approx. 79 thousand miles. That's their response. Out of car now 11 days, handed a bill for $370 to tell me the same thing my mechanic told me. Information redacted pursuant to the Freedom Of Information Act (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6).
Without any previous problems before this day.. my transmission went out with only 80,000 miles on June 7, 2018. Being on a busy 2 lane, curvy highway, my car just completely went out of gear and thankfully I was able cruise off to the side. A few minutes later an alert than came up on my dash and said "transmission hot, idle engine". I had bought this car in 2014 with only one previous owner that took really good care of it. It is ridiculous for my transmission to go out with such low mileage and to have to pay $5,000 for a new one and plus the car payments I still have on it. Unfortunately, I am not the only person to have this issue. There are many others. Just because they look nice doesn't mean it will last long.
My car is very dangerous! shuts off while on freeway! jerks forward while on brakes, caused an accident! cruise control does not work! electrical things flashing all the time! jerks and locks up all 4 wheels while driving! just today is shut down on the highway I struggled to get it home while the RPM's were up above 6! you name it, it has it. Think there should be a class action lawsuit against the makers of this vehicle!! class action lawsuit!!!!!
It has been a known issue all over the internet that the 2012 cruise has had a problem with its electrical system. Along with myself many others have noted that while driving the cars electrical system goes out disabling the power steering, radio, gas, anything tied in with the electrical system. This has caused many accidents and has nearly caused my significant other and myself on 3 separate occasions to nearly run into a pole or ditch. This is a safety hazard not only to the driver of the vehicle but to other vehicles or pedestrians.
- Des Moines, IA, USA
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As I was driving my radio started going on and off then car completely shut off steering while went stiff to the left and locked as I was on the road scared the living spirit out of me was the scariest experiences luckly I was alone without my kids because that could of been a fatal accident. In was very lucky it was not a busy morning the first time it happen and I was able to keep to left until car came to a stop at the curve. This has happen to me more than once that I stopped driving car stopped paying it because it was a lemon so many things went wrong 3mnths after buying car at used dealers I felt cheated and stuck I even lost my job because I wasnt able to get to work on time or at all at times because of car problems
While driving the radio and other interior lights started flashing on and off. Now along with that the check engine light is on, the service stabiltrac is on and it will loose steering assist at times. Today it started dying when taking off and at intersections.I have spoken to a few diffrent techs and a couple diffrent shops on this matter and nobody has any answers as to what it is they all have said that they have several doing the same thing and can not figure them out.
While driving, on at least four occasions, I have lost power completely, causing all electrical functionings to stop, making me lose ability to accelerate, causing my lights to shut off, and all other functionalities of the car, besides steering and using inertia, resulting in pulling over without endangering myself or other drivers. There also seems to be a skipping or jumping involving the fuel injection when accelerating, which makes speed regulation irregular, sporadic, and does not allow the driver to make accurate judgements on the cars capabilities concerning timing and distance to other drivers. Recently, I was in motion driving through chatanooga, tn, where it is mountainous and has steep hills, during nighttime, so visibility was lessened, and danger, due to the type of road it was, was increased. While going downhill, luckily, with other cars around me traveling at 70 mph, my car just shut off, completely. I lost the ability to accelerate, my lights shut off, almost causing an accident with the cars around me. Luckily, I pulled onto the shoulder without any damages. This happened again, about two months ago, at a stop light. I began to accelerate, and in the middle of the intersection, my car shut off, I had to coast off of the road, lost all acceleration, and again almost was involved in an accident.
Hello, my 2012 Chevy Cruze ltz's key fob isn't being detected by my vehicle. I've looked it up and asked around and either nobody's heard of the issue or don't know what to do other than take it to a mechanic. This doesn't happen all the time, but it's painstaking when I can't even use the key fob one minute and then the next it works fine. The vehicle has been stationary since this problem has occured.
The car says in the instrument cluster "engine looses power" and to "service stabilitrac." Then I loose acceleration. I have to coast to the shoulder shut the car down and restart. It happens more often on the freeway which is super scary. This happens every time drive.
While breaking, using the blinker, turning, or just driving the car will loose power, slow the car down, the radio looses power, and my service stablitky track, service power steering, along with traction control, anti-breaking lights, and a few other light will all come back on. It will do this randomly while driving, it seems to do it more frequently when coming to a stop or accelerating. I had this serviced back in February of 2017 and the dealership told me I had acid from my battery leaking into the positive cable, so I had all the battery and battery wires replaced. This took care of the problem until a few weeks ago. This is happening more and more often and the problem is becoming worse. This is a persistent problem with the Chevy Cruze from the research I have done and Chevy seems to be doing nothing about it.
Car slow to crank, check power steering comes on or check anti theft system occasionally. Sometimes the wipers, emergency lights or trunk pops open. No on can give me an answer as to what the heck is going on with my 2012 cruz. This happens while the car is stationary.
When I try and start my car sometime it stalls like it doesn't want to crank up and when I finally do get it crank the emergency lights flash, power steering comes on the screen and then windshield wipers come on. I had this problem previous a couple months again to where when I crank it the trunk came open and the stabilitak and jerk and other things would pop up. They put it on the machine and it said it was misfires so I went and got it fixed now it's happening again.
While driving down the road down the road, radio turns on and off, ac stopped blowing, lights flashing on and off, stability track flashing, this is a problem, fix it, too many people are having the same issue! unacceptable!
The contact owns a 2012 Chevrolet Cruze. While driving various speeds and attempting to stop the vehicle, the contact had to apply extra force to the brake pedal. Also, the check engine warning indicator illuminated. The contact took the vehicle to auto zone who found failure codes for the ECM and brakes. The dealer was contacted at 319-393-3300 and stated that the vehicle was not included in a recall. The dealer informed the contact that the vehicle needed to be brought in to be diagnosed. The dealer also stated that even though the vehicle experienced the failures in a recall, it did not mean her vehicle was included in the recall. The vehicle was not included in NHTSA campaign number: 13V360000 (service brakes, hydraulic). The vehicle was not diagnosed due to the diagnostic fee. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure and confirmed that there was no recall under the VIN, and that a manager would contact her back. No further assistance was provided. The failure mileage was approximately 80,600.
While driving my 012 Chevy Cruze, a message came up stating 'service stabilitrak' and the radio shuts off and turns back on randomly. Also, when at a complete stop, the ac will stop blowing and then pick back up.
Car when in park with parking break and idiling in neutral. The steering wheel will jerk, the speedometer will spike at max speed and doors will lock and all dash lights flash on. While driving down the road between 25 to 45 mph the radio will turn itself off and then back on for no reason. Also while turning at slow speed, car will reset itself. As in it will lose all power to the power steering, ac, radio, everything and you will have to restart the car. Not safe at all when driving in traffic.
Vehicle would not start could not open car but the dash light were on & once inside the window would go up & and down. Have changed battery but still not working.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Lawrenceburg, KY, USA