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 / 13
Injuries / Deaths:
5 / 0
Average Mileage:
53,553 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 approximately 15 mph, the vehicle would not accelerate while attempting to enter onto the highway. The vehicle eventually reached 53 mph. The dealer diagnosed that the turbo charger failed. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 78,000.
I bought my 2012 Chevy Cruze in September 2014. Since I have had it, when driving any where, when I press the gas pedal to drive, the car sounds like it rears up to loud. I have to take my foot off the gas, then press gently and drive slow, inorder for the car to not make that sound. My car is not a straight drive, it is automatic, therefore it should not be making that sound as if it's in the wrong gear. Is this going to be a very bad problem down the road?
Bought vehicle from carmax first week of March 2014, 3 weeks later was first time I drove in snow and the the brakes did not work at all. Called carmax and though the warranty was was over they agreed to repait because of a brake recall. Then a couple weeks later there was a leak and Ford had to replace a coolant pump. The car never ran the same. The car putters and has horrible acceleration and I have contacted Ford and carmax dealership and coorp for help at the same time all the Cruze were taken off the lots and were no longer allowed to be sold because of all the recalls and they were deemed unsafe to drive. All I asked carmax for was to take this vehicle back and let me pick out a different car. I am a single mom with a teenage daughter an I am afraid to let her drive this car, there have been several deaths attributed to the Chevy Cruze. I have left several voicemails with GM my case # is C7269752 with first responder..what does that mean anyway? the GM at carmax in tinley park argued with me for 15 minutes about who if I spoke to him once or twice instead of dealing with the real issue, the sold me, a single mother a car with bad brakes! I almost went into down into a 6 lane expressway when the brakes didnt work! I would have been killed. Its been a couple months now and no one has followed up at all. The snow will soon begin and I am scared to death to drive. Please can some one help.
12/13/12 check engine light is on and vehicle hesitates on acceleration from a stop. They replaced the failed turbo charger assembly. Replaced valves inside head. 03/21/2013 - error message "A/C off due to high engine temp". replaced A/C compressor. 12/13/13- water pump leaking replaced water pump and coolant. 08/29/2014 - "engine overheated - idle engine" error message "A/C off due to high engine temp" dealer fixed recall low coolant level. 10/15/14- car having power issues needs to be jump-started. After looking at the car they made me pay $89.95 to replace battery. 11/03/14 - "engine oveheated-idle engine" "A/C off due to high engine temp" "service traction control" "reduced engine power". the car was shaking and losing power had to be towed to dealership.
Anti freeze smell in car and head rests pop up by themselves.dealer used GM fix to stop the odor.it helped but didn't solve the problem.dealer claimed to have adjusted the headrests but it didn't help at all.they still pop up by themselves.
- Oxford, CT, USA
Search CarComplaints.com for these popular complaint phrases...
Since purchase as used, slow start speed with the engine almost cutting out. Radio flickering on and off. Engine cutting out when idling. Engine light for mass air flow (maf) sensor replacement. Replaced maf sensor and problem remains. Engine fan staying on long after engine has shut off and cooled. Service lights coming of for stabilitrack and other random issues. Front cigarette lighter won't charge devices. Tire air pressure sensors backwards on display, I.e. display right front tire is actually left front tire pressure.
Thermostat housing leak (gasket) discovered during maintenance on vehicle, 9/26/2014. Set up to be repaired under warranty at midway Chevy dealership in pocomoke city, md on thur., 10/2/2014. Car was purchased labor day of 2013, has a little over 9,000 miles with bumper to bumper warranty still enforced. Reported to NHTSA on 9/29/2014 at approx. 10:30 am. Confirmation# 10639748. Repaired on morning of 10/2/2014 at midway Chevrolet in pocomoke city, md. Chevy tech. Confirmed a coolant leak and replaced thermostat housing with an aluminum one. The initial housing was made of plastic.
The contact owns a 2012 Chevrolet Cruze. While the vehicle was being serviced, the technician noticed that the gasket for the motor was leaking. The vehicle was not repaired and the manufacturer was notified. The approximate failure mileage was 9,000...updated 11/04/14 updated 04/28/2015
Service engine light came on at about 29,000 miles, so I took it to the dealership. After diagnostic it was determined that the thermostat had gone bad, so they replaced the thermostat and the holding mount. Then Saturday on the way to work the service engine light came back on. I stopped for gas then the car would not restart. I had to have the car towed back to the dealership. It was determined that the cam shaft sensor also went bad. The car also hesitates when shifting gears in low speeds.
The car turns off while driving down the road. Wont allow me to remove the key from the ignition. Wont turn off or on. Dealer cant find any problems when taken in to see what is causing this issues.
Previously to the visit my car was running slow and kept marking engine speed reduced then about a week later the car sign removed and started running normally again. About a month or so passed and the same thing happened again then I took the car in and they fixed it but after that the bluetooth didn't work and the navigational compass stopped working. Ever since then the bluetooth and navigational compass has not worked and I just run the risk of the engine reduce sign to pop up again cause it comes up spontaneously.
Car radio kept cutting on and off multiple times before all of the car lights flashed on the dashboard and steering wheel became stiff. I pulled over on the side of the road, cut the car off and pulled out the key. I put the key back in the ignition and tried to start the car and it wouldn't start. The lights and radio didn't even come on. I couldn't put the key back in the off switch nor could I pull the key out. After about a minute or so my radio came on and I was finally able to start my car.
When the speed of the car starts to reach 50 miles a high pitch sound occurs. I cannot determined if it is related to when air conditioner is turned on. The noise will diminish when speed is lowered to about 45 miles. I cannot recall if this happens in the colder months but it does seem to happen in the summer.
C/S ses light was on. I took car to norman frede Chevrolet for repairs. The determined that there was a vacuum leak at the engine cam cover and replaced it - or so they said. Here is the invoice statement: "PO171 vac leak at engine cam cover 4060930/0.6 replace engine cam cover. Clear code 6061" after getting the car back, I went to nbt and had the oil changed. The next morning I drove to dallas from houston. On the way, I had another code light and called the dealership. When I got back from dallas on Sunday June 29, 2013, I discovered that there was oil on the back of my car bumper and trunk. I took it to nbt and they inspected it and confirmed that they did nothing wrong to cause the oil leak. Nbt confirmed that the engine was leaking oil at the cam cover. I dropped the vehicle at norman frede on Sunday and am in the process of getting to the bottom of the problem. The nbt person was surprised that the cam cover was plastic. This oil leak could have caused an engine fire. I am also concerned about a plastic cam cover. Should not a cam cover be metal" is this a chronic problem"
The contact owns a 2012 Chevrolet Cruze. The contact stated that while driving in reverse and backing into a parking space the vehicle suddenly stalled. The contact indicated that after restarting the engine the vehicle operated as normal. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the defect. The failure mileage was 60,000.
In April I had been driving and noticed that my radio was flickering. After about ten minutes of my radio flickering on and off, the "service stabilitrack" light came on. Once the service light came on, power steering shut off and I had to pull the vehicle over. After pulling over, I shut off the vehicle and then tried to restart it. This time it started with a new service light on. I took the car into the dealership and they had it for three days hoping that the problem would present itself to them. I showed them a video of what happens to the radio and they were unable to help me. They did however notice that a previously recall done on my car had not been fixed before I purchased it. A few days after getting the car back, the lights started to flicker again. I contacted the dealership and they let me know that there was no point in bringing it in unless the problem was constant. About a month later, I went to start my car and nothing. No lights, no engine turn over nothing. My key was stuck in the ignition and would not turn. My fiance had to get out tap the battery and the whole thing started up. Two days ago, the same radio, service lights and engine shut off happened again. This is 2 times now that I have had complete failure in the middle of the road. I am literally terrified for my life!!!!!!!....updated 07/31/14 updated 08/23/2017
The contact owns a 2012 Chevrolet Cruze. The contact stated that while driving approximately 5 mph, the brakes failed. The vehicle did not stop when the brake pedal was fully applied, causing the contact to crash into the rear of another vehicle. There were no injuries and a police report was not filed of the incident. The vehicle was taken to the dealer but no diagnoses was provided. The contact referenced NHTSA campaign id number 13V36000(service brakes, hydraulic) but did not confirm if the vehicle was included in the recall. This failure persisted intermittently over a period of one year. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 19,000. Updated 8/19/14 the consumer stated the vehicle's trunk exterior manual latch would not open the trunk and the steering wheel air bag is on recall. While driving, the vehicle would hesitate and lurch. Updated 08/28/2014
I received my Chevy Cruze ls in August of 2012 after having it for a week I started to notice issues with the transmission. I drove it up North and after being on the freeway going a constant speed of 75 mph, when forced to slow down due to traffic the car could not figure out what I was trying to do and just had a mind of its own. The rpms would shoot up very high and the car would struggle to accelerate (almost as if it were stuck in neutral) and eventually it would jerk forward very hard and then accelerate. This happens every time I get on the freeway now and have to slow down because of traffic or slow down to get off at the exit (and continues well after being off the freeway). I am lucky I haven't been rear ended and severely injured or killed. I've had the car for almost two years now and its only gotten worse, it now does the same thing when driving down the street at 30 mph, it will be going along just fine then all of a sudden the engine revs as if it were shifted into neutral and then catches itself and jerks really hard and is fine again. Also when slowing down it seems to downshift too quickly almost coming to a complete stop on its own, which is why I am afraid of being rear ended. I have taken the car in to 5 different dealerships and am told every time that either they don't see the problem and I don't know what I'm talking about or they can see there's a problem but there's nothing they can do about it. I'm very disappointed in the quality of this car, I've also had issues with the radio and my usb cord not connecting to my phone and even when it does connect the songs come through with lots of static. I have tried different cords, different phones and multiple ipods and it keeps happening. I feel totally helpless and am sick of feeling unsafe in my car. My family has always bought GM cars, this is my second Chevy and my last!!
Failure of water pump. On the morning after normal work commute of 60 miles, found spilled coolant under vehicle. GM service replaced the water pump under warranty. Vehicle only had 25K miles and the water pump failed-unacceptable.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Maumee, OH, USA