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CarComplaints.com Notes: The 2012 Chevrolet Sonic is fairly new & is already showing an early trend of transmission problems.

Owners report hesitation when shifting & grinding/hard shifting into gears. Some dealers are calling the condition "normal". Another owner reported his dealership replaced the transmission under warranty, but the new transmission had the same exact grinding problem. Design defect?

10.0

really awful
Crashes / Fires:
0 / 1
Injuries / Deaths:
0 / 0
Average Mileage:
64,835 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.

2012 Chevrolet Sonic miscellaneous problems

miscellaneous problem

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2012 Chevrolet Sonic Owner Comments (Page 3 of 3)

« Read the previous 20 complaints

problem #5

May 252015

Sonic

  • 40,120 miles

A D V E R T I S E M E N T S

My radio will turn itself on hours after my car has been turned off. I've had to take out the fuse everytime I exit the car so the battery won't drain. I don't know where to begin with fixing this problem. It's been going on for a few weeks now. I've called to the dealership where the car was purchased and they said it was a manufacturing problem. Please don't tell me I have to pay for this out of pocket. From what I've seen there's a lot of these cases on the internet. So it's not just a random problem.

- Roswell, NM, USA

problem #4

Jan 142015

Sonic

  • 45,000 miles
Gear shifter button gets stuck, not allowing releasing key from ignition. Driver has to have lubricant on hand at all times, to get shifter button unstuck. However lately it is getting somewhat harder to get it to work

- Plymouth, MI, USA

problem #3

May 262015

Sonic

  • 44,673 miles
During the last week had problems with the key not releasing from steering column. The last two days gear shifter getting very hard to shift and button sticks and key will not release, and wheels will not lock. Have had to leave the key in car which is not a very safe thing to do. Have noticed today that the button after awhile will pop out and then the key will release. This is a safety issue and needs to be recalled before things get worse which apparently is going to happen..

- Lyndonville, NY, USA

problem #2

Aug 012014

Sonic 4-cyl

  • miles
2012 Chevrolet Sonic. Consumer writes in regards to vehicle metal grinding noises when accelerating from a stop.

- Naples, FL, USA

problem #1

Apr 172013

Sonic 4-cyl

  • 45,000 miles
I have a 2012 Chevy Sonic lt automatic with the 1.8 liter. The car started having problems around 45,000 miles and has gotten worse over time.the car on cold start ups has a grinding sound. This grinding most of the time only happens on cold start ups but does at times happens on warm start ups. This sounds like metal against metal and it rattles. This seems to happen until the car is fully started and running. I am getting concerned because it is getting worse and louder.

- Huntington, WV, USA

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