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10.0

really awful
Crashes / Fires:
1 / 0
Injuries / Deaths:
1 / 0
Average Mileage:
67,850 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.

2013 Chevrolet Traverse engine problems

engine problem

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2013 Chevrolet Traverse Owner Comments

problem #19

Apr 142022

Traverse

  • miles

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

Vehicle dies while driving in traffic. Has done this since I bought it. Very unsafe. I have had my car since march 2022. While driving it says engine power reduced, traction control, stabli track, and loses power and I have to try to safely make sure I get it off the road. After it dies it won't start. I have to get tow truck to bring it home. Then next day it starts fine sometimes. Very unsafe. I have children. I have barley been able to prevent myself from being in a wreck. When it dies the whole cars jerks. It does it all the time. This last time it was doing it so much I haven't been able to drive it. To afraid of accident.

- Grove , OK, USA

problem #18

Jul 122021

Traverse

  • miles
Was driving down the road and the seat belt warning came on even though the seat belts were buckled and the car suddenly lost power the traction control light blinked I tried to give the car gas and it acted like it did not want to go I pulled over and cut it off and let it sit for a minute and then cut it back on and it's drove fine

- Albemarle, NC, USA

problem #17

Feb 192019

Traverse

  • 107,639 miles
I was driving and my stabili trak light comes on I'm in the left lane going 60 mph my speed drops to 15 mph I cut my flashers on quickly. Luckily the car behind me saw something was happening and moved over and the other cars could see my car was in distress. I cut the car off turned it back on after about 15minutes and it was fine. Drive for about 30 minutes and it happened again did everything as before drove to dealer they couldn't find anything wrong with the car so I paid for a service diagnostic for nothing. They drove the car said it was fine. I did a internet search and found videos on there that shows how you can turn off or fix the stabilitrak. All I know is GM need to find a solution before someone lose their life behind this. It's happened to me to many times to count until I'm afraid to drive my car on a long distance trip, I rent a car and make sure it doesn't have stabilitrak. Please get help for this situation.

- Hollis, NY, USA

problem #16

Jul 202016

Traverse

  • 90,000 miles

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

Traction control light turned on and car speed decreased from 55 to 20 on wet freeway, car skid into side rail. Turned car off then back on traction control light off and able to drive away. Chevrolet repair shop was not able to detect problem since traction control light was off (actual date unsure but this is 2nd time I'm posting this on this site)

- Victorville, CA, USA

problem #15

Oct 022020

Traverse

  • 140,000 miles
The vehicle randomly turns off and on the traction control system. At times, the vehicle also goes into "reduced power mode" while traveling at highway speeds. When the reduced power mode occurs, loss of power steering and power brakes also occur making the vehicle difficult to control until it is stopped. After restarting the vehicle, the reduced power mode and traction control/stabilitrac conditions go away until it randomly triggers again. The reduced power mode and traction control/stabilitrac errors may occur either while moving or while stationary. The events trigger random engine codes, of which I have several on record, and those engine codes typically have nothing to do with the traction control system. Additionally, on occasion, the front passenger seat belt and airbag lights alert to buckle the belt althought there is no one or nothing in that seat. This vehicle is equipped with the same iginition switch that was recalled in other GM vehicles experiencing similar problems, however, this vehicle was not included in recall.the most recent incident was 10/02/2020, when the vehicle suddenly went into reduce power mode, and nearly causing me to miss a negotiating a curve in the road.

- Richmond, KY, USA

problem #14

Sep 172020

Traverse

  • 98,504 miles
The car is a 2013 Chevy Traverse ls with 98,804 miles on it. When driving at highway speed the vehicle service engine light started flashing and a warning on the dash came up of service traction control, traction control system off, reduced engine power. The vehicle reduced speed from 60 mph to 25 mph. The vehicle started shaking and sounded like it was misfiring. When I brought the vehicle to a parking lot it would lurch forward when I let off the brake pedal. There were no warning signs of any mechanical issues or transmission issues prior to this. I shut off the vehicle let it sit for a moment and restarted it. Vehicle started fine no misfiring or lurching when I let off the brake. After resetting the faults the vehicle drove like normal. Appears to be an electronic issue. Possibly the fuse block. I have been a mechanic for 25 years this was my first time ever seeing this issue.

- Rushville, NY, USA

problem #13

Jan 252020

Traverse

  • 86,000 miles

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

While driving I experienced 'traction control off'; 'service stabilitrac'; 'service traction control' and then the car went into 'reduced engine power. I was in traffic and had to quickly make an unsafe turn to avoid being rear-ended by the vehicle behind me. This has happened twice now.

- Windsor Mill, MD, USA

problem #12

Sep 012018

Traverse

  • miles
I was on the freeway in ca in traffic and experienced this frightened reduced speed error, 75 mph to less than 25 mph and had to pull over. I have looked and seen that this is a common problem and there is no recall. After leaving the car off for a day, the check engine light is now off for a diagnostic. I am afraid for my life and children lives to travel and not know what's going to happen when I take them to school. This first happened in 2018. I took the vehicle to the dealership and they stated that it was the ignition switch and replaced it but stated they couldn't duplicate the issue I explained to them. I leased a new vehicle due to safety concern and tried to get them to fix the issue by contacting GM customer service after seeing this is a known issue with the law vehicles. They did an extended warranty for the years 2010-2012 vehicles. Mine is a 2013 so it is not under the warranty. When I turned in my year lease vehicle I began driving this vehicle again and have experienced the same issue but now the warranty has expired on my vehicle for it being 5 years but it was not expired when I first took it to be fixed for the issue.

- Riverside, CA, USA

problem #11

Sep 062019

Traverse

  • 111,680 miles
I was driving on the highway and all of my dash gauges started to fluctuate, my traction control light came on, I started to loose speed when I pressed on the accelerator, when I finally made it home my back up camera would not come on and I heard clicking coming from the fuse box.

- St.Louis, MO, USA

problem #10

Aug 042018

Traverse

  • 72,000 miles
Driving the Traverse on the freeway and it cuts out, the steering wheel locks, making it hard to steer. Endangering everyone in the vehicle. Other cars are coming at high speed and this one does with no warning. Other times it protects a reaction control check stabilise message and reduces engine power, greatly reducing speed you are going.

- Baker, LA, USA

problem #9

Apr 302019

Traverse

  • 107,000 miles

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

While driving on a busy highway and without warning my 2013 Traverse started to loose power. This was very dangerous and quite scary as I almost got rear ended by cars behind me as my vehicle almost slowed down to a complete stop on the highway. The 'traction control is off' llight came on - followed by the 'stabilitrak', 'loss of engine power' and 'service traction control'. I made it to an hwy exit at about 5 mph. Thankfully, I was able to find a safe place on the side of the road before my car engine started to shake and then cut off. I had to get a tow to the Chevy dealership service. This suvhas had a number of issues from the time I purchased the vehicle. The first issue is loss of power during acceleration, which the dealership has continued to dismiss. I have also had issues with the air bags, transmission, seatbelts and power steering. The power steering and transmission were recently 'repaired' this past year, but I have continued to have issues with both of those systems.

- Hayward, CA, USA

problem #8

Dec 272018

Traverse

  • 65,000 miles
The engine without warning went into reduced power mode and would not let me go past 30 miles an hour. It then flashed reduced power, stable track, and traction control. Very unsafe on a busy highway when driving and on a busy street to just lose power.

- Benton, WI, USA

problem #7

Sep 202018

Traverse

  • 102,000 miles
Driving to work like any other day. All of a sudden service traction control stabilitrack and reduced engine power comes on. Luckily not heavy traffic. Boyfriend came to take it to the shop and it wouldn't even crank up. Seeing all these complaints I really hope this isn't a costly issue because a lawyer will be contacted to get to the bottom of these issues with this and all parties will be reimbursed for this! I had to leave work early to take care of just getting my car somewhere for it to be looked at and not a happy person!

- Heath Springs, SC, USA

problem #6

Jul 022018

Traverse

  • 59,000 miles
I was driving to work like any other day. As I was about ten minutes away from my work. My Traverse suddenly started to shake. And then the check engine light came on and engine power reduce, service stabilitrak, traction control off popped up on my dash board. I went from 70 mph to under 20 mph with in seconds. Thank god it was not so much traffic because I probably would not be here typing up my complaint about my car. There is even a Chevy forum that I found, where multiple people have had the same exact issue. www.traverseforum.com here is the website where I have found multiple complaints of the Chevy Traverse and other Chevy models. Hope someone can do somethig before someone gets in a horrific traffic accident or even causes death to someone.

- Marysville, CA, USA

problem #5

Jun 272017

Traverse

  • 120,000 miles
Randomly without warning my Traverse will completely loose power. It does this while driving at any speed, and also while idling in park.

- Cabot, AR, USA

problem #4

Dec 262015

Traverse

  • 59,134 miles
While driving about 65 mph on us-59 in my 2013 Chevrolet Traverse ltz, the instrument panel lit up like a christmas tree, followed by a rapid, un-controlled deceleration, loss of power, and loss of steering. This was while driving on a straight road, and no surface impediments such as rain, snow, sleet, ect.. the issue was "stabilitrak! as a 30 year, career law enforcement officer who investigated thousands of accidents, this was a very dangerous situation and my family and I are very lucky to be alive. I also found there is a long history of this going back to at least 2010. This same vehicle has had the rear A/C fixed 4 times and mylink system fixed 2X.

- Katy, TX, USA

problem #3

Apr 302015

Traverse 6-cyl

  • 28,500 miles
Traveling at roughly 55mph the vehicle started beeping. The car controls began to become hard to steer and without warning the speed in seconds slowed to 15-20 mph. The dash starts reporting the following information:engine power reduces service stabilitrak traction control off I pull over shut off the car and eventually the dealer says it will go away. Its a non issue. Then it happens again and again over and over again. The code every time is P2138. The service department even thinks an existing tsb is the issue 11273 but since my car isnt listed on it.

- Ofallon, IL, USA

problem #2

Jul 232014

Traverse 6-cyl

  • 34,800 miles
This has now occurred twice within the past 30 days. While in motion, the vehicle transmissions jerks, and speed is immediately reduced to 5mph. The stability control light comes on as does the check engine light. A remote diagnostics scan from on-star identified 3 error codes: C0561, P0700, P182E. The first time it occurred while exiting a highway off-ramp. This vehicle was taken to the dealership. The dealership informed me that there were no know issues related to this, no recalls, and no service bulletins existed describing this behavior for the 2013 model year. They were unable to recreate the problem and returned the vehicle to me. This happened again yesterday while approaching an intersection and slowing from ~35mph with traffic close behind. This is an extremely dangerous system behavior which could have easily resulted in a severe incident in a dangerous intersection. While the vehicle is in the state where the stability control light is on we observed hard transmission shifting/jerking into and out of park, reverse, neutral, and drive. We turned the vehicle off for 15 minutes. Upon restarting, normal operations were restored with the exception of the check engine light. The check engine light turned off after ~25-30 miles of driving.

- Norton, OH, USA

problem #1

Jan 062014

Traverse

  • 7,895 miles
As I was driving on a highway I stepped on the accelerator and the car did not respond and came to a sudden stop in the middle of the highway. I had no warning and no ability to pull off to the side of the road. I could not restart the car and I had no power steering or brakes. I had my car towed to the local GM dealership and they found that a piece in the engine had fallen or broken and damaged the piston, the cylinder and the head of the engine. As the mechanic said, it was a "catastrophic engine failure." They replaced the engine in the car and then one day later, after having the car at the dealership for 32 days, the check engine light went on. I took the car back to the dealership and they found that the oxygen sensor was not working and they replaced it. GM told me that the piece that fell had not been tightened properly and this was missed on the final inspection. Not only am I concerned by having had this frightening experience happen on the highway, moreover in a new car, but the sudden stopping of the car while driving is the same thing that has happened to the cars that have recently been recalled by GM. I got this car because of its good safety profile however now I do not feel safe and secure driving this car.

- Teaneck, NJ, USA

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