10.0

really awful
Crashes / Fires:
1 / 3
Injuries / Deaths:
2 / 0
Average Mileage:
25,210 miles

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problem #53

Jul 252019

Cruze

  • 62,000 miles
The contact owns a 2017 Chevrolet Cruze. The contact stated that while driving approximately 40-45 MPH, the check engine warning light illuminated and the vehicle decelerated to 30-35 MPH. Additionally, the vehicle made abnormal rattling sounds and failed to exceed 30-35 MPH. The vehicle was taken to the dealer, where it was diagnosed that the knock sensors needed to be replaced. The vehicle was repaired; however, the failure recurred two months later. The vehicle was taken back to the dealer, where the knock sensors and the engine were replaced; however, the failure persisted. The vehicle was taken to a second dealer, Zimbrick Chevrolet Service (1877 W Main St #200, Sun Prairie, WI 53590), where the knock sensors and the knock sensors terminal were replaced; however, the failure recurred. The vehicle was taken back to the dealer, where it was diagnosed that the Engine Control Module (ECM) needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure and informed the contact that they could not assist because the vehicle was out of warranty. The failure mileage was approximately 62,000.

- Stoughton, WI, USA

problem #52

Jun 152023

Cruze

  • miles
Based off my mechanic's assessment and that of a Chevrolet dealership, one of the cylinders in my Chevy Cruze is no longer firing. The dealership believes at least one of the pistons needs to be replaced. The car is available for inspection. The car is unreliable to drive, as I drove up a freeway incline it slowed to a dangerously low speed for freeway driving. The dealership has confirmed they believe it is an issue with the piston but will not confirm without charging $2800 to dismantle the car and are not able to guarantee they will be able to fix the issue. Diagnostics were run on the car at Putnam Chevrolet in Burlingame CA. There were no warning lamps or messages prior to a major issue with the cars functionality. The issue first appeared June 15, 2023 without any warning. The engine light came on and the car was not functioning properly, plus a notification to "service Stabilitrek". I have found mention of the same problem on consumer forums. Cracked pistons are a KNOWN issue on this make and model but there are no recalls and the car is just outside of the warranty.

- San Francisco , CA, USA

problem #51

Apr 142023

Cruze

  • miles
Vehicle had a cracked piston. Now the vehicle is very sluggish while accelerating from a stop. Burns a tremendous amount of fuel. Vehicle is also stalling frequently. It-??s been to Chevrolet twice and a mom and pop shop and nobody can figure out what the problem is.

- Indianapolis, IN, USA

problem #50

Oct 202021

Cruze

  • miles
I purchase this car in 2017 apprentices 2017 Cruze at the time it only have four thousand miles it has 80,000 MI it was a fuel injector pump replaced next to the engine at everybody there knew that the car was defective due to the fact that they have several men that don't know what they're doing and working on these cars are unprofessional workers and everybody here knows that they keep repairing cars and they need to send them back to the manufacturer for DFCS and numerous problems they said everybody here got nothing but junk cars and they need help to replace them immediately in this car the cruise and the Malibu the odometer kept sticking and going bad and they did replace it once and then they replaced it again and they left the park open in the vehicle you always have to get so many oil changes with this and then the one-time the Auto stop feature had got stuck on a train track and it was very hard to get that car off we had got frightened and had jumped off the car over here in Milwaukee off of 2nd street or 1st Street we're trying to report whatever we can so I can get a replacement vehicle or sometimes the rear camera was defective to it didn't always come on right away

- Milwaukee, WI, USA

problem #49

Jun 282023

Cruze

  • miles
Car very suddenly started having slow acceleration, and vibration felt during acceleration. Check engine light on with StabiliTrak warning message on dashboard. Rough idle and vibration felt in cabin. Difficulty accelerating at traffic light and car seemed to almost stall at one point. Diagnosed at the dealer with cracked pistons in engine with code P0300 for random misfire. 2017 Chevy Cruz has passed the power train warranty by 1 year. Mileage odometer reading is about 58200. GM is not willing to replace without charging $4700 for replacing the faulty piston components in the engine even though this poses safety hazard for regular driving. After some research, this seems to be a widely known problem of this generation Chevy Cruz and GM has even changed the part number of the piston assembly to replace the faulty pistons in engine. This needs to be a recall!

- Whittier, CA, USA

problem #48

Mar 012023

Cruze

  • miles
It started with a check engine light stating I needed to replace a fuel injector. I had that replaced and continued to have the same problem. I had a compression test performed and stated that I had a cracked cylinder leaking compression in cylinder one. The engine needs to be replaced or rebuilt. As you can imagine that is expensive. After finding this out, I continued to drive the vehicle hoping to get a new a vehicle. I was unable to and the vehicle stalled on me while driving several times. This put my safety in jeopardy as I could've have gotten hurt on the road and other safety if I got hit. Luckily, neither happened. General motors intentionally inflates the PSI in the engine to compensate for the turbo engine, resulting in the breakdown of the engine quicker and makes it unsafe for the road. In my case, I just bought this vehicle a year ago and has under 100k miles. I have been unable to get a GM technician to diagnose the vehicle due to finance reasons. After research, this is common issue with my vehicle and I am reporting this issue.

- Dunn, NC, USA

problem #47

Apr 022023

Cruze

  • 35,000 miles
The contact owns a 2017 Chevrolet Cruze. The contact stated that while driving at approximately 60 MPH, the engine started to misfire. The contact stated that the vehicle was hesitating while depressing the accelerator pedal. The contact stated that the check engine warning light was illuminated. The contact stated that the vehicle stalled while driving into the driveway; however, the vehicle was able to restart. The contact stated that she attempted to call a local Chevrolet dealer however, her calls were not returned. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic who stated that the engine needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 35,000. The VIN was not available.

- Chattanooga, TN, USA

problem #46

Mar 182023

Cruze

  • miles
The number one cylinder piston cracked causing it to idle rough and possibly blowing up causing the car to come to a stop. The problem has been reproduced and confirmed by a licensed Chevy dealer/ repair shop. Was told that it-??s a common problem with the car and also told that it will just explode

- Newtonfalls , OH, USA

problem #45

Dec 012022

Cruze

  • miles
I have a 2017 Chevy Cruze, with 38,000 miles. My piston cylinder is broken. I had bought it off a dealership with 24000 miles on IT4 years ago. At 38000 miles with only putting very little mileage on it, I have to have the engine replaced which is a very expensive fix. I should not have to have to have my whole engine replaced at 38,000 miles. I have done my research and this is a common problem with the 2017 Cruze. This is suppose to make a great family, realiable car! I am very upset with Chevy! there was no prior warnings of my cylinder piston breaking. Stability service light came on and immediently after the engine light did took it to a shop the next day. And my cylinder is broken. With labor it is easier to just replace the whole engine. I am very disappointed! I was driving with my kids when this happened. Lucky my car engine didnt blow up in the process and I was able to get home safelty!

- Sharon , PA, USA

problem #44

Oct 182022

Cruze

  • miles
The car shut down in the middle of the highway which made me pull to the side and not so long after this incident the brakes stopped working for some time causing me to crash.

- La Mesa , CA, USA

problem #43

Jul 312022

Cruze

  • miles
Have filed an earlier complaint and never heard back. But the engine was stalling and not maintaining speed without heavy acceleration. First week of August 2022 the car finally gave out after diagnosis of faulty knock sensor. Was displaying knock sensor code intermittently and finally stayed on. Anyway first week of august it stalled completely at a stop sign and would not crank back up. I finally started checking relays and found the engine functions relay faulty by accident. There are two square grey relays under the hood in the fuse block. One says engine function s relay and one says something to do with defrost controls. Had to swap the two relays to get my car running. No problems since. Only had 87,000 miles on car.

- Gaston , SC, USA

problem #42

Jul 242019

Cruze

  • miles
I should have filed a complaint here after the catastrophic failure. The next time I may not be so lucky and it could cause loss of life. I was driving at approx. 65 MPH on the frwy when bang! An explosion under my hood that caused my car to jump over a lane, I slammed on the breaks, swerved but couldn't push the brake pedal down anymore. It felt hard and would barely move. i had no way to slowdown or stop! And traffic infront of me was slowing fast. I put all my weight on that pedal even tried pumping it, but it would only move alittle. Luckily the car in front sped up just enough for me to swerve onto the shoulder. As I slowed i could depress pedal alittle if I stood up on it out of my seat but stopping distance was like 15ft while maybe going 15 mph. This all happened in a matter of minutes i still dont know how I was able to avoid an accident. The engine sounded really rough. So I called the dealership they said to bring the car in. I had already spoke. With them that week due to traction control system and transmission causing instability and brake issues. I was mortified when I found out what happened I had cracked 2 pistons & the force was so strong it blew thru the membrane that seperates the break system, got oil in my break lines! This is a new car! Dealership said it was a known issue & GM determinedtitle was a design flaw. I had 2 pistons replaced and my break system flushed my car has never been the same. There's always something little and intermitten still with the transmission & Now the engine jumps while idling and stopped in drive it jumps so hard the car jumps fwd, feels like ill hit whats in front of me. I lost significant value at only 26,290 miles, i cant afford to trade it in on disability, covid turned into long haul covid, no affordable extended warranty. I have no piece of mind in a car I dont feel safe in. What happens when the pistons fail they didnt fix. How many injuries or lives must be sacrificed before they do something.

- Beaverton, OR, USA

problem #41

Jan 052022

Cruze

  • miles
Car has a lot of difficulty accelerating even when pressing on the gas all the way to start to go. Car rolls back when stopped. Brakes sometimes aren-€™t working as they should. Car isn-€™t breaking properly. Doesn-€™t stop all the way sometimes. When driving the car also, burning smell comes from under the hood after stopping the car. Please help!

- Belle Mead, NJ, USA

problem #40

Jun 132022

Cruze

  • miles
Faulty knock sensor at 83k miles. First symptoms were slow/jerky acceleration and needing to apply more pressure to the gas pedal to maintain speed, followed by illuminated Check engine light that came on a few days later. The scanner at Autozone pulled the code P0325. Improper detonation regulation is dangerous. This vehicle has been well maintained but needed all four pistons replaced after 60k miles and the cause of the piston damage is unknown. In this vehicle-€™s history is also intermittent stalling and the vehicle turning completely off after idling, but dealership could not reproduce either issue. Those problems appeared early in the vehicle-€™s life/well within warranty.

- Waterford, MI, USA

problem #39

Apr 142022

Cruze

  • miles
Power train, premature malfunctioned engine pistons, low speed, Chevy shake. Available for inspection at joseph Chevrolet on colerain ave cincinnati, oh. My safety and safety of others was compromised due to lack of excelration, low compression.problem identified by joseph Chevrolet dealer service writer cody. Identified. The warning lights came on for the stability trak and the engine approxiametly April. 2022.

- Cincinnati, OH, USA

problem #38

Mar 152022

Cruze

  • miles
The car acts as if it-€™s going to stall at every stop light and stop sign. It is slow to start and several times in the middle of a turn it just acts as if it stops.

- Gaston, SC, USA

problem #37

Feb 272021

Cruze

  • miles
With no warning the engine 1t through a Stabletrac warning engine code and moments later BIG orange lettered notice showed something to effect of 'extreme low oil turn off engine!' and at the same moment the low oil indicator turned on. We pulled off the freeway immediately and discovered oil all over the engine and of course smoke everywhere - fortunately it did not catch fire. Checking this was a catastrophic loss of ALL the oil. It may be a completely other situation but 1 month previous ~ 1000 miles previous, that same BOGUS stabletrac msg was displayed and the car went on limp mode. Dealer determined very low oil level is cause! NOTE - it does not indicate low oil. It has never consumed oil. It does not drip anywhere and NO smoke. So this is quite a mystery. He reset the codes and serviced the oil. I was due for a formal recheck about now, a 1000 miles later. On this trip (about a 1000 miles I checked the oil level to start and there was full level, so again no indications of consumption. The Vehicle has but 80k miles. There is something very flawed in this engine to fail so early and so catastrophically. Thats dangerous on multiple levels.

- Fall City, WA, USA

problem #36

Feb 242022

Cruze

  • 90,761 miles
The contact owns a 2017 Chevrolet Cruze. The contact stated the service stability trac and check engine warning lights were illuminated on the instrument panel. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic where it was diagnosed that the spark plugs, turbo boost sensor, and mass air flow sensor needed to be replaced. The vehicle was repaired; however, the failure recurred a week later. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 90,761.

- Birmingham, AL, USA

problem #35

Jun 272021

Cruze 4-cyl

  • Manual transmission
  • miles
Cylinder 1 experienced cracking due to Low Speed Pre-Ignition (LSPI, commonly referred to as -€œKnock-€) just after exiting the highway in a 70 mph zone and produced a Malfunction Indicator Lamp (MIL) code of P0301. As evidenced in Attachment 1, this caused damage to the Antilock Braking System due to loss of vacuum on the system and possible fouling due to foreign object damage to the vehicle ABS. Later assessment by trained mechanics determined the root cause was due to insufficient structural capability of engine pistons to withstand brief periods of LSPI. As evidenced by attachment 18-NA-171 and PIP5490, the vehicle manufacturer (General Motors) is aware of the insufficient design of the pistons, has re-designed them to withstand LSPI, however has not made an effort to notify me or replace the existing part to prevent damage to the vehicle powertrain and ABS. While this particular instance of piston cracking due to LSPI has only had a financial impact on myself, loss of ABS functionality and potential engine seizure at highway speeds have the potential to produce dangerous, if not fatal, conditions to other drivers with similar hardware.

- Davenport, IA, USA

problem #34

Apr 032021

Cruze

  • 40,000 miles
When vehicle is sitting in auto-stop mode, releasing the brake and pressing the gas pedal will randomly cause vehicle to stall. I have taken it to different Chevrolet dealerships and no one can figure out the cause of it and they cannot replicate the issue. (the mechanics are not driving the vehicle long enough for it to happen.) this happens more often during summer months, but has happened over the 2020 winter. I have to put the vehicle in park, turn it off and back on to get the car moving. This is especially dangerous if I am trying to turn in front of oncoming traffic.

- Leesburg, FL, USA

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