8.8

pretty bad
Typical Repair Cost:
$3,320
Average Mileage:
65,250 miles
Total Complaints:
35 complaints

Most common solutions:

  1. new transmission (21 reports)
  2. not sure (8 reports)
  3. compressor replaced (2 reports)
  4. the transmission has been replaced twice now (2 reports)
  5. had to trade in car (1 reports)
  6. replace transmission module (1 reports)
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This problem may be covered under warranty. Ask your Chevrolet dealer.

problem #35

Oct 102022

Cruze LS 1.8L Vi4

  • Automatic transmission
  • 83,297 miles

Let me start off saying I've never had to replace a transmission before nor ever had any type of issue with a transmission. My son was using this car to commute back and forth to college and it seemed a little sluggish shifting gears but no check engine lights. Continued to drive it and on way home on a thruway entrance ramp its just refused to accelerate and switch gears. He's fortunate no one slammed into the back of his car. He made it home going very slow with hazards on. Needed to be towed to a transmission shop to be fixed. We would have never paid to have it fixed but at the time there was a huge shortage of used cars and he needed a way to commute to college. The transmission shop said they've seen many of this make and model year have failed transmissions and should have been recalled.

- Sherri E., East Aurora, NY, US

problem #34

Feb 012022

Cruze LS 1.8L 4 cyl

  • Automatic transmission
  • 90,400 miles

So I bought this car brand new, paid over $17,000, and from the get go it had a surge while sitting at a red light, so I took it in to the dealer and was told these cars do that. At 90,400 miles the car suddenly wouldn't go into gear at all, had to have it towed to shop and got the horrible news that the transmission blew apart, it basically exploded due to a snap ring breaking causing the drum to come apart, for a total repair bill of #3,300. Oh yeah and the surge went away too.

The owner of the shop told us that GM knew about this faulty ring and knew exactly what it would do to the transmission. He also told us that he does this repair at least 3 to 4 times a month on Chevy Cruze.

I have done my part by taking this car in for all maintenance per the warranty and GM knew about this and they just let it go as if SO WHAT.

This is just another example of how the little guy is being FLEECED by big corporations.

What gets me the most is that the "certified mechanics" that check these issues out know dam good and well what the problem is and are not telling the customer for fear of losing their jobs. HOW SAD IS THAT?!

This happened 2 days after my sister in law passed away and we had to come up with $1,750 for the opening and closing of her grave. I won't get started on that scam, but i am disgusted by the fleecing of hard working Americans.

- Donald R., Davenport, US

problem #33

Dec 262019

Cruze LT 1.4L

  • Automatic transmission
  • 60,000 miles

Transmission went out completely... twice. Had to get it completely replaced twice. The second time, there was almost a fire because transmission fluid exploded all over the engine.

- Jackie C., Louisville, US

problem #32

Jul 012020

Cruze LX 1.4L

  • Automatic transmission
  • 120,000 miles

I think this Chevy Cruze is just about the worst car put on the road by Chevrolet. At 120,000 miles should not have a transmission failure costing $2,600 or the defroster failure that cost $700.00 for a 59 cent plastic part. I will be looking at some other brand and will not go for another major repair. I bought this car new and I am the only one that drove it. This car was well taken care of and at 75 years old I am out of the hot rod stage.

- salyerr43rs, Ida, US

problem #31

May 212019

Cruze

  • Automatic transmission
  • 61,277 miles

Babied the sh*t out of this car and the transmission stopped working, and the turbo charger also broke. I have had the window stop working, car handle break, thermostat head broken and numerous other problems since getting this car. Lemon car. DO NOT BUY! Do not waste your time or money, this is the worst car I have ever owned.

- sl.san95ss, Carrollton, US

problem #30

Jun 012017

Cruze ECO 1.4L Litre

  • Manual transmission
  • 75,000 miles

Occurred in a manual transmission. No dipstick meant that it was difficult to detect a slow leak in the transmission fluid (no spots on the driveway from transmission fluid). Bearings were discovered shot after major transmission noises coming from the car. This occurred around the 75000 mile mark.

- Nicholas R., Neenah, WI, US

problem #29

May 062018

Cruze

  • Automatic transmission
  • 90,800 miles

Between 90-91k miles, I went to back out of a driveway, heard a rattling noise, and the car hardly went in reverse. I pulled back up the driveway and put it in park, the noise stopped. Went to back out of the driveway again and completely lose reverse. Immediately drove the car about 2 miles to my mechanic and it didn't seem to want to stay in any gear - shifting up and down for no reason.

Long story short, I contacted Chevy twice and they took four days to get back to me. By the time they finally got in touch with me, I had already taken my car to a transmission shop and had the tranny pulled and a new one ordered. Chevy informed me that I needed to take the car to a Chevy dealership for diagnosis but that all the charges would be on me since I was outside of the 5-year warranty. I went back and forth with Chevrolet multiple times with no resolution, only them refusing to work with me at all on the situation.

The transmission shop was amazing - friendly, diligent, sympathetic to the problem and everything else that Chevrolet unfortunately wasn't. The new transmission has a 3-year 500,000 mile warranty, but after the way this was handled (or rather, NOT handled) by Chevy, I'm thinking I'll be getting rid of this car before the 3-year mark. No more Chevrolets for me.

- Angela D., Massillon, US

problem #28

May 022018

Cruze

  • Automatic transmission
  • 64,000 miles

I went to drive my car and there was no reverse or 4th gear after only 64,000 miles. GM has a Powertrain Warranty for 100,000 miles or 5 years whichever comes first. When I tried to put it in reverse and put on the gas it kept going forward like it was stuck in drive. I called the GM Service Center where I purchased my car and they told me they did not have any recalls with the make and model and there was nothing they could do because it was past the 5 year warranty period even though it was under on the miles.

I had to have it towed to a transmission place and pay for a new transmission myself. When I called the Executive Office at GM they said they started a case and gave me a file number but nobody ever called me back and I had to call them 3 times before talking to a supervisor who basically told me there was nothing they could do and was extremely rude and unsympathetic.

If GM is not going to stand behind their products I will make sure I never purchase another piece of junk from them. I want everyone to know this car has been nothing but trouble since the day I purchased it, runs hot and has a funny odor, has difficulty shifting into gears and transmission problems.

- Mary M., Omaha, US

problem #27

Feb 052018

Cruze

  • Automatic transmission
  • 41,000 miles

I'm having loss of wages from this gm defect of a recall issue that gm is not responding to in the professional manner they claim to be. and I'm out of a car that's transmission failed before the 50,000 service miles. i have had this piece of sh*t for six months now this. what can i do?

- Mary N., Brentwood, US

problem #26

Jan 292018

Cruze LT 1.4L

  • Automatic transmission
  • 88,750 miles

Bought used from Northwest Hills (Sullivan) GM dealership. Transmission fluid changed by dealership as required by warranty about 2 years ago. Recently, the gear shifting became ragged, until the transmission failed completely 2 days ago (transmission remained in neutral regardless of shift selector). It was towed to dealership. First quote for repair was $6300 (CAN YOU BELIEVE IT ???) to replace the transmission on a car with less than 100,000 miles. Unbelievable. I'm waiting for the GM rep to guarantee some compensation before letting the dealership do the repair. If GM won't help, then I have a local garage that will swap in a rebuilt tranny with a 5 year AND 100,000 mile warranty for under $3000. Incidentally, CarMonkeys advertise the same warranty on a tranny that ships free, 30 day no hassle return, arrives within 2-3 days and costs $1289.89.

- robebcan, Torrington, US

problem #25

Jun 302017

Cruze LS

  • Automatic transmission
  • 55,400 miles

I purchased a certified pre-owned car on Jan. 2015. Since mid-2016 (one and a half year since I owned the car) I've been noticing that my check engine light turned on every now and then, and gear shifting became significantly lagging around 30mph. EVERY SINGLE TIME in a service appointment (which I took strictly on schedule for every 3 months), I would point that out to the service department, and EVERY SINGLE TIME they would claim that they tested everything and there was no problem they detected.

Here comes the highlight: while last week (late June 2017, 2 and a half years since I owned the car, and interestingly 5 months after all my warranty expired), I was trying to drive back home from office via the highway. While entering the highway and speedup, I noticed that my engine speed went ups and downs in an serious, uncommon, rapid manner. There was also an unpleasant noise coming out of the transmission system. My car seriously shaked, and all gear shifting became useless. The car went out of control and went to neutral gear on the highway--which pushed me to a very dangerous emergency situation. Fortunately I made it stopped by the side of the highway and managed to call the roadside assistance.

My car was finally towed to the closest chevy dealership, and upon diagnostics they replied that to replace the transmission part, it would cost me $4100. It was the same amount for selling the same model with good condition !!!!

I read every complaints for 2011 chevy cruze regarding the transmission problem, and found very similar experiences for all the cases. It all happened on the 2011 module, transmission system got failed around 50k~60k mileage, and the only solution is to replace the whole part.

I therefore assume that there must be some design glitches on the transmission system of this module, and I'd like to seek for help and provide any useful info to any party or agency who would raise a lawsuit against it.

I WILL NEVER BUY A CHEVY OR GM CAR IN MY LIFE AND WILL PERSUADE EVERYONE I KNOW TO DO THE SAME THING.

- Yijian C., Watertown, MA, US

problem #24

Dec 042017

Cruze

  • Automatic transmission
  • 128,000 miles

When taking off the car would hesitate then jump. Took it in nothing wrong and we change the transmission fluid. Now back out of drive go down the street and the transmission is slipping not changing gears. Get it home and there is leakage of something under the motor of the car. Took wheel off to get transmission level and it is black not red. Call a transmission mechanic to have it towed to the shop and he tells me he has 3 Cruzes with the exact same problem. That I should look to see if it has been recalled and to call the dealership. The fix will be $3,400.

- vernpratt, Titusville, US

problem #23

Aug 092017

Cruze LT 1.4L V4

  • CVT transmission
  • 110,000 miles

My Cruze is a very nice car as far as looks but this has literally been THE MOST unreliable vehicle I have ever had the displeasure of owning. This car has problem after problem after problem. Been having a issues since purchasing it. Took it to the Chevy dealership multiple times for burning smell coming from vent and Chevy insists there was no issues.

After repeated attempts to the dealership and calling Chevy and after the car reached 100k Chevy finally says there is a bad oil return pipe that dried up my turbo causing it to fail and cause the burning smell. Had it been found when I originally brought it to the dealership it would have been covered under warranty but since they couldn't do their job correctly I was forced to pay for all of that work. Had every seal pipe and part replaced from the oil return pipe to the turbo.

3 months later now my transmission is dead. Costing me $3800 in repairs. This car is the worst I've ever owed. 110k and the turbo has gone out transmission serpentine belt and tensioner heated seats sunroof you name it nothing on this car works or holds up. I have a 2004 c240 with 244k miles original motor transmission everything still works sunroof heated seats everything. I've had plenty of cars and this by far has been the absolute worst experience I've ever had owning a car. Since I've had this car I've exceeded 7k in repairs.

This car is not worth the money. It would be very hard for me to ever own another chevy or gm vehicle at this point

- Deron C., Virginia Beach, VA, US

problem #22

Nov 102017

Cruze 1.8L

  • Automatic transmission
  • 110,000 miles

Getting off work about 9 at night Friday night started up the car let it warm up a little bit, put the car in reverse backed out and then put it in drive to take off. it would not move into drive. had to have the car towed to a car dealership. came back all my God $4,000 I need a new transmission and my car is only 6 years old. that's money I don't have.

I just got a transmission leak fixed about a couple months ago, now the transmission is going out. what is up with chevrolet cruze?

- Latrecia K., Midland, US

problem #21

May 092017

Cruze LX

  • Automatic transmission
  • 66,000 miles

Paid $22,000 for this Cruze brand new in the summer of 2011. I babied this car. Always had oil changes on time & mechanics always indicated the car was aging the way it should. I moved from MA to AL & noticed it had problems getting up hills/ transmission didn't sound great. Took it to a local Chevy dealer in Birmingham, had it serviced. They cleaned out some carbon backup, replaced hoses, the battery & coolant reservoir. The car never had a problem until November 2016. It only had 66,000 miles on it. I'm told a wave plate broke in the transmission and sent metal thru the housing & damaging the gears. I have had cars for 200K miles before but the Chevy Cruze didn't make it even a third of the way thru what I expected it to last. Will never buy a Chevy again.

- Brittany S., Birmingham, US

problem #20

May 032017

Cruze

  • Automatic transmission
  • 66,000 miles

My stepdaughter is a college student, bought this car for the gas mileage. No hard mileage or use. Transmission began slipping gears; jumping from first gear to neutral and then just stalling. Brought it to a GM dealership for diagnostics. I was told the vehicle needed a brand new transmission, nothing to fix or rebuild, "A WHOLE NEW TRANSMISSION." IT ONLY COSTS $2,500. The car itself isn't even worth that!!! What a rip off from GM!!! Financially strapped and no help from GM for building such a vehicle with such a crappy transmission, and they "GM" want us to buy American!!! What a rip off, another fleecing of the hard working American middle class who we are trying to put a child through college. Thanks GM; Oh, and you're welcome for the billion dollar bailout. GM, Chevy never again for me.

- Keith D., Deville, LA, US

problem #19

Mar 302017

Cruze ES 3.2L

  • Automatic transmission
  • 120,000 miles

Bought this car brand new from the dealer. The transmission leaked once before and it was fixed under warranty by the dealer. No check engine light no warning and the car will not drive. Towed it to the dealership and they said best thing to do was replace it. Had it replaced for the warranty. I hope there is a lawsuit this is insane. Problems from the beginning on this transmission.

- Meagan L., Grayslake, IL, US

problem #18

Jan 022017

Cruze

  • Automatic transmission
  • 73,000 miles

2011 Cruze bought second hand with 73000 km with expired warranty (bought in late 2016) and the transmission failed. GMC recommended replacing the transmission and pay 4000+ or have it rebuilt, I chose to rebuild with 'Mister Transmission' and paid 2100+tax. I've never heard of a transmission failing with only 7300 km, this should be recalled and fixed by GM as this is the second biggest complaint on this car. I will never buy a Chevy again.

- thibanpn, Brampton, ON, Canada

problem #17

Jan 042017

Cruze LS

  • Automatic transmission
  • 105,000 miles

car will not go into gear when the engine gets warm. cost 300 dollars just to get it towed of the highway. engine shows code p0700. brought an extended warranty for the vehicle. just waiting to see if they'll fix it

- Ray S., Erial, NJ, US

problem #16

Dec 182016

Cruze

  • Automatic transmission
  • 75,000 miles

I purchased a pre-owned 2011 chevy cruze in August of 2016. In December, I was driving on the highway and my car started to jerk as I pushed on the gas and it wouldn't accelerate. I pull over and parked the car to see what was wrong. I restarted the car and put it in drive, but it wouldn't go forward; however, when I put the car in reverse, it moved. My mom called the dealership we bought it from to claim The Lemon Law, but their response was that they couldn't do anything about it because the car was older than 30 days. She was also told that The Lemon Law does not apply to used vehicles, so my dad had the car towed to Chevrolet. They said that the transmission was the issue.

My issue is that I had this car 4 months. Replacing or getting the transmission fixed costs more than the car is worth. I do not have the funds for this being that I am a college student, and I need this transportation. I can't trade this car in since it's in this condition.

My other issue is that there is no recall for this malfunction in this particular vehicle. After doing some research on this issue, I realized that there a lot of people dealing with this same problem and others regarding the transmission. I believe there should be a recall on the transmission because this issue is extremely dangerous.

- Chelsea H., Houston, TX, US

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