general problems of the 2012 Chevrolet Cruze - part 1

Driving straight down the road the steering wheel hangs and becomes difficult to steer. There are no warning lights associated with this issue.

I purchased this vehicle almost three weeks ago…I’m assuming it’s out of warranty…j am spending out of pocket expenses to have this car repaired…. It has a faulty leakage in transmission that mechanics seem to can’t fix…. I need my car for transportation…. Atp I’m assuming the car is a lemon.

Steering fades , blinkers go out, stability trac goes in and out. Radio goes on and off. Radio sometimes stays on after car is shut off.

Service bulletin number: 14311b, date: June 2015, service bulletin: sb-10057574-8899 condition on certain 2011–2015 model year Chevrolet Cruze vehicles, the negative battery cable terminal clamp may have an insufficient crimp at the battery negative terminal. Over time, the internal resistance increases and vehicle electrical systems do not receive adequate power. With this condition, the following effects are possible: the radio/hvac display may turn off and on; the antilock brake system, service traction system, service stabilitrac and steering vehicle messages may come on and off; the turn signal sound may not be heard; “battery saver active” and “service steering” may display in the driver information center (dic); and the interior and exterior lighting may flicker. Power steering assist may also be lost, and greater effort may be needed to turn the steering wheel at low speeds or while the vehicle is stopped. It's in the service bulletin provided below. I am not sure if my 2012 chevy Cruze eco is included in this service bulletin (below), but this service bulletin is the closest thing I could find that describes what is going on with my vehicle. Lights blinking, steering hard to turn, steering warning light coming on (stabilitrac), and other things as well described in the service bulletin. Again, I am not sure if my car's VIN number, is included in the service bulletin, I would like to know if it is? or not?, before taking it in to the dealer ship, for repairs/service, because it is unsafe to drive at this point forward.

I've had this car for less than 2 months I've already spent $3,500 I've had to replace the thermostat the resvoir tank most oxygen sensors lower stream and upper stream now has a blown head gasket and a possible fuel pump.

The contact owns a 2012 Chevrolet Cruze. The contact stated while driving 55 mph, several unknown warning lights illuminated and the vehicle intermittently stalled. The contact also stated that the steering wheel became difficult to maneuver. The contact was able to pull to the side of the road; then drove the vehicle to her residence. The vehicle was taken to the dealer who informed the contact that they could not determine the cause of the failure since the unknown warning lights were no longer illuminated. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure and informed the contact to take the vehicle to the dealer for diagnosis once the warning lights were again illuminated. The approximate failure mileage was 56,000.

On my way to work February 22 I had notice a strong burning smell and just assumed it was from something outside. So I just ignored it and continued my drive. Once I got to work I noticed that there was some light smoke coming from under my hood so I lifted it and checked to see if anything looked strange but I didn't notice anything. So I continue to drive for a few more days becoming accustomed to the smell and smoke. Mind you I check all my fluids once a week because I do alot of long distance driving. After about 6-8 days of driving to my new job the smoke started getting thicker and more white and I started to notice that my oil level was dropping. So I bought some to keep in my car so I didn't run it dry. But I had to keep driving it to work because I needed to have a paycheck coming in. I had been off work for about 3 months due to the pandemic and couldn't afford to bring it to a mechanic until my first pay day. Well needless to say as I pulled up to my house on the 8th (two days before my visit to the mechanic) I noticed the smoke was mucx more intense then it was before so I lifted the hood and saw flames. So I closed the hood and grabbed some baking soda from my house and poured it over the flames. My neighbor saw what had happened and came over to see what was happening and noticed where the oil was coming from and said he could patch it temporarily so I can make it to the mechanic. But I am not willing to take the risk. Also about a month ago I noticed that there was a noise coming from my front wheels as I was driving and the vehicle started pulling to the driver's side.

My steering feels notched. At highway speed I feel like we are going to kill someone. You can not turn bc the wheel bc hard at center causing you to violently oversteer. Many people have complained about this issue over the years.

Brake abs and traction control shows on the dash board display and when I checked it with service they found no odb2 or any service issue?.

My son was driving down the road last week and dash flashed stabilink and he lost all power and forces him to try to pull over which he could because steering wheel locked up and brakes got hard to push. A week later stabilink flashed again and then while driving down the road he had to slam on brakes for a stopped vehicle and brakes would work and steering wheel locked up again resulting in him rear ending the vehicle.

While driving in the city at night, the vehicle completely shut off, including the engine and all electrical systems without any warnings. This caused all lights to turn off, loss of power steering, power to brakes, and little to control to the vehicle. Luckily, the vehicle behind me noticed and tailed me to a stop with their warning lights. I then proceeded to open the engine with a flashlight to discover that the battery was still properly connected (6 months old) with no frays or corrosion to the connectors or wiring. After about 5 minutes attempting to find a tow truck company the vehicle electrical system came back on with no intervention. I turned the ignition switch and the vehicle started with no issues and no engine lights on. I drove it the rest of the way home with no issues. When I got home I checked all the fuses and all were operable. The obd scanner found no codes. I am mid 30s 190ibs and fairly strong, I could only imagine if this happened in an intersection or during busy hours on the highway, I wouldn't be sitting here reporting this issue. I found numerous similar complaints on blogs concerning this model. I assume not many have reported properly since there is no recall issued for the electrical system.

My son was driving by himself when he hit a pole. After the accident he said he could not move the steering wheel to avoid the pole. He said it stuck.

Hello, my 2012 chevy Cruze ltz's key fob isn't being detected by my vehicle. I've looked it up and asked around and either nobody's heard of the issue or don't know what to do other than take it to a mechanic. This doesn't happen all the time, but it's painstaking when I can't even use the key fob one minute and then the next it works fine. The vehicle has been stationary since this problem has occured.

My cars over heating signal comes on and tells me to shut off the car all the time while driving, also the power steering locks up while turning.

While breaking, using the blinker, turning, or just driving the car will loose power, slow the car down, the radio looses power, and my service stablitky track, service power steering, along with traction control, anti-breaking lights, and a few other light will all come back on. It will do this randomly while driving, it seems to do it more frequently when coming to a stop or accelerating. I had this serviced back in February of 2017 and the dealership told me I had acid from my battery leaking into the positive cable, so I had all the battery and battery wires replaced. This took care of the problem until a few weeks ago. This is happening more and more often and the problem is becoming worse. This is a persistent problem with the chevy Cruzes from the research I have done and chevy seems to be doing nothing about it.

Chevrolet Cruze 2012 delayed steering when turning, then sluggish would not go past first gear. I was driving on city street noticed difficulty turning and slowness so stopped at nearest gas station. Got vehicle towed to dealer and diagnosed with transmission failure. This was sudden, always kept up with regular maintenance, oil changes & tune ups! this should not happen to a car barely 5 years old car and well maintained!.

Car wont turn off even with key off lights stay on too other times car just turns off while still on drive but gm calms no recalls !.

When trying to start my car it sounds like wants to turn over but it does't ,everything reset on my dashboard,after waiting for a while it starts back up.

Radio is turning on and off. Stabilitytrak control light comes on power steering give out and brakes.

The stability track control and service traction control messages have both happened to me now a few times while driving down city/country roads and down the highway. The first time I had the service traction control was yesterday. (8/02/2016) it's scary because the radio resets and the power steering goes out. I have a 9 year old daughter and she's terrified as well. I wish they would figure this out already. I called the dealer once and like most people write online about this issue they didn't know what it could be and they didn't have a car I could use to go back and forth to work while they checked it out so I haven't taken to the dealer yet. The issue comes and goes. It could go away for months but always comes back. I keep checking online to see if they finally found a fix for this issue and I still haven't found anything. So I'm assuming once someone dies in a bad accident or numerous people do then maybe they will take it more seriously? I'm a single mom and I can't afford to not have a car or have a problem that I have to pay lots of $ to fix when this obviously needs to be a recall when this many people are having the issue and it affects your steering!?!?!?! help pls?!?!?!.

Recall 14311 but dealer does not do anything about it,my car have done this few times already but last couple of times it was really scary because I lost total control over the vehicle including steering and braking the car just show a sing on the dash and radio goes of as well as the rest of the vehicle electrical parts, almost causing a crash due to this issue, I was driving about 35mph and 40mph when this happen, also I notice the it happens when I use my turn signals and when I press up or down on the windows.

While driving the power steering shuts off, radio blinks on and off, and the brakes get spongy making it hard to drive and stop. I have had it in the shop and the mechanics were unable to find an problem.

Driving the radio cuts in and out meanwhile service stabilitrac warning comes on. Does this around 6-12 times in a 30 minute drive to and from work. On a few instances the vehicle lost all power while driving. This occures on a daily basis. This happens while driving and at a stand still. Also the check engine light has come on numerous times. It is a p0597 code stating temp sensor is inoperable. Non of these issues should be going on in a 2012 with less than 45,000 miles on it.

For the whole month the red warning lights have been flashing, today the lights were dimming and radio was going on and off. The steering wheel locked on its own and the key wouldn't come out when tried to remove and the truck wouldn't pop up when tried to open it from the outside. Vehicle is not cranking at moment and key is still in ignition. This is a serious safety problem or issue. Electrical problem hazard that could kill any driver or passengers when driving. Has to be as major safety recall. Contact the owner as soon as possible at 334-368-4373 this is my daughter latoria womack cell number and I am her dad ronnal womack at 843-870-2625. Please is there a recall on vehicle? my daughter drives this car to college classes every day. Please advice ASAP. Her life is in danger here. James and pamela are the owners but daughter drives vehicle to college. I am biological father and very concerned. Due to mother and stepfather at wife's surgery please notify me of matter to get help.

I received my chevy Cruze in November of 2014 used with aprox. 59k miles. April 7th driving down a highway at 55-60mph it suddenly started slowing down and would not accelerate. It would jerk and the engine would rev like if you were to be idle and in park and press the gas that's the sound it made. I did not notice the check engine come on or any other lights as I was trying to control my car. The speedometer and rpm indicator started acting erratically while doing so. The gauge would go up and down and the car was slowing down. The steering also became very soft. If I were to take my pinky finger and turn the wheel it would have moved that's how soft it was. All this happened multiple times during a 30 minute time period. After I slowed down and tried going over 30mph it would start to act up again. While this was happened I only had 66k miles. I got it towed to the dealer instead of taking my chances driving it there. It was sitting there a week before they even touched it and they claim they cant find anything wrong with it. I think chevy dealers claim they cant find anything when your car is still under warranty so they don't have to fix it.

This is my second complaint on this vehicle for the same problem. At low speeds the car makes a grinding noise that can be felt when taking off and turning. It has gotten worse and occasionally it can be felt when I am not even turning. This needs to be addressed before it turns into something serious.

While driving the car would continuously reboot the radio and the warning stabilitrak light as well as the power steering warning will show up on the dash. The car would experience very stiff steering and I almost got into a crash 3 times because of it. I took it to the autonation Chevrolet laurel, MD dealership and they could not diagnose a problem with the battery. Another technichian from tnt auto in columbia, MD said that all the wires seem to be on there tight too.

While driving to work I was signaling to switch lanes for my exit off the freeway. Began to merge and my steering wheel locked. Luckily it's wasn't for long and the freeway was not busy. However the fact that my newly purchased vehicle has a glitch is saddening. What's even worse theirs no maintenance light or check engine light, something to make the dealership believe their is a problem. Only a flashing light that says check stabilitrack, traction control, powering steering and at the same time my abs service light begins to flash. Really hope chevy puts out a recall. .

At low speeds, when turning, there is a grinding sensation in the steering wheel and can be felt in the floorboard. I have taken the vehicle to the dealership and they were unable to reproduce the problem. It only occurs after the car has been sitting for over 15 minute and has a chance to cool down.

2012 Chevrolet Cruze. Consumer writes in regards to power steering malfunction. Consumer has different vehicle complaints listed in artemis. The consumer stated the vehicle stalled, in the midst of driving. An alert displayed traction control error and power steering malfunction. The drive train was disabled and apparently locked down. The shift lever moved freely from park, reverse and the drive position. The steering wheel would not move. Hydraulic resistance was apparent when attempting to turn left and right. Three hours later, the alert disappeared and the vehicle performed as it was designed.

We were driving on rt 206 in jersey and the steering wheel locked up and the car went off the road. The car was totalled. About a week later I received a letter from chevy stating this is a known issue that the steering had increased friction and can cause the steering to lock up.

The contact owns a 2012 Chevrolet Cruze. While driving approximately 35 mph and making a left turn, the steering wheel seized. In addition, the instrument panel and radio intermittently operated. The vehicle was taken to the dealer. The technician diagnosed that the positive battery cable and generator starter cable needed to be replaced. The vehicle was repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 47,000.

I purchased my 2012 chevy Cruze back in August 2012 at the chevy dealer in montebello with "0" miles. Two weeks after I purchased the car it began to give me problems. It began to make this very loud noice like if I was driving a trailor. I took it to the dealer an I was told it was normal which is bs because ive never heard a small car that makes noise like that. I wasn't allowed to get refunded I was just given a bunch of bs. A month later it kept doing the same thing but this time the noise was coming from the hood, took it to the dealer and nothing. 3rd time I filed a complaint and said I was going to file a lawsuit and the took my car in an apparently they had to change my radiator, fan, brakes along with the disk. Even after all this my car continued doing the same thing but now it turns off!! I tried to turn on my car this Saturday and it just wouldnt start. It said something about theft, I disconnected the battery and then it gave a message about check power steering! this will be my 5th time taking it in! I think I have gotten ripped off!! I regreat purchasing this vehicle!! now im stuck with a jacked up car and a very high car payment that is not even worth paying for. And to top it off the dealer I purchased it from is no help!! they seem to get upset every time you take the car and tell them there is something wrong with it. Im a mother of 3 and my biggest fear is something happening to my children because of this. I purchase this car because I needed something reliable since im always on the road. One thing for sure, if any of my children get hurt because of this I will file a lawsuit because you guys are receiving many complaints and you are not doing anything about it. !!.

Stopped car tried to back up and it did not, then tried to turn off vehicle and the key would not go into the turn off mode. Could not turn the steering wheel, could not release the key, could not turn off the engine. The radio kept turning itself on. Waited 2 hours for triple a to come to tow the car to dealership. Engine ran for two hours. Tow arrived the driver said he had to force the gear shift several times in order to release the steering wheel and key and to turn off the engine so he could tow it. Also noticed an anit-freeze leak and this is being fixed under the power train warranty, do not know if is connected to the same issue. Dealer can't find anything wrong and I am afraid to drive this car.

-the following symptoms occur intermittently (approximately one time per month) -while operating the vehicle, the issue typically begins with the center radio display and sound flickering on and off. -next, various electrical systems in the car begin to malfunction. This includes traction control, power steering, headlights, turn signals cruise control, window functions, and brake lights. -the vehicle does not only report the system malfunction, but will actually experience failure (etc, power steering is actually disabled in the car). Power steering was once lost at the bottom of a switchback in the mountains. I nearly lost control of the vehicle. -after this issue occurs, if the vehicle is turned off it will not restart for 30-60 minutes (unless the battery is disconnected and reconnected). -during this period it will not restart, none of the electrical functions of the car will work (doors will not lock, windows will not move, lights will not turn on, etc). -also, during this period I have noticed a sound within the dashboard. This sounds like a small electric motor running for approximately 60 seconds.