2012 Chevrolet Cruze: stuck in gear or won't shift

Filed Dec 30, 2023 · Transmission · AL

feel like it downshift first really fast before going in 5 th gear. Feel like you’re going to fly out the windshield. If seatbelt wasn’t on you would get whiplash. When driving in automatic it go in limp mode. burning oil. Now

Filed Aug 30, 2023 · Acceleration, Engine · 90,000 miles · PA

The contact owns a 2012 Chevrolet Cruze. The contact stated that while his daughter was driving at unknown speeds, the vehicle lost motive power after 45 minutes. The RPM increased, and the vehicle failed to accelerate. The driver was able to pull over. There were no warning lights illuminated. The vehicle was towed to an independent mechanic, who was unable to duplicate the failure. The contact stated that after driving for 45 minutes, the vehicle lost power and went into LIMP Mode. The transmission had seized in fifth gear. The vehicle was taken to the local dealer, where it was diagnosed that the speed control sensor had failed. The contact was informed that the speed valve and transmission control module needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was contacted, but no assistance was provided. The failure mileage was approximately 90,000.

Filed Jan 28, 2020 · Acceleration · 93,900 miles · ID

I was driving in subdivision at 20mph and vehicle went into limp mode. It had a message saying engine power reduced, service stability track and check engine light was on. It would not accelerate more than 5mph. This is very dangerous! Luckily I was not going 70 on the freeway. I've been reading on chevy forums and gm forums of this happening to thousands of people. Many got in accidents because of reduced acceleration to 3 or 5 MPH. I took it to the dealer it has a p2135 code and is die to a bad throttle body and throttle positioning sensor. The chevy manufacturer is not willing to do anything about it although it's a known issue to chevy and gmc cars from many years of vehicles, from what I've read 2009 to current year. Mine is a 2012 chevy cruze lt. There is a special coverage of pedal accelerator fracture but the dealer said it's not related to my issue, I have a hard time believing this. Here is a note of what the dealer looked at and diagnosed.

Filed Nov 25, 2019 · Transmission · 105,000 miles · GA

My service engine light has come on and not it will not shift gears all the time. Sometimes it drives forward. Sometimes it doesn't. I need this issue to be addressed. When you have over 100 complaints for the same thing corporate needs to listen. If someone dies because of this no amount of compensation will be enough

Filed Nov 21, 2019 · Transmission · 46,942 miles · OH

Transmission went out at 46,942 miles in 2012 chevrolet cruze on 10/14/19. I was on my way home from work at night. Luckily I was on a small, empty road in town close to home. The engine revved but would not up shift. I pulled over and shut the car off hoping it might be a computer issue. When I turned it back on, the shifter moved but the transmission would not shift out of park. Towed it to my dealer, were it has always been serviced. The cause was a wave plate failure; gears 3-5-r were lost. Decided to replace the transmission with a new one to the tune of $4,500. Contacted gm/chevrolet. Was told that there was nothing that could be done as far as financial assistance goes. The car was out of the 5-year/100,000 warranty period. I had just finished paying it off. This car has less than 50,000 miles, and is conservatively driven. The original brake pads still have half their life left. It is a problem when a modern car can not get to 50,000 before a catastrophic failure like this happens. I sent gm corporate a letter of complaint asking them to investigate the old transmission. Consumers should not have to pay the price of a shoddy product. What happens when this causes serious issues? I was given a $100 voucher for future repairs or services for my trouble. That was a kindness from a customer service standpoint, but not on a corporate level. I wanted my issue to be heard by the bosses, but like any big company it goes unheard and disregarded. People need to speak out against big companies. I understand sometimes things break, but not when the machine is taken care of. Flukes don't happen consistently, and this is a consistent problem with these drive trains. I was going to keep the car anyway and get a newer one in the spring. Not now. Now I have to pay on it for another year. I hope this does some good if just to give people a warning.

Filed Oct 16, 2018 · Acceleration, Transmission · 80,560 miles · MD

Tl* the contact owns a 2012 chevrolet cruze. While driving various speeds, the transmission failed. The contact stated that the vehicle accelerated improperly between the third and fifth gears. Furthermore, the vehicle failed to accelerate forward in the middle of oncoming traffic on several occasions. The contact stated that the vehicle's manual transmission would not shift properly after it was engaged in third gear. The vehicle failed to accelerate to highway speeds, when necessary. An independent mechanic was made aware of the failures. Autonation chevrolet laurel (500 washington blvd, laurel, maryland 20707, (240) 294-5149) requested that a diagnostic be performed on the vehicle. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 80,560.

Filed Oct 4, 2017 · Transmission · 70,200 miles · OH

How many complaints have been made as the transmission can seem laggy an unresponsive at times in these vehicles. I purchased this vehicle at 42000 miles and at 70,000 miles the transmission has went out. While going down the road the transmission lags as in it doesn't have enough fluid or it is slamming into gear. Oh going down the road and switching gears you hear clunk and it jerks you back in your seat. The shifter indicator on the dash when put into drive will not appear all the time causing engine to misfire turning off traction control and stability causing the car to go into limp mode when starting the car from the stationary position. As of yesterday when shifting into gear the transmission went completely out. Car was taken to the dealership told it was out of warranty and would have to pay for the repairs. Car was actually produced in 2011 the year that chevy did have recall on the chevrolet cruzes for transmission issues. Car was bought november 2011 by previous owner.

Filed Aug 27, 2017 · Engine · 72,000 miles · MN

My car will not go into reverse and hesitated to give gas and now my car won't go into any gear , I currently see online other ppl with this car that have the same problem.

Filed Oct 21, 2014 · Engine · 33,890 miles · MI

I have a very strong coolant smell inside the car when heat is on and a strong coolant smell outside of the car. I brought it in to my dealership and they determined the water pump was leaking and they replaced it. I've had my car back for a week now and again I have the strong coolant smell inside and outside of my car. The smell is actually making me nauseous. I have also experienced issues with my drivers side window not going down. I've had the dealership look at it and they cannot find anything wrong with it. My final issue I've been experiencing is my vehicle does not shift right. I have an automatic transmission and sometimes it shifts very hard out of first and into to second gear, the car feels like it's jerking. Other times my car hesitates while shifting gears. I have not brought it in for that issue yet but I will be bringing it in this week.

Filed Jun 5, 2014 · Engine, Transmission · 40 miles · MI

I received my chevy cruze ls in august of 2012 after having it for a week I started to notice issues with the transmission. I drove it up north and after being on the freeway going a constant speed of 75 MPH, when forced to slow down due to traffic the car could not figure out what I was trying to do and just had a mind of its own. The rpms would shoot up very high and the car would struggle to accelerate (almost as if it were stuck in neutral) and eventually it would jerk forward very hard and then accelerate. This happens every time I get on the freeway now and have to slow down because of traffic or slow down to get off at the exit (and continues well after being off the freeway). I am lucky I haven't been rear ended and severely injured or killed. I've had the car for almost two years now and its only gotten worse, it now does the same thing when driving down the street at 30 MPH, it will be going along just fine then all of a sudden the engine revs as if it were shifted into neutral and then catches itself and jerks really hard and is fine again. Also when slowing down it seems to downshift too quickly almost coming to a complete stop on its own, which is why I am afraid of being rear ended. I have taken the car in to 5 different dealerships and am told every time that either they don't see the problem and I don't know what I'm talking about or they can see there's a problem but there's nothing they can do about it. I'm very disappointed in the quality of this car, I've also had issues with the radio and my USB cord not connecting to my phone and even when it does connect the songs come through with lots of static. I have tried different cords, different phones and multiple ipods and it keeps happening. I feel totally helpless and am sick of feeling unsafe in my car. My family has always bought gm cars, this is my second chevy and my last!!

Filed Oct 17, 2012 · Transmission · 8,000 miles · LA

My new 2012 chevy cruze eco was purchased on 05/15/2012 and has approximately 8000 miles and the manual transmission clutch is already inoperative. The billy navarre chevrolet dealership will not repair the vehicle under warranty stating that a gm field service rep has inspected the car and has determined that the clutch failure was due to operator abuse/misuse. In addition, the dealership states that the clutch is not covered under the factory warranty and subject to fair wear and tear although I purchased the gm extended warranty as well. Is it normal for a clutch to fail at 8000 miles? Certainly not! The car has never been abused and has been operated within normal operating limits but resulting in the clutch disc being fused to the flywheel - as reported by the service department to me. The speculation is that the operator, my daughter, 'rides' the clutch and has caused the clutch to wear out prematurely and fusing the clutch to the flywheel. My daughter has never 'ridden' the clutch nor abused the vehicle as speculated but has driven the car in a safe and proper manner using normal operating procedures iaw the operator's manual. A burning smell was reported by my daughter to me and within a few days (10/06/12) the car would not go into gear and after several attempts would not shift at all. My daughter is the only operator of the vehicle. The car was towed to the dealership and within a week the service department reported to me that the transmission needed to be replaced but would not be covered under warranty. My only request has been and remains that the car be repaired or replaced under warranty at no cost to me as the problem is a defect induced problem and not due to operator abuse or misuse.