2012 Chevrolet Cruze: complete transmission failure

Filed Mar 18, 2025 · Transmission · AR

Car started jerking when put in reverse and slams hard into 5th gear only. Taken to transmission shop and they have no idea what's causing it. They said they've never seen something like this before, and said it doesn't feel like a major transmission failure. Car only had 98,000 miles on it when hard shifting started. Regularly maintained. Motor and trans mounts were checked and fine. More than normal amounts of metal in trans fluid when drain and fill was performed.

Filed Mar 31, 2024 · Transmission · TN

Internal transmission failure Just started with the transmission coolant line coming off on the interstate and the car wouldn't go this can cause a major wreck an now the transmission is going out has been verified by jd byrider and has several coolant leaks

Filed Jan 8, 2021 · Transmission · 109,000 miles · AR

Tl* the contact owns a 2012 chevrolet cruze. The contact stated that while shifting gear out of park to drive, the gear shifter failed to engage properly. The stability trac control and check engine warning light illuminated. The contact towed the vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic where it was diagnosed with code# p0700 transmission failed. The vehicle was towed to crain buick gmc (710 s amity rd, conway, ar 72032, (501)329-6825) where a diagnostic test was performed and it was determined that the transmission failed and needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The contact mentioned the federal safety agency campaign number: 16v502000 (electrical system, power train) as a possible solution to the failure however, the VIN provided was incorrect. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The contact was informed the VIN was not under recall. The failure mileage was approximately 109,000.

Filed Jan 29, 2020 · Transmission · 85,000 miles · MO

Daughter has complained about loss of power while on the interstate in kansas city. On this particular morning, my husband pulled out of the driveway and the car would not go out of first gear. He was able to drive it down the street to the chevrolet dealership. It was initially just diagnosed with a cracked turbo. We told them to replace it. They replaced it and then determined the transmission was burned up. The mechanic said he thought the fact that the turbo didn't work properly caused the transmission to burn out at 85,000 miles. Have had problems on and off for a year with the turbo and have always taken it in and had those issues fixed as soon as the light comes on the dash. Finally there was a recall on the turbo and we had the actuator replaced in nov. 2019 and less than a month later, the turbo cracked and the transmission failed and no light ever came on, on the dash. Had to spend $5400 to fix these issues. I'm concerned and don't understand why there isn't a complete recall on the turbos as we've read in many places that people have had problems with these turbos, leaving huge costs to consumers. Contacted chevrolet and of course, they refuse to help with any of these costs.

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 21, 2019 · Engine, Transmission · 97,000 miles · TN

I noticed that my vehicle seemed to be having issues when I pressed on the brake, so I took it in. I found out that it was a completely unrelated issue, and had to do with a crack running through the manifold. This was causing oil and coolant to leak onto the alternator. If I had not caught this early enough, they said I would have not been able to get it fixed. They repaired the leak, but a couple weeks later I noticed my car losing significant amounts of coolant/oil. This is causing oil and coolant to affect the turbo setting of my manual car, and has cost me up to $2,000 in repairs. This has been the underlying problem as to why I had to get my flywheel replaced 2 years ago, which was another $1,500. This is also what caused the transmission failure 3 years ago, another thousand dollars. I noted that the vehicle began leaking fluid after being stationary or moving while/after running for 10 minutes or longer.

Filed Oct 9, 2019 · 111,200 miles · CO

Just stalls whenever it feels like. Could be reversing from a parking spot and it just stalled and when pressed gas there was nothing. Just replaced the transmission in janurary. In a parking lot,

Filed Feb 25, 2019 · Transmission · 123,000 miles · CA

Tl* the contact owns a 2012 chevrolet cruze. While driving 50 MPH, the vehicle began swerving across the road and the contact lost complete control. The vehicle also made an abnormal animal sound, similar to a cow moo-ing. In addition, the vehicle accelerated on its own and jerked violently back and forth. The contact was able to pull the vehicle over as it lost power. The check engine indicator illuminated. The vehicle was towed to jimmy vasser chevrolet (583 soscol ave, napa, ca 94559, (707) 255-7600) to be diagnosed, but no failures were found. The mechanic stated that there was no failure with the vehicle. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failures and stated that a new transmission was needed. The manufacturer offered to pay 10% of the repair cost. The failure mileage was 123,000. The VIN was unknown.

Filed Nov 30, 2018 · Transmission · 119,000 miles · OH

After several trips to dealer for coolant issues, car was fine for awhile. Noticed low coolant yet again, filled it and 2 weeks later during oil change was informed that I had no coolant. 3 days later transmission failed while driving on the freeway during rush hour traffic, I was able fortunately, to pull it over to the shoulder and had it towed. Very dangerous situation! 120.000 miles and no prior indication of any issues. Just contacted chevrolet to see if any assistance is available. This car has been great except for the coolant issues....until this! The car is no longer driveable!

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 Sep 3, 2018 · Transmission · 80,000 miles · NJ

Transmission failed after parking. Had 80k miles

Filed Jun 12, 2018 · Driver assistance, Electrical · 80,000 miles · KY

Without any previous problems before this day.. My transmission went out with only 80,000 miles on june 7, 2018. Being on a busy 2 lane, curvy highway, my car just completely went out of gear and thankfully I was able cruise off to the side. A few minutes later an alert than came up on my dash and said "transmission hot, idle engine". I had bought this car in 2014 with only one previous owner that took really good care of it. It is ridiculous for my transmission to go out with such low mileage and to have to pay $5,000 for a new one and plus the car payments I still have on it. Unfortunately, I am not the only person to have this issue. There are many others. Just because they look nice doesn't mean it will last long.