2013 Chevrolet Sonic: engine stalls while driving

Filed Feb 22, 2023 · CA

Car was taken to a mechanic. The diagnosis is that the 16186 Catalytic Converter Internal Damage. This forces the car to keep stalling. Upon further research, certain models had this recall. I called GM and they said my car is not one of the ones that had the recall how ever it has the same failure that the other recalls do.

Filed Sep 28, 2021 · CA · crash

On Tuesday, September 27 at 10:25 AM, I was driving to pickup medication for my dog. I was less than 5 miles away from my home. As I pulled up to park, I slowed down and turned into the nearest parking stall. As I set the automatic shifter to Park, the car came out of park and shifted gears into Drive; mounting the curb. I hit the brake but the car continued to move forward. When I went to pull on my Emergency brake, the car hit the side of the building. As soon as I hit the building, I was able to regain control of the car and turn the ignition off. Gratefully, no one was hurt.

Filed Dec 20, 2020 · Engine, Fuel system · 80,000 miles · WA

My 2013 chevy sonic developed ticking sound shortly after I bought it at 60000 miles. The ticking got worse over time and then check engine light came on. I scanned the codes and multiple four codes were found. P0171, p0496, p1101, and p2270. After doing some research it seemed to be that most cruze, sonic, and trax vehicles all had the same issues. I took it to the dealer for diagnostics and was informed the vehicle needed a new intake manifold, purge valve, pcv hose, and valve cover. They called the dealership to see if there were any recalls and the only one was the valve cover but would have to pay for diagnostics to see if they would cover it or not. The breather diaphragm in the valve cover goes bad due to a fault intake manifold on these vehicle models. There is a little orange gasket in the manifold that goes bad and causes the diaphragm to go out resulting in having to replace the entire system. The intake manifold not only causes ghat issue but causes the car to get jumpy at stops and stalling out. Have almost had a few people rear end me due to this. The purge valve goes out as well and when at the fuel pump the car will hesitate to crank or run at very low idle shutting off multiple times before it starts up and then runs rough until a decent amount of fuel has ran through the engine. The car would not get enough fuel when at stops or on highways and would also just lose fuel and cut the engine off. Those components have since been replaced by myself and no more issues. Chevy will not recall the parts that are causing the issues and therefore there is a safety issue when out on the highways.

Filed Mar 4, 2020 · Engine · 99,000 miles · IL

Tl* the contact owns a 2013 chevrolet sonic. The contact stated that while stopped, the vehicle started shaking abnormally and stalled. The contact was able to restart the vehicle. The vehicle was taken to bob grimm chevrolet located at (2271 s main st, morton, il 61550, (309) 263-2241) where an appointment was scheduled to have the vehicle diagnosed and test driven. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 99,000.

Filed Jan 12, 2018 · Engine · 60,000 miles · CA

Vehicle stalls and turns off on its own while driving. No warning. No codes appear on dash. After apprx 5-10 minutes of the car being dead (not able to start) it seems to "reboot" and start back up again without a jump to the battery. The car has stalled on both the freeway (1st time) and city streets. I've taken the car to two different dealers and both are unable to duplicate the problem after having the car for 3 weeks combined. A claim has been submitted to gm but with no resolution. The car just turned off on me this morning while driving my daughter to school located apprx 1 mile away from my home. Both of my daughters have witnessed the problems now 3-4x.

Filed Dec 18, 2017 · Driver assistance, Electrical · 16,000 miles · TX · crash

Things started after my vehicle was repaired after a car hit me and took off. I noticed the check engine light came and stayed on, at certain times the car either while driving or while stopped the car will either shake for 2-3 minutes or also while stationary the traction system light will come on then turn off. I've also experienced issues with slow or not as responsive acceleration or unprompted rpg gauge revving and sometimes thats coupled with the shaking to the point that my has shut off while driving down a city street. I was never aware of any recalls so im not sure if it has anything to do with a possible recall that hasnt been diagnosed but theres great cause for concern. - sn: I wasnt able to choose every affected part.

Filed Aug 17, 2017 · Engine · 87,800 miles · KS

When the car came to a complete stop at a stop light the engine was surging without application of the accelerator pedal. The check engine light came illuminated. We continued driving until about an hour later when the car was put in park in the driveway the engine surged until I shut it off. The check engine light remained illuminated and was taken to the local dealer the next day. The service advisor requested we bring it back the following monday. The check engine light turned off while driving saturday. During the drive back to the dealer for the monday appointment and stopped at a stop light the engine RPM's dropped in half and ran rough for a few seconds. The RPM decrease and rough running has been a longer term issue that has been previously diagnosed with no resolution. I was advised based on current diagnosis that the evap purge control solenoid needs to be replaced.

Filed May 3, 2017 · Electrical, Engine · 83,000 miles · DC

Tl* the contact owns a 2013 chevrolet sonic. While the vehicle was undergoing an inspection, the contact was informed that there was a manufacturer recall regarding the catalytic converter that needed to be addressed. In addition, the contact stated that the vehicle stalled several times without warning. The contact was able to restart the vehicle, but the failure recurred intermittently. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The recall details were not provided. The approximate failure mileage was 83,000.

Filed Jun 10, 2016 · Engine, Fuel system · 80 miles · PA

I purchased my car from a dealer, who set me up for an upside loan. Putting me into another chevy with now 2 car loans to pay off. The car has stalled on me at different times while owning it. There have been issues since shortly after purchasing it with acceleration. It jolts and jumps when trying to accelerate. The check engine light is one, sometimes it goes off, then will come back on. I have not taken it to the shop yet assuming it would be a huge expense for them to fix and find it. Took it to a private garage and they could not find the issue either. This car is crap, I owe twice as much as its worth and I do not know what to do with it. I drive an hour to work every day on the highway and I am terrified I am going to crash every single day. It happens on the highway, on the street. In the morning when it start up it jolts and sputters. If you use the heat, it smells like its burning and there is a high squealing noise coming from the passenger side.

Filed Dec 11, 2015 · Electrical · 65,000 miles · OH

Tl* the contact owns a 2013 chevrolet sonic. While driving 70 MPH and attempting to activate the turn signals, the vehicle stalled without warning. The failure recurred several times. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic. The technician diagnosed that the entire electrical system needed to be replaced. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure mileage was 65,000.

Filed Jan 21, 2015 · Transmission · 30,921 miles · MD

I was driving down the highway at approximately 50 MPH. I shifted from 4th to 5th and something didn't feel right, like the transmission didn't engage. I then realized I could not move the shift lever on the transmission out of gear. I attempted to take the next exit but the ramp was only suitable for around 30mph. I tried to keep the engine from stalling as best as I could. As I got around the ramp I pulled to the shoulder and nearly hit a guard rail because the shoulder ended and I barely stopped in time. I called chevy roadside assistance for a tow vehicle and they dispatched one. While I was waiting I google'd my problem ("chevy sonic stuck in gear"). Alas, another person had the same exact issue with the same exact vehicle. According to this message board poster a small plastic clamp slid out of place causing the shift cable to be removed from it's housing, essentially rendering it useless. I took apart my console and found I had the same problem. When I reinstalled the plastic clamp that holds the cable in place everything worked normally, I was able to shift in and out of gear. I believe a recall should be issued as this is a very dangerous situation to be in when traveling at highway speeds.

Filed Mar 25, 2014 · Body, Brakes · 28,700 miles · CA · crash

On march 12, 2014 around 8:00 p.m I had an accident with my vehicle at my home. My car is a manual transmission so when I went to turn it on, only half of my body was in the vehicle to turn it on. Before turning it on I did notice the e-brake engaged and the car was in first gear. I proceeded to turn it on knowing that I could still take it out of gear before engaging the clutch again. At the moment of ignition though, the car took off forward and took me with it. From the panic that I had, I held onto the steering wheel and pulled it to the left and the vehicle ran into another parked vehicle to the left front of me. The impact of the vehicle LED to the door of the chevy sonic to close on my right leg and the door stayed shut on my leg since the car had ran onto the right side of the other vehicle. Upon impact onto the other vehicle, I noticed an odd smell that seemed like brakes. The car had stopped due trash cans that were at the front of it. When the car impacted the trash cans , the vehicle stopped moving yet the car was still wanting to go on ahead as if someone was accelerating the vehicle. During this time while this happened and I was still pinned between the door of the chevy sonic and having the door kept shut on me due to the side impact with the other vehicle, I smelled something that seemed like brakes to me. After several attempts to shut off the vehicle, I finally managed to turn it off. I then put it to neutral and disengaged the e-brake and had family members roll the car back. Upon being unpinned from the other vehicle and having my leg freed from the chevy sonic, my first thought was to try out the e-brake to make sure it was working properly. The e-brake did not fail to engage or disengage. I have repeated this same situation over and over. The only result has been the car jerking forward about 2 feet then stalling due to the e-brake being engaged.