Transmission had a shutter when we bought it from a dealership at approximately 80,000 miles and after taking it back to dealership 2 different times we were told that was just how these newer 9 speed transmissions shift. Everything was ok and there was nothing to worry about. At approximately 120,000 miles the transmission gave out. Dealership would not honor warranty. So we took it to a private repair shop, who repaired it. Then less than 2 months later, the transmission went out again. We had it towed back to the same repair shop, who kept it for 6 more months. I just got it back saturday June 13, 2026 and drove it about 100 miles out of town and transmission went out again.
2018 Chevrolet Traverse transmission complaints
Page 2 of 8: complaints 11 to 40 of 196, newest first, as owners wrote them.
Engine light came on. Car started shaking and making noise when shifting. Speed would not increase while driving. When shifting into park the car does not recognize that’s it’s in park and had to jiggle the gear shift. Took it to an independent mechanic and they said it’s probably the transmission. Have to take it to a transmission shop.
Shifter assembly- Shift to Park. The 2018 Chevrolet Traverse repeatedly shows a shift to park message when the vehicle is already in park, this causes the vehicle to not turn off. I have already had this issue fixed by a dealership previously and the issue has come back yet again.
I purchase my 2018 Traverse in 2020 from day one there was a transmission problem. Took it to a Chevrolet dealer and they told me there something broken inside the transmission which it was still under warranty. A year later we notice the transmission would slip from time to time. Took it to the dealership told the service department the issue I was having with the vehicle. Just to be on the safe side I told them to do a transmission flush on the vehicle and ask the service tech to drive it to make there were any problems. Of course I was told everything was fine with the transmission. Maybe three weeks later it was still doing the same thing slipping from time to time. Now current yesterday I went to the store with no problem, went to leave the vehicle wouldn't go in reverse and barely wanting to move. I had to put the transmission into manual to get it home. The next day I was able to drive it to the dealership to see what was wrong with it. A few hours later, I received the unwanted phone call saying the transmission was done. I was told $11,000 dollars for the repair and two weeks for it to be complete. Now I am stuck in between a hard place and a rock. I am not sure if I want to take the chance on having it replaced for it to do the same thing again in the future.
Lost power to transmission at 36k miles. Transmission replaced by GM. Currently, the vehicle lost transmission power while driving and had to be towed to dealership. Notified that the transmission needs replaced again
as i come to a stop and go to accelerate my transmission stutters and sometimes slips,i went to gm website and there is a recall on the 2018 chevy traverse transmission but my vin isnt included. i have all the symptons of the recall as described on the gm website but again my vin isnt included in the recall. it only has 61k miles i been having issue since around 30k i been in and out of dealership but the test drive it and it doesnt do it and they just give it back to me,they told me i gotta catch it doing it and try to get it in.i contacted chevy and they instructed me to come to this site fill this form out. chevy told me my vehicle probally wasnt included in the recall because not enough people reported it so i should fill out a report. around 55k miles when the transmission slipped and the rpms rose really high it snapped the drive shaft which was scary as i had my children in car and car just stopped moving right in the middle of traffic if it would of been busy i could of been rear ended because of the sudden stoppage. i keep trying to get back in dealership but i work mornings so the driving i do is later i day so when it acts up the dealer is closed and they are closed sat and sun so by the time i get to them the next day or on a monday it doesnt do it for them so they just keep giving me car back and i keep worrying about something happening like on the highway with my kids in car. the dealer did have someone test drive car and it did reproduce the symptoms but they made appointment for following week and when tech it then it didnt act up so it was returned to me once again
Purchased the car in 2022 noticed some trans slipping issues and immediately reported it to the purchasing dealer. They took the car in serviced it and said it was good shortly after that noticed the problem again. We took it to be looked at and was told "nothing was noticed". A few months later again noticed some issues took it to another dealership and was told "nothing was noticed". Driving time dropped on the vehicle 2023-2025. Once instance driving down a major highway transmission started slipping. I reached out to Chevrolet and they were less than inclined to offer help other than to say take it in for service. I explained to them that we were lucky we were not in an accident as we lost transmission while driving on a major highway. Same response. Sporadically it would happen but no major problems. Fast forward to 2026 we noticed 2 weeks ago that driving down the street it would slip. Before we could make an appointment we pulled into a parking spot and reverse dropped. Now we have a car with no reverse. Took it to be looked at a local shop near where we were and was told transmission is bad. Now it sits because it can not be driven safely. Waiting for an appointment at a Chevrolet facility.
The vehicle shudders and it very slow to shift from park to drive.
Our Traverse has the transmission shudder really bad. This started at about 20k miles. Dealership made some adjustments which helped. Now that it out of warranty, this has gotten soo much worse. This needs to recalled.
The contact owns a 2018 Chevrolet Traverse. The contact stated that upon parking and attempting to turn off the vehicle, the message "Shift to Park" was displayed while the gear shifter was already in park(P). The contact stated that the vehicle responded after several attempts to shift to park(P). The dealer and the manufacturer were not contacted. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The failure mileage was approximately 81,000.
My car has been acting odd and shaking a lot. Was told it could be transmission since i fixed everything else it could be
My 2018 Traverse has had several issues the past few years such as the electrical components in the car turning on and off randomly, a shift to park message which has been fixed twice, and the most current problem is the transmission. I was out of town 160 miles away with my family of 6 and we were about to drive home when the engine started to sound forced while I was driving. It wouldn't go past 30 mph and I had to quickly and safely get off the road and look for a mechanic. Had we already gotten on the freeway my family would have been in much more danger. After driving cautiously to 2 mechanics they referred us to a transmission service location. We had to leave the car there for several hours and came to find out that the transmission needed to be replaced and it would cost anywhere between $4,000-$9,000 depending on if they try to fix our transmission or replace it with another transmission and the cost would depend on the warranty years. We ended up getting it towed home so that our local mechanic can take a look at it. We still haven't gotten it fixed because the repair cost is so high and we can't afford it. For being a 2018 and only having 65,000 miles we should not be having transmission issues. We also took it in to our local Chevy service dealer who confirmed the transmission needs to be repaired or replaced and an accurate cost is unknown until they open it but the first estimate was $10,000. My vehicle is available for inspection upon request. I did see there was a recall for transmission issues for this make and model but it doesn't come up for my VIN. I really hope that Chevrolet can apply the recall to all VIN numbers affected because it is a very costly repair and has put my families safety at risk. It should not keep happening to others.
Hello this particular vehicle often gives us a message stating that side detection is temporarily unavailable and the main issue is the transmission seems to have severe shufdering issues and sometimes gives a shift to park message ive read others having this same issue being recalled but my vin is not listed! The car is available upon request for any inspections necessary
Park to shift keeps popping up on dash while driving. Vehicle will not recognise when in park at times to allow vehicle to be shut off properly. The stability track warning pops up on dash now as well. The check emits comes on with codes for all going back to transmission control module system and when replaced spark plugs we found that the PCV (cam cvr to turbo) tube was cracked all the way through where the hard plastic meets metal on the part and had to replace it. This is all after multiple failed parts that had to be replaced dealing with the ac unit and it’s lines. Today is the second time in two weeks that the vehicle has been in operational mode in the middle of a foward motion driving at the time. Luckily this time I was in a housing area and not a major street or on the loop 360 when it decided to stop driving while in motion in drive.
Transmission issues since 85k miles, park to shift sensor error since owned, rear ideoendent suspension bolts were stripped needed alignment. Car has not performed since ownership.
My vehicle has had the issue of putting the car in park and it says it is not it park, have to wiggle the gear shift around for it to recognize that the car is fully in park. Now the transmission will not go in to reverse. The R on the dashboard is blinking. Yes, it is available for inspection.
Shift to park errors over multiple years, shutter when accelerating. Now pressure control solenoid code vehicle will not go in reverse or shift out of first gear. Transmission needs replacement. This is my family vehicle, i have 3 small children and it has turned off at stop lights etc. My families safety has been jeopardized many times driving this vehicle, especially the last time in particular. The vehicle stopped engaging in reverse and then in first would accelarate by itself on the way home from my 8 year olds baseball game.
i am getting a shift to park error code on dashboard. The shifter gear is in park but the vehicle will not turn off. I have called the dealer several times and they are told the problem but eventually they hang up on me. There seems to be a class action suit out for the issue but no recall. I would like to see recall because this is a serious safety issue. One if the vehicle does not completely turn off and you are not aware of the issue then your battery can run out. If you are in a urban/remote area which I am no dealerships for about 50 miles away can be a serious problem being stranded on the I 15 freeway. When you put the vehicle in park sometimes it pops out of gear too. There were no previous warnings prior to the shift to park dash indicator. I am not a rich person. My vehicle just has over 72,000 miles. This should be covered by a recall. Please help.
Exhaust weld broken (several times) same as “special coverage adjustment n212356540 front exhaust pipe”. This is a well known problem but gm refuses to fix 2018s which has the same exact problem and components. Chevy “fixed” it once and the weld broke a month later. This problem has been happening on and off for years and I am finally writing to you so that the word gets out. Gm is taking advantage of people
Vibrations/shaking when driving. Took vehicle to a mechanic and the entire transmission needs to be replaced. I researched online and this is a common issue for the 2018 model. There where several transmission related recalls but my vehicle was not included in any of the recalls.
The contact owns a 2018 Chevrolet Traverse. The contact stated that while in park, there was an alarm beeping. The message “Shift to Park” was displayed. Additionally, the TPMS warning light was illuminated. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic who was unable to duplicate the failure. The local dealer was not contacted. The vehicle was diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 121,000.
For the past few months now my 2018 Chevy Traverse has had a weird shimmy when changing lower gears. Got it looked at and they said one of the 9 clutches are going out and needs to be replaced for a total of $6664.63. After doing my own research, this is a common problem with the 2018 Chevy Traverse after reading all the complaints on Social Media and a few Chevy enthusiasts websites. I’ve called the dealership and they refuse to help out at all with the pricing or do anything without a recall issued. If I’d had to calculate the amount of cars effected that already had work done and cars that haven’t had work done yet due to the insane cost, I’d say at least 30-40% of these vehicles have these issues right now that people know about or have already had fixed. The transmission place I sent our vehicle to said he does work on all these Chevys constantly with the same issue. I tried to call corporate and they gave me this site to go ahead and log a safety concern about this problem because it truly is a safety concern. The constant shim and rough feel when switching between lower gears makes it difficult when needing to pull out into traffic unless your lucky enough to get no traffic in your lane. I’ve also noted the start stop problem when it starts back up at a red light it sometimes has issues shifting in between 2nd, 3rd, & 4th gear like it doesn’t want to do it in that order. Feels more like it wants to skip 2nd and 3rd gear which may be fine but it definitely has a shimmy/ grinding feeling. Not sure if the transmission clutch can cause all these problems but after witnessing these issues, I’m definitely rethinking purchasing Silverado 2500’s for my family owned plumbing business. Thank you and hopefully this helps.
I purchased a 2018 Chevy Traverse with 6 miles on it. I keep my vehicle in mint condition and maintenance as needed and required. Recently in the past few months my car has been bucking when shifting gear engages in an automatic transmission. I took to dealership, and they stated it was the torque converter, and my vehicle has exactly 20,270 miles only. Not even passed the 36,000 marks but over 36 months. I bought an extended warranty thru Dealership which now sending someone to dealership to verify that this is infact a torque problem which were found 2017 and 2019 but not 2018 is hard to believe. They will be keeping it for 7 days and already had a recall for 2017 and 2019 so are they stating it only occurred in those years, and they fix the 2017 but then it skipped 2018 and jumped to 2019. Why have I not received any recalls since I buy most of the GMC vehicles and lived in the same home for 35 years. Its awfully strange that I never receive any recalls when I owned Silverado truck, Savana High Top Van with special needs lift, Pontiac Torrent, Chevy Traverse. The warning lane change or the blindspot warning shut off too. Was told to wash the window on the front and on the camera back and did not clear the sensors. Was told to check transmission fluid and it was fine and I do oil changes since my dad taught us every 2500 -3000 depending on driving and if only little mileage check it anyway monthly with the dip stick. Like I stated I keep my car in mint condition and safety is number one issue in family due to the special needs son riding in it.
My car has twice been fixed with this shift to park message and now it is in the shop once again to be fixed!! And this has also had the torque converter fixed twice now. And it is still doing the same issues. This needs to be something that Chevy is replacing. I am a single mother and can’t afford all these problems and yet I keep having to make a car payment and get these things fixed.
The vehicle was struggling to pick up the gears and stalled in the road. After having it checked at the Chevy dealer stated it was the Transmission that needed to be replaced. The vehicle is unable to reverse due the the transmission issue. Unable to drive. There is no active recall for this issue which is concerning, considering I've read multiple drivers have the same issue with the 2018 Chevy traverse.
The contact owns a 2018 Chevrolet Traverse. The contact stated that the "Shift to Park" message was displayed. The message was displayed after shifting into park(P). The vehicle was taken to a dealer to be diagnosed; however, the dealer was unable to determine the cause of the failure. However, the dealer informed the contact that the issue was a known issue, requiring that the wiring harness and shifter needed to be replaced. There was no diagnostic code was detected on the OnStar App. The failure occurred intermittently, but during the most recent failure, the vehicle continued to roll after being shifted into park(P). The contact quickly shifted into reverse and engaged the parking brake, and the vehicle lost power without being turned off. The vehicle became inoperable and could not be unlocked. The vehicle was towed to the dealer for additional examination. The manufacturer was not informed about the failure. The failure mileage was unknown.
MAF sensor went bad on my 18 to traverse. I was told not to change the sensor that it was the manifold. Two days later I'm being told that my transmission is bad. I am in process now if getting it rebuilt. Needless to say I'm out a lot of money.
Each time I drive the vehicle, the transmission has a shudder to where it almost stops pulling. To me, this could cause an accident due to it failing when in heavy traffic. These transmission issues on these vehicles need to be recalled and corrected before someone gets hurt or possibly killed.
I’ve had this vehicle for about a year or less the car ran fine with minor problems that come with having a vehicle. Up until last week the car never showed any signs of a failing transmission, it went from running fine to shuttering and suddenly I wasn’t able to reverse. The check engine light never came on, I’ve did all my routine checks and more with the dealership I bought it from and was never told anything when the vehicle was brought in for inspections.
Vehicle displays Shift to Park message and audible tone after arriving at destination and attempting to turn off vehicle. Shifter indicates the vehicle is in Park and the transmission gears display on main screen also indicates the vehicle is in Park; however the warning message and audible continue to occur. Numerous attempts to move shifter through the different positions P-D1 are required to get the warning message to clear and the audible tone to stop. It has rapidly gotten worse in a matter of two weeks and I’m concerned that it will continue to get worse until I am no longer able to clear it leading to a dead battery, as well as other potential powertrain problems. A recent class action settlement unfortunately does not provide any relief to me for this known safety issue which already has a large number of the federal safety agency complaints filed pertaining to this powertrain issue. Given the number of complaints filed, I would urge the federal safety agency to force GM to issue a recall for this safety issue.
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