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10.0

really awful
Crashes / Fires:
1 / 0
Injuries / Deaths:
0 / 0
Average Mileage:
23,207 miles

About These NHTSA Complaints:

This data is from the NHTSA — the US gov't agency tasked with vehicle safety. Complaints are spread across multiple & redundant categories, & are not organized by problem.

So how do you find out what problems are occurring? For this NHTSA complaint data, the only way is to read through the comments below. Any duplicates or errors? It's not us.

2016 Chevrolet Traverse miscellaneous problems

miscellaneous problem

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2016 Chevrolet Traverse Owner Comments

problem #14

Apr 162022

Traverse

  • miles

A D V E R T I S E M E N T S

When sitting in a parking lot when the car was running, many different service now lights flashed across the dashboard. The lights on the side mirrors were on and still on. We turned off the car and the heater engine was still running even without the key in the ignition. When we tried to restart the car, it did absolutely nothing. Would not turn over or even click. It was worked on in the parking lot for 3 hours to get it to start. We had to disconnected a cord on the side of the dash and door locks, all wheel drive, driver side windows and the rear door would not work. A day later we plugged the cord back in and all the components worked except the lights on side mirrors were still on. After taking it to a dealer they confirmed that they had serviced other Chevrolet Traverse's that had the same problems. If this would have happened in traffic it could have caused an accident. No warning lamps, messages or other problems prior to this incident.

- Ray, MN, USA

problem #13

Apr 062022

Traverse

  • miles
Something is happening to cause delayed shifting in this vehicle without warning or any rhyme or reason to it. One moment you're going 40 and all is well then suddenly the rpms go high the car slows way down and doesn't want to shift. There is no light to indicate the issue and no codes so no way to tell what to fix also no warning as to when it will happen. This car has become so unpredictable with it's shifting we have opted to park it and look into the transmission. This seems to be a common problem with Chevy traverse wish I had known that when I purchased it and I don't want to think what would happen if we were driving on the interstate.

- Crocker, MO, USA

problem #12

Nov 252021

Traverse

  • miles
Vehicle has had 3 separate occurrences - January, October and November of 2021 - the vehicle suddenly losing its "power" by not accelerating over 40 mph, hard shifting to where it jerked uncontrollably. The dash board message center would say "service stabilitrak" "service traction control" "traction control off". The orange traction control light was also Illuminated on the dashboard. No check engine light was presented, and no codes were stored in the computer. 1s occurrence dealership changed battery, 2nd occurrence could not find an issue, customer refused vehicle back so dealership cleaned ABS tone rings. On all occurrences the customer was close to being rear ended on the major interstate due to losing sudden power. Dealerships are only able to "guess" on repair, due to no codes being stored in the computer. Many complaints for the same issue can be found in a Traverse Facebook group, on Google, and many other personal Traverse owners. There needs to be an open recall and investigation with this issue. None of these fixes are covered under the warranties, and customers must pay out of pocket as the dealership has it coded under "maintenance".

- Imperial, MO, USA

problem #11

Mar 012021

Traverse

  • miles

A D V E R T I S E M E N T S

Traction Control pops on my dash to service now, lose power and Van Bucks like missing and and speed cuts way down, very dangerous if you are in traffic, and only had 30,000 miles on Van when started, now i have 31,000

- Pontiac, MI, USA

problem #10

Feb 022021

Traverse

  • 56,000 miles
Re: 2016 Chevrolet Traverse with 56,000 miles Feb. 2, 2021, I was returning home from running errands, pulled into the driveway and per my normal routine, rolled just past the garage door opening in order to back into the garage. When I applied the brake, the car accelerated independently to full throttle and jumped about 10 or 12 feet, sideswiped a tree at the curve in the drive and took out a 4X4 post holding my birdfeeder. I continued applying the brake but could not stop the car. By steering, I was able to miss another tree and drove into the back yard. The car was headed toward the barn about 50 yards away, but I was able to get the transmission into park. The air bags did not deploy when I hit the tree, and I was not injured. As this was on private property with no damage except to the car, a police report was not filed. Did $12,000+ in damages plus 4 wks to fix. The Chevy dealer from whom the car was purchased said they would have someone from GM to run a diagnostic. That was 2 wks ago and they still have my car but have done nothing as of yet.

- California, KY, USA

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problem #9

Jan 012020

Traverse 6-cyl

  • 49,000 miles
The blind spot detection system warning sensors have failed and will not work. This has caused me to have several near missies in dangerous driving situations with other vehicles. I feel unsafe driving this vehicle and do not have the money to repair it.

- Stow, OH, USA

problem #8

Mar 042019

Traverse

  • 45,000 miles

A D V E R T I S E M E N T S

Vehicle swaddles heavily after a certain speed to the point where my children have hit the sides of their heads with the windows/doors. Makes a loud noise in the front when driving and turning, you can feel the grinding noise vibrations on the bottom of feet.

- Chandler, AZ, USA

problem #7

Oct 232018

Traverse

  • 51,000 miles
On 10/23/18, about 1-2 miles after exiting highway, I was driving when my traction control on appeared on my dashboard with engine light on, my vehicle started to shake like it was about to die and I could not accelerate any more. I went from 40mph to 10-15mph. I was turning left at a light and had to pull in to a parking lot and vehicle started shaking so much. It was difficult to maneuver the turns. Then the shaking just stopped. Turned my vehicle off and back on, traction control and engine light disappeared like nothing had happened. I drove but would not accelerate past 20 mph. Turned vehicle off for a while and everything was back to normal. On 10/30/18, vehicle was in motion again, traveling 40 mph, then traction control came back on with engine light, I slowed down to 20 mph again and was able to pull over before engine started to shake and or turn. Turned off the engine again, powered back on and it drove like normal again. This has happened twice to me with my children in my vehicle. Incident happened when pavement was dry, no debris on road, this is an safety issue, and I am grateful it did not occur on the highway while I was traveling 60 mph in morning traffic. Contacted GM where after explaining my issue to sue and she even stated it was a safety issue. Dealership stated that they could run diagnostics but if neither traction control on or engine light was on, may not read as to what the problem is and they could not get me in until 11/2/18.

- Arlington, TX, USA

problem #6

Aug 182018

Traverse

  • 58,000 miles
The metal hose that carries the freon for the ac unit is behind another hose with a metal feature on it that rubbed a hole in the metal hose which caused the air conditioning to leak freon so unable to use air conditioning. The car was in motion when the air stopped working.

- Redding, CA, USA

problem #5

Nov 282017

Traverse

  • 37,900 miles
The center consule has a plastic piece that broke off and it keeps popping up as I am driving. It happpend two days ago while I was driving and interferred with my driving when I turned and it hit my arm and it almost caused me an accident. Although I am careful, its still keeps popping up and interfeering with my driving. The dealership said if I came in 1 month ago, it would have still been covered on my 36,000 mile warranty, bumper to bumper. I believe this has to be a defect in the material for it to break in less than 2 years and I do not use the center consule much.

- La Verne, CA, USA

problem #4

Feb 252017

Traverse

  • 11,993 miles

A D V E R T I S E M E N T S

On Jan. 8,2016 while driving, my check engine light came on followed by a knock in the motor. I pulled over and shut the car off. I took it to shottenkirk Chevy in quincy, il where they diagnosed a coil was bad at 11,993 miles, but told me to continue driving the car. They replaced the coil 2 days later. That same night we got it back, we took it back and told them we weren't satisfied. They kept it 3 days and told me nothing was wrong on Jan. 16 when we picked it back up. On Jan. 20 the check engine light came on again followed by an even louder knock. We took it back Jan 21 and received a loaner. They have replaced multiple things within the motor but it still hasn't fixed the problem. On Feb. 25 we went to the dealership to try to trade for a new vehicle and they didn't want to give us what our car was worth. After talking with the GM on the phone we told him we would contact a lawyer. He replied "I'm calling the law and reporting the truck your driving stolen." We returned the truck that afternoon because we can't be accused of being a thief. We no longer have a vehicle to drive;however, I'm still paying a car payment and insurance. I believe we purchased a lemon and would like to be paid out of our loan for all the troubles we have had. I do have a video of what my vehicle sounds like.

- Canton, MO, USA

problem #3

Jan 052017

Traverse

  • miles
During a snow storm where temps were between 22 amd 30 degrees. I was out for 30 min to 1 hour when the front window froze at the bottom. I had defrost on the entire time and nothing I could do would unfreeze the window. This caused the wipers to not function appropriately. The wipers left water streaks because they were sitting on ice. Prior to coming out my car was completly dry because it was in a garage. No pre ice conditions. The streaks when I was concerned were in my viewing area and I couldnt see.

- Grand Junction, CO, USA

problem #2

Oct 282016

Traverse

  • 13,000 miles
I was at a red light, foot on the brake when the vehicle accelerated jumping from 1000rpm to 3000rpm, multiple times in a row. Causing my car to lunge forward over and over again. I contacted the dealership immediately & was asked to drive my car in. I was headed to a destination first. When I arrived at my destination, I turned the car off for approximately 5 minutes. When I turned my car back on, there was a loud bang noise, car smelled like something was on fire & the acceleration did not return. What did happen was I now had no air conditioning. Dealership stated it was the ac compressor that went out and caused all the issues.

- Phoenix, AZ, USA

problem #1

Dec 032015

Traverse

  • 3,000 miles
Navigation system - turn by turn. Provide dangerouisly direction. Instruct you to make turn where there is no street to turn onto, I.e., instructs you to make turns off a overpass from a bridge and fall down onto the interstate below. This a safety, dangerous, hazards, life threatening component in the 2016 Chevrolet Traverse, especially at night. I have taken the vehicle back to the dealer, no help! called GM customer service in detroit=no help. This nav system is a deadly safety hazard. That provide deadly information to the driver. This need to be corrected asap - by issuing a recall for 2016 Chevy nav system. GM has been slow to fix reported safety issues which has resulted in death/fatality.

- Renova, MS, USA

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