Problems · by component
2012 Chevrolet Traverse electrical system problems
48 owner complaints to NHTSA about the 2012 Chevrolet Traverse cite electrical system, 14% of all 354 complaints for this model year.
Complaints
48
14% of all complaints
Crashes
0
Reported by owners
Fires
1
Reported by owners
Injuries
0
Reported by owners
What owners say about the electrical system
Verbatim from NHTSA complaints, newest first
“It sways left to right really bad.. but when it rains or even even the car detected that it's going to rain.. as soon as the car senses it is going to rain u can't even drive it.. it like hydro plains even before it starts to officially rain.. very dangerous plus I had to replace the two back tires because they seemed like they were being forced and drug that all u seen was wires coming out of the tread”
“When driving the vehicle it will lose power and flash service stabilitrack and low engine mode enabled without warning. This has happened many times since 2016. When the conditions cannot be replicated gm/chevrolet has not been concerned but to refer to dealership. The dealership replaced ECM due to warranty conditions. Issue with emissions and electrical modules continued to cause intermittent power loss. Corrosion was found in the internal fuse box due to poor sun roof drainage emptying into glovebox and onto internal fuse box. GM and Chevrolet describes this as a known issue but insists my VIN is not affected. The issues continued to persist leading to frequent battery replacement that was ultimately due to contamination of electrical components. Fuel system parts were all assumed faulty only to find it was ultimately the fuel control module, another electronic component listed faulty but GM/ Chevrolet assumes my VIN is not affected. This car was purchased to be a family vehicle, but had proven to be an unreliable death trap. The first incident that caused concern was 2/14/2017 on the highway with speeds up to 70mph. Thankfully, that day was full of heavy…”
“1)The air conditioning unit line has caused a leak. It was determined this line needs to be replaced by an independent service center. This a/c line is located from under the front of the hood all the way to the rear of vehicle. This line constantly rubs and there is friction with other lines/hoses (power steering), and other components under the hood. No rubbing should occur. The rubbing and friction cause holes to form causing not only for it to leak out but also potentially leak on other components under the hood which could cause other issues such as breakdown of the vehicle or fire. It has affected us not only by not providing a/c under extreme heat, but also has caused hissing sounds and for white smoke vapors that has omitted from the vents inside the vehicle. It has also caused us to breathe in the vapors which are toxic. There was cold a/c felt through the vents and we were not aware of any issues until now (7/19/2024). This is a very costly repair, over $1500 and up for the average consumer to pay out. 2)Park assist & sound that are unable to hear & works intermittently. The radio display & speakers work intermittently. The park assist is connected to…”
“Traveling at 70 MPH on a highway Traction control/stabilitrac and engine turn on and acceleration stopped, car wont accelerate causing to cars behind me to start swirling around due to my car lost of acceleration, then pulled over to the shoulder thankfully with no accidents, then turn off car and turn on again and car worked normally for about 100 miles and it did it again.”
“The head front left head light has had to be replaced 3 times in 3 months same for the left turn signal. Another issue I have is each time I put gas in, the car gets stuck trying to turn over Until I pump the gas.”
“First I already had to rebuild the transmission which is showing the beginning signs of failing again. Then around the same time I started having another issue that I find a lot scarier as the driver. It started giving me severely Reduced engine power, traction control off and stabilitrak messages with the ABS warning light lit up like a Christmas tree. This is by far the most dangerous of any issue I've ever experienced with all of my vehicles I've ever owned. It starts with a huge jump I cant stop or control to a car behind me it seems like I'm really getting on it and speeding up. But in a split second too quick for any human to process what is happening it just drops out big time. It then wont go above roughly 30 mph and the engine is revving very high to even get it to that. All the while it is heavily shuddering and jumping back and forth at a very fast rate and it does this with a high force to it. I have no control over it either. Before I could hit traction control off and it would all stop. However today it did this again for the first time in a long time and man was it 20 times worse than anything I had ever seen before. By the time I decided to turn…”
Showing 6 of 48 reports. Read every report on NHTSA.gov.
Data from NHTSA Complaints API (owner reports, unverified) · synced Nov 4, 2026NHTSA vehicle page
Complaints are unverified owner reports to NHTSA and are not normalized for sales volume. One complaint can cite several components.