Problems · by component

2012 Chevrolet Traverse vehicle speed control problems

37 owner complaints to NHTSA about the 2012 Chevrolet Traverse cite vehicle speed control, 10% of all 354 complaints for this model year.

Complaints
37
10% of all complaints
Crashes
2
Reported by owners
Fires
0
Reported by owners
Injuries
2
Reported by owners
01 —Owner reports

What owners say about the vehicle speed control

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”
Owner complaint to NHTSAFiled Nov 11, 2025Steering, Electrical system, Vehicle speed controlODI 11698713
“The air conditioning stopped working after working amazing, Traction Control Disabled light keeps coming on, The RPM's would rev up seems like it gets stuck then drops to normal. stabilitrak messages with the ABS warning light lit up, Power steering (or power control) goes limp (at the worse times pulling out in traffic) It’s on issue after the other. Once I get one fixed another goes, then we’re back to the first one that was replaced that is now not working again. I still have a car payment so I’m without my car more than I’m driving it. I have to save up to get it fixed, and I won’t drive it until I know for sure it’s good. I was almost killed way to many times in it so to all the issues that GM knows about.”
Owner complaint to NHTSAFiled Sep 13, 2024Power train, Vehicle speed control, EngineODI 11614537
“I was driving down the freeway at about 67 MPH when the message "Traction Control Disabled" came on my display & the car immediately went into "limp mode"! By some miracle I was able to muscle the car out of the slow lane, onto the shoulder as I lost my power steering once in limp mode. I waited a few minutes, car started up just fine, so I shrugged it off. Fast forward 1 week later & the same thing happened to me on my way home on a curvy mountain road. The power steering was again non-existent & luckily, there was no one behind me, nor did anyone come around the corner & hit my disabled car. Once again, it started up, no problem; however, this is when the harsh forward thrust started happening, & the transmission seemed to be slipping gears. The RPM's would rev to the 6000 range & immediately fall down to 1500. I took it to the dealer & sadly paid $3,400 for a new tranny on a 5-year-old car. (No warranty, of course). I started having the same issues about 2 years later, only this time the driver was not so lucky as they were mid-curve on the mountain road. Right as the roadway came out of the bend, the car went into limp mode, power steering lost & wheels…”
Owner complaint to NHTSAFiled Sep 14, 2022Steering, Vehicle speed control, EngineCrash reportedODI 11484533
“WHILE DRIVING THE VEHICLE WILL SHUDDER AND LOSE POWER, OCCASIONALLY THE VEHICLE WILL STALL ALMOST LIKE IT IS ATTEMPTING TO GRAB GEARS WHILE DOWN SHIFTING AND IT WILL CAUSE THE WHOLE VEHICLE TO SHAKE, IT HAS HAPPENED SO HARD I HAVE HAD TO EXIT THE INTERSTATE FOR WORRY OF MINE AND MY PASSENGERS SAFETY. THE VEHICLE UPON ENTERING WILL SLAM INTO GEAR AND WHEN DRIVING IN RURAL AREAS THE TRANSMISSION EVEN FEELS LIKE IT IS SLIPPING AND THE CAR WILL JERK BACK AND FOURTH UNTIL IT GRABS A HIGHER GEAR. I PURCHASED THE VEHICLE IN 2018 WITH JUST OVER 100,000 MILES AND EVEN NOW THE VEHICLE IS ONLY SITTING AT ROUGHLY 132,000 MILES AND HAS HAS REGULAR SERVICES TO MAINTAIN THE VEHICLE. UPON FURTHER INVESTIGATION, THE TRAVERSE HAS SEVERAL COMPLAINTS OF THIS SAME ISSUE INCLUDING OLDER AND NEWER VEHICLES, AND MOST HAVE RESULTED IN TORQUE CONVERTER/TRANSMISSION REPLACEMENT. THE VEHICLE HAS STALLED COMPLETELY IN THE MIDDLE OF INTERSECTIONS WHILE ATTEMPTING TO DOWNSHIFT FOR TAKE OFF AND HAS ALSO DONE SO WHILE ATTEMPTING TO MERGE ONTO THE INTERSTATE. THE ISSUE WAS ORIGINALLY NOTICED TOWARDS THE END OF 2019- TO EARLY 2020 AND HAS PROCEEDED TO GET SO BAD WE NO LONGER TRUST THE INTEGRITY…”
Owner complaint to NHTSAFiled Mar 8, 2021Power train, Electrical system, Vehicle speed controlODI 11399730
“I WAS DRIVING ON ST [XXX] AND IT WAS RAINING I ALMOST HYDROPLANE AND MY TRACTION LIGHT CAME ON AND MY CAR STARTED ACCELERATING ON IT'S OWN I HAD TO PASS TWO CARS SO I WOULDN'T HIT THEM AND LUCKILY NO ONE WAS COMING TOWARDS ME MY CAR KEPT ACCELERATING FASTER UP TO 100 MPH I SLAMMED ON MY BRAKES BUT MY CAR WOULDN'T SLOW DOWN IT TOOK 5MINS TO SLOW.DOWN TO 20 MPH I HAD SMOKE ALL AROUND ME MY CAR WAS REVVING UP THE RPMS AND MY TEMPERATURE GAUGE WAS HOTI SEEN A ROAD [XXX] AND I TURNED AND I PUT MY VEHICLE IN PARK AND TRIED TO SHUT IT OFF AND IT WOULDN'T SO I THREW IT BACK INTO DRIVE AND THEN PARK AND SHUT MY IGNITION OFF AND TRIED TO RESTART THE ENGINE AND IT WOULDN'T START AFTER 10 MINS OF IT OFF I TRIED THE IGNITION AND IT STARTED BUT MY BRAKES HAD A AIR SOUND WHEN I PUSHED ON BRAKE PADS AND MY BF DROVE MY CAR BACK HOME THIS CAR IS DANGEROUS I LOOKED ONLINE AND SEEN IT HAPPENED TO OTHER VEHICLES AND I'M SCARED TO DRIVE MY CAR NOW I'M LUCKY I DIDNT DIE OR KILL SOMEONE ELSE PLEASE ASSIST ME BC I DONT KNOW WHAT TO DO THE VEHICLE IT'S NOT SAFE FOR ME TO DRIVE SINCE THAT HAPPENED PARTS OF THIS DOCUMENT HAVE BEEN REDACTED TO PROTECT PERSONALLY IDENTIFIABLE INFORMATION…”
Owner complaint to NHTSAFiled Mar 1, 2021Vehicle speed control, Service brakes, EngineODI 11398461
“RECENTLY I STARTED HAVING ISSUES WITH SHUDDERING WHILE DRIVING AT CERTAIN SPEEDS. FIRST AT 40MPH AND THEN MORE RECENTLY AT HIGHER SPEEDS. ALSO TODAY THE STABILTRACK WARNING LIGHT CAME ON STATING THAT IT REQUIRED SERVICE. RPM'S AND SPEEDOMETER ALSO WOULD FLUCTUATE WHILE DRIVING. THERE ARE MANY VIDEOS ON YOUTUBE THAT POINT TO THE THROTTLE BODY HAVING OIL BLOW BY THROUGH THE THROTTLE BODY AS THERE IS NO CHECK VALVE TO KEEP THIS FROM HAPPENING. I WILL BE CLEANING THE THROTTLE BODY TO SEE IF IT FIXES THE PROBLEM. I'VE ALSO SEEN THAT THE BRAKE POSITION SENSOR COULD BE THE CULPRIT AS WELL. I REPLACED THE IGNITION COILS AFTER SEEING THE ENGINE FLUCTUATIONS, BUT DID NOT REPLACE THE SPARKS PLUGS AS THEY WERE RECENTLY REPLACED UNDER 6K MILES AGO. THIS SEEMS TO BE A LONG STANDING AND WIDE DISPERSED ISSUE WITH THIS YEAR, MAKE AND MODEL OF VEHICLE. MANY HAVE SEEN THE POWER DROP WHILE AT HIGHWAY SPEEDS AND THIS BUG COULD CAUSE THE MASS DAMAGE OF A TRANSMISSION IF THE VEHICLE WERE TO AUTOMATICALLY DOWNSHIFT WHILE AT HIGHWAY SPEEDS, ESPECIALLY IF IT WERE TO DROP TO 2ND GEAR FROM 5TH OR 6TH ON AUTOMATIC DRIVE. THIS NEEDS TO BE LOOKED INTO AND ADDRESSED APPROPRIATELY. *TR”
Owner complaint to NHTSAFiled Jun 16, 2020Vehicle speed control, Electronic stability control (esc), Fuel/propulsion systemODI 11329166

Showing 6 of 37 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.