2011 Chevrolet Cruze
Complaints about this year name transmission far more often than the other years of this generation — 17% of them, about 4× the usual rate of 4.7%.
First year of a new generation. The Chevrolet Cruze was redesigned for 2011. A first year carries problems nobody has found yet, and they are found by the people who buy it — which is worth knowing before you become one of them.
NHTSA opened a defect investigation into this model year.
| Complaints filed | 731 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 247 |
| Involving a crash | 38 |
| Involving a fire | 20 |
| Recalls | 7 |
| NHTSA crash rating | 5/5 |
| EPA combined | 29 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- reduced — 8.3% of this year's complaints, against 3.2% across the other years of this generation (2.6×). Owners wrote it as: reduced, engine power, throttle, power reduced.
Words owners used for the same problem are counted together, so a fault written four different ways is measured once. Grouped by which complaints they appear in, not by a list anyone wrote in advance.
Also unusual this year
- shift — 6% of complaints, 4× usual
- smell — 7% of complaints, 3× usual
What owners wrote
THE TRANSMISSION IN THE CAR HAS TROUBLE SHIFTING INTO SECOND GEAR. SOMETIMES THE ENGINE WILL JUST REV UP AND WILL NOT ACTUALLY ACCELERATE.
Noticed a very hard transmission shift when accelerating from approximately 35 to 40 mph. Hard shifting in this vehicle has been observed over the past year. Milage is approximately 60,000 miles.
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 16V502000 ELECTRICAL SYSTEM Fixed free of charge.
- 11V273000 POWER TRAIN Fixed free of charge.
- 12V289000 FUEL SYSTEM, GASOLINE Fixed free of charge.
- 11V221000 STEERING Fixed free of charge.
- 12V288000 ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING Fixed free of charge.
- 11V270000 STEERING Fixed free of charge.
- 13V360000 SERVICE BRAKES, HYDRAULIC Fixed free of charge.
How this was worked out
Every year of the Chevrolet Cruze was compared against its own history rather than against other cars, which removes popularity and age from the answer — a common car draws more complaints at equal reliability, and an older one has had longer to accumulate them. A year is flagged when it drew at least 2.5× this model's median and at least 50 complaints.
This is a fault record, not a review. Nobody files a federal complaint to say the car was fine, so it shows what tends to go wrong — not whether owners liked it, and not whether it is a good car.
Source: NHTSA complaints, recalls and investigations, retrieved . Look this vehicle up directly on NHTSA's site to check anything here.
Own a 2011 Chevrolet Cruze? What happened to yours?
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