2015 Chevrolet Spark
Complaints about this year name unable far more often than the model's other years — 12% of them, about 30× the usual rate of 0.4%.
NHTSA opened a defect investigation into this model year.
| Complaints filed | 83 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 19 |
| Involving a crash | 4 |
| Involving a fire | 1 |
| Recalls | 5 |
| NHTSA crash rating | 4/5 |
| EPA combined | 33.5 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- transmission — 28.9% of this year's complaints, against 11% across the model's other years (2.6×).
- return — 6% of this year's complaints, against 0.7% across the model's other years (8.8×). Owners wrote it as: return, common problem.
- putting — 6% of this year's complaints, against 2.1% across the model's other years (2.9×). Owners wrote it as: putting, random.
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
- transmission — 29% of complaints, 3× usual
- gear — 11% of complaints, 27× usual
- turned — 10% of complaints, 24× usual
What owners wrote
MANUAL TRANSMISSION REPEATED FAILURES. THE TRANSMISSION HAS GONE OUT 5 TIMES, BEEN IN SHOP FOR GRAND TOTAL OF 6 MONTHS. 3RD AND 4TH GEAR SYNCHROS HAVE GONE OUT. CABLES ARE POPPING OFF AND NOT ALLOWING TO SHIFT. MAJORITY OF FAILURES HAVE HAPPENED AT HIGHWAY SPE…
AS I WAS DRIVING ON THE HIGHWAY MY CAR LOST ALL POWER IN THE TRANSMISSION, I STEPPED ON THE GAS AND NOTHING HAPPENED BUT THE CAR STILL REVVED. IT'S AS IF IT SLIPPED OUT OF GEAR WHILE GOING 65MPH AND WOULD NOT KICK BACK INTO GEAR. I WAS AFRAID OF GETTING INTO A…
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 16V422000 ELECTRICAL SYSTEM Fixed free of charge.
- 16V257000 EQUIPMENT Fixed free of charge.
- 15V416000 EQUIPMENT Fixed free of charge.
- 14V593000 LATCHES/LOCKS/LINKAGES Fixed free of charge.
- 22V640000 LATCHES/LOCKS/LINKAGES Fixed free of charge.
How this was worked out
Every year of the Chevrolet Spark 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 2015 Chevrolet Spark? What happened to yours?
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