Model years Chevrolet Traverse
2009 Chevrolet Traverse
This year drew an ordinary 448 complaints for a Chevrolet Traverse — the model's median is 291. What they were about is the unusual part: 50% of them mention steering, against 12.1% across the other years of this generation.
First year of a new generation. The Chevrolet Traverse was redesigned for 2009. 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 | 448 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 291 |
| Involving a crash | 17 |
| Involving a fire | 2 |
| Recalls | 8 |
| EPA combined | 19 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- steering — 50% of this year's complaints, against 12.1% across the other years of this generation (4.1×).
- speeds — 30.1% of this year's complaints, against 11.4% across the other years of this generation (2.6×). Owners wrote it as: speeds, low, low speeds, impossible.
- pump — 24.1% of this year's complaints, against 6.4% across the other years of this generation (3.8×). Owners wrote it as: pump, steering pump, pinion, rack pinion.
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.
What owners wrote
THERE IS LOSS OF POWER STEERING ASSIST WHEN TRAVELING AT LOW SPEEDS. IT IS UNSAFE AS THE VEHICLE BECOMES HARD TO STEER WHEN TURNING LEFT OR RIGHT. THIS ISSUE IS KNOWN TO THE AUTO-MAKER AND THEY ONLY WANT TO REPLACE POWER STEERING PUMP AND FLUID. THE POWER STEE…
AT LOW SPEEDS SUCH AS PULLING OUT OF MY DRIVEWAY, PULLING INTO PARKING SPACES AND TURNING ONTO A STREET FROM A STOP THE POWER STEERING IN MY 2009 CHEVY TRAVERSE APPEARS TO BE FAILING MAKING THE VEHICLE NEARLY IMPOSSIBLE TO TURN. IT IS VERY DIFFICULT TO TURN TH…
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 14V266000 SEAT BELTS Fixed free of charge.
- 15V415000 STRUCTURE Fixed free of charge.
- 14V118000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.
- 10V375000 SEAT BELTS Fixed free of charge.
- 09V153000 PARKING BRAKE Fixed free of charge.
- 09V073000 POWER TRAIN Fixed free of charge.
- 10V240000 ELECTRICAL SYSTEM
- 08V615000 SEAT BELTS
How this was worked out
Every year of the Chevrolet Traverse 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 2009 Chevrolet Traverse? What happened to yours?
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