CSR
Check a VIN

Look up

About

Chevrolet · NHTSA safety record

2017 Chevrolet Cruze

Every safety complaint, recall and defect investigation the US government holds on this vehicle.

201

Complaints

8

Crashes

6

Fires

5

Injuries

0

Deaths

Owners of the 2017 Chevrolet Cruze have filed 201 safety complaints with NHTSA between October 2016 and May 2026. The most complained-about system is the engine, named in 73 of them (36%). The typical failure was reported at 27,750 miles, the median across the 114 complaints that gave an odometer reading.

NHTSA has issued 2 recalls covering this vehicle.

Recalls (2)

FUEL SYSTEM, GASOLINE

18V304000 · May 10, 2018

The defect
General Motors LLC (GM) is recalling certain 2016-2018 Chevrolet Cruze LS vehicles, equipped with a gasoline engine and a tire inflator kit instead of a spare tire. The vehicles may leak gasoline following a rear-impact crash and a rollover. As such, these vehicles fail to comply with the requirements of Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) number 301, "Fuel System Integrity."
The risk
A fuel leak, in the presence of an ignition source, increases the risk of a fire.
The remedy
GM will notify owners, and dealers will install a lock-ring on the fuel tank that will shield the fuel tank vapor pressure sensor from damage in a rear-impact crash, free of charge. The recall began June 7, 2018. Owners may contact Chevrolet customer service at 1-800-222-1020. GM's number for this recall is 18159.

General Motors LLC · up to 111,966 vehicles across all model years covered

SEATS:FRONT ASSEMBLY:HEAD RESTRAINT

17V057000 · January 26, 2017

The defect
General Motors LLC (GM) is recalling certain 2016-2017 Chevrolet Cruze vehicles. A bracket used in the driver or front passenger seat-back recliner mechanism may have been incorrectly welded to the seat-back frame, as a result, in the event of a crash, the head-restraints may not function properly. As such, these vehicles fail to comply with the requirements of Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) number 202a, "Head Restraints."
The risk
In a crash, the seat-backs for the front seats may break, increasing the risk of injury to the occupants.
The remedy
GM will notify owners, and dealers will inspect the front passenger seats, replacing any with seat-back frames that are incorrectly welded, free of charge. The recall began on February 28, 2017. Owners may contact Chevrolet customer service at 1-800-222-1020. GM's number for this recall is 17035.

General Motors LLC · up to 17,197 vehicles across all model years covered

What owners report

Complaints naming each system. One complaint can name several, so these add up to more than 201.

ENGINE 73 36%
POWER TRAIN 39 19%
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM 33 16%
UNKNOWN OR OTHER 31 15%
SERVICE BRAKES 18 9%
STRUCTURE 16 8%
FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM 15 7%
EXTERIOR LIGHTING 12 6%
VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL 10 5%
AIR BAGS 7 3%
ELECTRONIC STABILITY CONTROL (ESC) 7 3%
STEERING 6 3%

When the complaints arrived

By the year NHTSA received them, which is not the year the failures happened. They peaked in 2020 at 34.

2016 2020 2026
2016 to 2026, the last of them a part year

In owners' own words

Quoted from NHTSA's complaint file. These are unverified accounts by the people who filed them, not findings of fault.

SERVICE BRAKES

1 injured · fire

I should have filed a complaint here after the catastrophic failure. The next time I may not be so lucky and it could cause loss of life. I was driving at approx. 65 MPH on the frwy when bang! An explosion under my hood that caused my car to jump over a lane, I slammed on the breaks, swerved but couldn't push the brake pedal down anymore. It felt hard and would barely move. i had no way to slowdown or stop! And traffic infront of me was slowing fast. I put all my weight on that pedal even tried pumping it, but it would only move alittle. Luckily the car in front sped up just enough for me to swerve onto the shoulder. As I slowed i could depress pedal alittle if I stood up on it out of my

NHTSA complaint 11477451, quoted in part. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

AIR BAGS

1 injured · crash · towed · 17,237 miles

VEHICLE WAS TRAVELLING AT 50 MPH WHEN I DROVE INTO A DRAINAGE DITCH AND FLEW ROUGHLY 20 FEET, CAUSING THE SIDE CURTAIN AIRBAGS TO INFLATE ON IMPACT AFTER LANDING. HOWEVER THE STEERING WHEEL AIRBAG DID NOT DEPLOY IN THE FIRST IMPACT INVOLVING A CULVERT IN THE DRAINAGE DITCH.

NHTSA complaint 11113118. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

SEATS

1 injured · crash · towed

In a rear end collision to my Chevrolet Cruze my driver seat back broke on the left side causing my torso to twist in the accident. This caused disc protrusions in my lumbar and thoracic spine. Vehicle was totaled

NHTSA complaint 11646888. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

UNKNOWN OR OTHER

1 injured · 8,000 miles

I PULLED INTO MY CAR PORT AND NOTICED THAT MY CAR HAD ALREADY SHUT OFF, NOT KNOWING THAT IT WAS STILL IN DRIVE. I LEFT MY FOOT ON THE BRAKE, TOOK OFF MY SEAT BELT AND OPENED MY DOOR TO EXIT. THE CAR STARTED AND LURCHED FORWARD AS I WAS PARTIALLY OUT OF THE VEHICLE. MY WIFE WAS STILL IN THE VEHICLE AND MANAGED TO GET IT INTO PARK BEFORE I WAS RUN OVER AS IT WOULD HAVE ALSO HIT MY MOTORCYCLE THAT WAS PARKED IN FRONT OF IT. I FIND THAT THE CAR HAS A "AUTO STOP" WHICH TURNS OFF THE ENGINE WHILE YOU ARE STOPPED AND IN GEAR, THEN THE ENGINE STARTS AUTOMATICALLY WHEN YOU REMOVE YOUR FOOT FROM THE BRAKE. ANY OTHER TIME YOUR CAR WILL NOT START WHILE IN GEAR BUT WITH THIS IT STARTS IF YOU WANT IT TO

NHTSA complaint 10967908, quoted in part. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

ENGINE
THE ENGINE HAS EXCESSIVE BLOW BY FROM THE OIL FILLER CAP. HAVING A MISFIRE ON CYLINDER NUMBER 1 AND IDLING ROUGH. THERE ARE SEVERAL THREADS ONLINE CONCERNING THIS ISSUE BEING CAUSED BY WORN PISTONS AND PISTON RINGS.

NHTSA complaint 11739100. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

ENGINE
Recently my car's check engine light and the message "Service Stabilitrak" started coming up on my car, then my car started shaking while idling. I quickly took the car to my mechanic who assessed it, replaced my spark plugs, which did not solve the issue, and recommended I go to the dealership. In between these appointments my car was consistently shaking while idling and I would have difficulties accelerating especially after coming to a complete stop and often while making turns, this worsened after adding fuel to my car. The nearest Chevrolet dealership did a compression test and found that the psi in cylinder 1 was only 85, while the rest of the cylinders are 180 psi. They reported

NHTSA complaint 11737526, quoted in part. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

AIR BAGS
My airbag light came on. My vehicle has less than 100K miles on it. I took it to the Chevy Dealership that I purchased it from. The dealership indicated that the passenger side rail air bag is the issue. Apparently, that airbag is no longer available. If I wanted to repair it, they can't, because there is no airbag. As long as the airbag light remains on, NONE of my airbags will deploy. My car is now a useless lemon. I don't feel comfortable driving it in the condition it's in, but I have to commute to work.

NHTSA complaint 11736392. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

STRUCTURE:BODY
Paint bubbling and rusting alone the car even though it’s washed and is no where near salt never even been hit there are tons of issues with GM paint yall need to fix these and recall every gm car with this issue and wipers are very rough scratching windshield

NHTSA complaint 11711931. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

ENGINE
Car is currently not drivable due to strong smell of gas coming from under the hood. Findings, gas is leaking into the engine and car will not crank. Diagnostic machine indicates poor fuel to fuel injector causing a gas leak within the engine.

NHTSA complaint 11708707. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

ENGINE
My 2017 Chevy Cruze had the throttle body replaced by STG Auto Group in Montclair, CA. A few months after the repair, my car began shaking violently and then shut off in the middle of the street while I was driving on 11/17/2025 This created a serious safety hazard for me and other drivers. When I took the vehicle to a local auto zone once the vehicle turned on , they told me the throttle body “needs cleaning,” but a new throttle body should not get dirty within a few months. This suggests improper installation or a defective part. The problem returned even though the part was recently replaced. I immediately called the dealership who fixed it and the manager stated I’d have to wait to the

NHTSA complaint 11700010, quoted in part. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

Compare

Other years of the Chevrolet Cruze

Model year Complaints Recalls Deaths
2019 20 2 —
2018 109 3 1
2016 247 4 —
2015 251 4 —
2014 701 10 —
2013 585 5 —
2012 864 7 —
2011 731 7 2

Other 2017 Chevrolet models

Silverado 1500 711 Malibu 699 Volt 694 Traverse 360 Bolt EV 342 Equinox 271 Corvette 255 Colorado 215

Every Chevrolet on this site — 298 vehicles, 747 recall campaigns and 5 open investigation s.

If this is your car and a dealer keeps failing to fix it, your state's lemon law may require the manufacturer to replace it or buy it back. What each state asks for , read from the statutes.

Where these numbers come from

A complaint is one owner's account and has not been verified by NHTSA or by us. A vehicle with more complaints is not necessarily worse: models that sold in larger numbers collect more of them. How this is counted.

Compiled and maintained by
Independent developer and analyst