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Chevrolet · NHTSA safety record

2019 Chevrolet Traverse

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

Owners have filed 407 safety complaints about the 2019 Chevrolet Traverse with the US government. Of those, 15 describe a crash, 2 mention a fire, 17 people were injured and no death is recorded. 3 recall campaigns are open against it, covering the air bags and the power train.

The most complained-about system is the power train, named in 169 complaints, 42% of the total. The typical failure was reported at 42,000 miles, the median across the 97 complaints that gave an odometer reading.

Compiled from NHTSA's complaint, recall and investigation files · Covers March 2019 to September 2026 · How this is counted

What is on file

407 complaints on file

407

Complaints

15

Describe a crash

2

Mention fire

17

People injured

0

Deaths

A complaint is an unverified account by the person who filed it, not a finding of fault. One complaint is one ODI number, which is how NHTSA counts them.

A recall is the manufacturer conceding a defect, and the repair is free. Whether one covers your particular car is a question only its VIN can answer, because a campaign covers a production range rather than a model year.

Which system owners named

Complaints naming each system
POWER TRAIN 169 · 42%
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM 111 · 27%
UNKNOWN OR OTHER 95 · 23%
ENGINE 62 · 15%
FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM 25 · 6%
SERVICE BRAKES 21 · 5%
STEERING 18 · 4%
SUSPENSION 14 · 3%
SEAT BELTS 13 · 3%
AIR BAGS 9 · 2%
STRUCTURE 7 · 2%
BACK OVER PREVENTION 4 · 1%
0 69 138

Red marks a system with a recall campaign against it. One complaint can name several systems, so these add up to more than 407.

When the complaints arrived

By the year NHTSA received them

By the year NHTSA received them, which is not the year the failures happened. They peaked in 2025 at 86.

92 69 46 23
19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26

This is the year the complaint was filed, not the year the failure happened. The range runs from 2019 to 2026, the last of them a part year, which is why its column is drawn faint.

Crash test ratings

NHTSA New Car Assessment Program

NHTSA crashes a car into a barrier and a pole and measures what happens to the dummies inside. This is what it awarded the 2019 Chevrolet TRAVERSE, and it is a separate question from what owners report going wrong later.

Test SUV AWD SUV FWD
Overall
Frontal crash
Frontal, driver
Frontal, passenger
Side crash
Side barrier
Side pole
Rollover
Chance of rollover 15.0% 16.9%
Stability control standard Forward collision warning standard Lane departure warning standard

A rating belongs to a tested body style and drivetrain, not to the model as a whole, which is why more than one is listed. A dash means NHTSA did not rate that test for this vehicle.

Recall campaigns

3 on file

AIR BAGS:CRITICAL FASTENERS

21V246000 · April 8, 2021

The defect
General Motors, LLC (GM) is recalling certain 2010-2015, 2017 Buick Enclave, 2010-2019 Chevrolet Traverse, and 2011-2016 GMC Acadia vehicles. The side curtain air bags may not be properly attached.
The risk
Unsecured side curtain air bags may not perform as intended, increasing the risk of injury.
The remedy
GM will notify owners, and dealers will inspect and, if necessary, realign or replace the weld nuts, free of charge. Owner notification letters were mailed on May 24, 2021. Owners may contact Buick customer service at 1-800-521-7300, Chevrolet customer service at 1-800-222-1020, and GMC customer service at 1-800-462-8782. GM's number for this recall is N202321200.

General Motors, LLC · up to 108 vehicles across all model years covered

POWER TRAIN:AUTOMATIC TRANSMISSION

20V668000 · October 29, 2020

The defect
General Motors LLC (GM) is recalling certain 2018-2019 Chevrolet Cruze and Buick LaCrosse, 2018-2020 Chevrolet Equinox, Chevrolet Traverse and GMC Terrain, 2018 Chevrolet Malibu, 2019-2020 Buick Encore, Buick Enclave, Cadillac XT4, Chevrolet Blazer and GMC Acadia, and 2020 Cadillac XT6 vehicles. The start/stop accumulator endcap may have missing bolts.
The risk
Missing bolts on the start-stop accumulator endcap could result in a transmission oil leak and may progress to a loss of propulsion, increasing the risk of a crash. A transmission fluid leak in the presence of an ignition source may increase the risk of fire.
The remedy
GM will notify owners, and dealers will inspect the start-stop transmission accumulator and replace it if any bolts are missing, free of charge. The recall began December 15, 2020. Owners may contact GMC customer service at 1-888-988-7267, Buick Customer service at 1-866-608-8080, Chevrolet customer service at 1-800-222-1020 or Cadillac customer service at 1-800-458-8006. GM's number for this recall is N202313440.

General Motors LLC · up to 194,105 vehicles across all model years covered

AIR BAGS

18V774000 · November 1, 2018

The defect
General Motors LLC (GM) is recalling certain 2019 Buick Encore, Chevrolet Spark, Traverse, and Trax vehicles. The Sensing Diagnostic Module (SDM) on these vehicle may not have been turned off of "manufacturing mode," preventing the air bags from deploying in the event of a crash.
The risk
If the air bags do not deploy in the event of a crash, it can increase the risk of injury.
The remedy
GM will notify owners, and dealers will reprogram the SDM module to the correct mode, free of charge. The recall began November 6, 2018. Owners may contact Buick customer service at 1-800-521-7300 and Chevrolet customer service at 1-800-222-1020. GM's number for this recall is 18365.

General Motors LLC · up to 12 vehicles across all model years covered

In owners’ own words

Quoted from the complaint file

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

POWER TRAIN

3 injured · crash

When driving at about 50 mph on a highway, there was a loud noise from the rear of the vehicle (something breaking) and the vehicle immediately veered into the oncoming lane (thankfully there was no traffic coming towards us, it is typically a busy road). While braking, I was able to steer it back towards the right, but soon after lost complete control of the vehicle and could not steer. The traverse went into a ditch and rolled with myself and two young passengers. Two vehicles that were behind us stopped to aid. The driver immediately behind me said there was nothing unusual (no smoke, sparks, etc) until we lost control. He checked the roadway where it happened and found a sheered off

NHTSA complaint 11760075, quoted in part. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

AIR BAGS

2 injured · crash · towed

My wife and I were t-boned in the front end of our 2019 Chevy Traverse. I am familiar with how airbags operate and the force necessary to activate the trigger switch. At the force we were hit, the airbags should have deployed. None of the airbags worked. The car that hit us was totaled. Their front end was completely demolished to the firewall and all airbags were deployed. Our car had $11,000 plus worth of front /side damage. Our bodies are recovering from injuries we should not have sustained if the airbags were functional. We will be contacting the dealer.

NHTSA complaint 11491846. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

AIR BAGS

2 injured · crash · towed

I was in an accident in my 2019 Chevy Traverse on September 4, 2025. Upon impact, my airbags did not deploy. I was pulling out from and intersection and a car with no lights on was coming from the right of me going towards the left of me. I ended up hitting his car on the driver' side and rear door. His side airbags went off. I was wearing my seatbelt. My body was thrown forward and hit the steering wheel. The airbag did not go off upon impact. I have a broken sternum, bruised ribs and bruises across my left shoulder due to the seatbelt. I ended up in the hospital overnight for observation. They were worried about my heart and lungs since they were jarred forward when I hit the steering

NHTSA complaint 11687919, quoted in part. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

ELECTRICAL SYSTEM

2 injured · 1,500 miles

ON JUNE 20, 2019, I BOUGHT A 2019 CHEVY TRAVERSE WITH THE UNDERSTANDING THAT THE VEHICLE WAS IN GOOD CONDITION WITH NO DEFECTS. ON JULY THE 18 WE TOOK VEHICLE TO THE SERVICE DEPARTMENT, DUE TO THERE WAS A VERY STRONG ODOR WHEN INSIDE THE CAR. IT WAS CAUSING BLOODY NOSES AND BREATHING ISSUES FOR MY FAMILY. THE SMELL WAS SO STRONG THAT IT COULD BE TASTED. THE DEALERSHIP TOOK ABOUT 15 TO 20 MINUTES TO DIAGNOSE CAR AS NOTHING WRONG WITH IT. WE TOOK IT HOME. ON AUGUST 1, 2019, THE VEHICLE STARTS GOING CRAZY WITH ELECTRICAL ISSUES. WHILE MY WIFE IS DRIVING WITH MY KIDS THE HORN, LIGHTS, AND EMERGENCY LIGHTS START TURNING ON AND OFF AND THERE WAS A LOUD UGLY SOUND FROM THE ENGINE. THE CAR HAD TO

NHTSA complaint 11245277, quoted in part. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

POWER TRAIN
in 2019 GM put out a Bulletin No.: 19-NA-206 to fix an error message for shift in park which means the car thinks it is not in park when it really is. All covered under warranty. in 2022 I had this error message but only the harness was part of the technical bulletin. my extended warranty covered it for the harness. in 2024 GM revised the bulletin to include the shifter console. in 2026 I get the same error message and now GM won't cover the console included in the revised technical bulletin. they knew this was a bad part since they revised the bulletin to include the console. now I'm out of warranty and the GM Customer Assistance denied any responsibility of the incomplete bulletin fix in

NHTSA complaint 11767983, quoted in part. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

POWER TRAIN
I have now had 3 transmissions and 3 torque converters put in my car and GM refuses to do anything to fix this issue.

NHTSA complaint 11767279. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

POWER TRAIN

1 injured · crash · towed · 60,324 miles

The contact owned a 2019 Chevrolet Traverse. The contact stated that while driving 3 MPH, the brake pedal was depressed; however, the vehicle failed to stop as intended. The vehicle decelerated, and the vehicle was uncontrollable. The vehicle crashed into the brother's vehicle parked in the driveway and pushed the vehicle forward. The vehicle then crashed into a desk before stopping. The contact stated that the failure had occurred while parking the vehicle in the driveway at the brother’s residence. The contact and her husband were inside the vehicle at the time of the failure. The vehicle was towed to a local tow yard. The contact was taken to the local medical center. The contact

NHTSA complaint 11764051, quoted in part. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

ELECTRICAL SYSTEM
While parking the vehicle, after putting the transmission lever to park, and turning off the ignition, the doors unlocked and I started to exit, at that moment the vehicle started to roll backwards. I was able to avoid running over myself and got back into the driver's seat when I saw a "shift to park" message on the dashboard display. It took multiple cycles of restarting and stopping the engine and shifting to park to actually have the transmission shift to park. The problem continues and is becoming much more frequent and taking more attempts to actually put the car in park. This is obviously a safety issue, because drivers may exit their vehicles and may or may not realize that the

NHTSA complaint 11763492, quoted in part. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

POWER TRAIN
When driving at about 50 mph on a highway, there was a loud noise from the rear of the vehicle (something breaking) and the vehicle immediately veered into the oncoming lane (thankfully there was no traffic coming towards us, it is typically a busy road). While braking, I was able to steer it back towards the right, but soon after lost complete control of the vehicle and could not steer. The traverse went into a ditch and rolled with myself and two young passengers. Two vehicles that were behind us stopped to aid. The driver immediately behind me said there was nothing unusual (no smoke, sparks, etc) until we lost control. He checked the roadway where it happened and found a sheered off

NHTSA complaint 11760078, quoted in part. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

Compare

Other years of the Chevrolet Traverse

Model year Complaints Recalls Deaths
2026 24 1 —
2025 179 0 —
2024 137 0 —
2023 89 2 —
2022 98 1 —
2021 89 3 —
2020 229 8 —
2018 461 2 —
2017 361 3 1
2016 292 5 1
2015 313 5 —
2014 547 7 —
2013 162 4 —
2012 354 5 —
2011 608 5 1
2010 669 5 —

Other 2019 Chevrolet models

Every Chevrolet on this site — 304 vehicles.

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. How many repair attempts it takes, and how long you have to file, is set by the state you bought in and by nothing on this page.

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