2012 Chevrolet Sonic
Complaints about this year name gear far more often than the model's other years — 26% of them, about 13× the usual rate of 2.1%.
NHTSA opened a defect investigation into this model year.
| Complaints filed | 353 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 37 |
| Involving a crash | 27 |
| Involving a fire | 5 |
| Recalls | 7 |
| NHTSA crash rating | 5/5 |
| EPA combined | 29.5 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- transmission — 19.3% of this year's complaints, against 5.4% across the model's other years (3.6×).
- reverse — 15.9% of this year's complaints, against 5.3% across the model's other years (3×). Owners wrote it as: reverse, car park, drive reverse, button sticking.
- gears — 8.8% of this year's complaints, against 1.3% across the model's other years (6.5×).
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
- key — 18% of complaints, 9× usual
- reverse — 12% of complaints, 30× usual
- shift — 23% of complaints, 4× usual
What owners wrote
SHIFT GEAR CRACKED ABOUT A MONTH AGO...TWO MONTHS AGO KEYS BROKE,TODAY SITTING AT STOP LIGHT COULDN'T GET CAR INTO GEAR. EVERY GEAR WENT TO REVERSE. HAD TO HAVE CAKE TOWED.
SHIFTER BUTTON IS STICKING (WILL NOT RELEASE) WHICH PREVENTS REMOVAL OF THE KEY FROM THE IGNITION. ALSO, COULD ALLOW THE THE VEHICLE TO BE SHIFTED INTO OTHER GEARS (PARK, REVERSE, ETC) WHILE IN MOTION.
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 14V417000 EQUIPMENT
- 14V315000 POWER TRAIN Fixed free of charge.
- 14V300000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.
- 11V599000 SERVICE BRAKES, HYDRAULIC Fixed free of charge.
- 12V408000 VISIBILITY Fixed free of charge.
- 12V522000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.
- 13V023000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.
How this was worked out
Every year of the Chevrolet Sonic 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 2012 Chevrolet Sonic? What happened to yours?
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