Owners filed 2,644 complaints about the 2015–2025 Chevrolet Traverse with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), the 35th-most of any vehicle in our Car Problem Index. The 2018 model year drew the most (461), and the single most-reported problem area is air bags, named in 23% of complaints.
Key findings
- Worst model year: 2018, with 461 complaints, led by transmission / powertrain (195).
- Spike years: 2017 (1.6× the typical year), 2018 (2.0× the typical year), 2019 (1.8× the typical year).
- Earliest-failing area: automatic emergency braking / collision warning complaints came at a median of 4k mi on the odometer.
- Fire and crash reports: 12 complaints mention a fire and 82 mention a crash; owners reported 92 injuries and 2 deaths.
Chevrolet Traverse complaints by model year
| Model year | Complaints | Top problem areas | Median mileage | Crashes | Fires |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 313 | Air bags (162), Engine (37), Electrical system (28) | 52k mi | 10 | 3 |
| 2016 | 291 | Air bags (163), Transmission / powertrain (36), Engine (31) | 49k mi | 8 | 1 |
| 2017 | 361 | Air bags (263), Engine (25), Electrical system (22) | 38k mi | 13 | 2 |
| 2018 | 461 | Transmission / powertrain (195), Electrical system (101), Engine (84) | 32k mi | 9 | 2 |
| 2019 | 405 | Transmission / powertrain (167), Electrical system (111), Engine (62) | 42k mi | 15 | 2 |
| 2020 | 226 | Engine (70), Transmission / powertrain (39), Electrical system (28) | 50k mi | 11 | 1 |
| 2021 | 89 | Electrical system (22), Transmission / powertrain (15), Engine (11) | 54k mi | 4 | 0 |
| 2022 | 98 | Transmission / powertrain (43), Electrical system (18), Engine (17) | 50k mi | 3 | 0 |
| 2023 | 89 | Transmission / powertrain (29), Electrical system (19), Engine (18) | 37k mi | 5 | 0 |
| 2024 | 135 | Brakes (52), Engine (31), Electrical system (24) | 9k mi | 0 | 1 |
| 2025 | 176 | Brakes (107), Automatic emergency braking / collision warning (61), Electrical system (45) | 10k mi | 4 | 0 |
Newer model years have had less time on the road, so their counts are lower partly because owners have had fewer years to report problems.
Most-reported Chevrolet Traverse problems, and what they cost to fix
| Problem area | Complaints | Share | Median mileage | Repair estimate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Air bags | 617 | 23% | 50k mi | — |
| Transmission / powertrain | 595 | 23% | 43k mi | Transmission repair cost |
| Electrical system | 444 | 17% | 27k mi | Alternator / electrical repair cost |
| Engine | 398 | 15% | 32k mi | Engine repair cost |
| Brakes | 281 | 11% | 19k mi | Brake repair cost |
| Steering | 117 | 4% | 50k mi | Power steering repair cost |
| Fuel system | 113 | 4% | 31k mi | Fuel pump repair cost |
| Automatic emergency braking / collision warning | 110 | 4% | 4k mi | — |
One complaint can name several problem areas, so shares add up to more than 100%.
What this data can and can't tell you
These are unverified reports that owners submitted to NHTSA, counted by model year. They are not defect findings, and they aren't adjusted for sales: a best-selling vehicle collects more complaints simply because more of them are on the road. Use the counts to compare model years of the same vehicle and to see which systems owners complain about most, not to compare how reliable two different models are. See the full methodology.
Other Chevrolet models in the index
- Chevrolet Silverado 1500 (7,160)
- Chevrolet Malibu (3,192)
- Chevrolet Equinox (3,023)
- Chevrolet Tahoe (2,306)
- Chevrolet Colorado (2,241)
Source: NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation, consumer complaint files (nhtsa.gov), model years 2015–2025, retrieved 2026-09-23. Free to cite with a link to this page.