Chevy Traverse Stabilitrak/Traction Control problems

gmcustsvc · March 2015

melijohn said:
I have a 2010 chevy traverse had no problems out of it untill i started with 2 of my4 children 4 hours away from home to my oldest daughters ball game and without warning it came on with stability trac reduce engine power in the middle of the road all most got hit by another car,kids went to crying i wanted to cry my husband works off and i am a nurse and i have to have a car to get back and forth to work i have no idea what to do

Oh no, Melijohn! We truly apologize for this, and understand how unsettling this may seem. Were you able to to get your vehicle to a dealership for assistance? They will be in the best position to look into this further for you. Feel free to send us an e-mail to socialmedia@gm.com along with your VIN, current mileage, contact information and a preferred dealership. We looking forward to proving any additional assistance.

Patsy G
GM Customer Care

gmcustsvc · March 2015

icedog401 said:
On 02/29/15 we were traveling in our 2011 Chevrolet Traverse. We were in the middle of a 260 mile trip back home and were traveling in a winter storm on an interstate. Due to weather, speeds were slower than usual, averaging 50 – 55 miles per hour. At the time of the warning light indicators coming on we were slowed in traffic at about 30 mph. All of a sudden the following messages appeared on the DIC, “TRACTION CONTROL OFF”; “SERVICE STABILITRAC”; “SERVICE TRACTION CONTROL” and then the car went into “REDUCED ENGINE POWER”. After stopping about 10 miles down the interstate, I shut the Traverse off for about 10 minutes. Once I restarted it, all the warning lights were reset, except the engine light, and the vehicle drove normal. We got about 20 miles down the interstate and again the same warning came on and the Traverse was again operating at “REDUCED ENGINE POWER”. Due to the weather speeds remain slow, but I could tell the engine was not allow me to accelerate as normal. We maintained at an average of 45 – 50 mph for the rest of the trip. As we were about 20 minutes from home, we were still on the interstate, in the middle lane of a 3 lane road, and we lost complete engine power and the vehicle shut down. We had traffic around us, to include semi-trucks, but luckily I was able to maneuver the vehicle off the roadway. I let the vehicle set for a couple minutes and then attempted to see if it would restart. The Traverse did restart and all warning messages reset. As I got back on the road the Traverse drove normal. As we finished our drive home, the warnings all came on again about 1 mile from our house. We got home and parked the vehicle. I am now very nervous after researching the issue online and coming upon this forum. It does not look like GM has located the specific reason this is occurring. Also I am worried that a recall has not been issued if so many people are having the same specific issues. I can’t imagine an auto company not concerned enough when they have vehicles that are shutting down on people while driving. I know I am not comfortable in getting back on the road with this vehicle even after repaired. I will follow up with what our dealership comes up with and if it in fact fixes the problem.

Hi Icedog,

We definitely recognize these concerns, and we truly apologize for this! We can only imagine how uncomfortable this may be for you, and we would be happy to reach out to the dealership on your behalf to explore all options of assistance. Please send us an e-mail to socialmedia@gm.com along with your VIN, current mileage, contact information and a preferred dealership. We look forward to hearing from you.

Patsy G
GM Customer Care

poolegirl · March 2015

After reading all these posts I am so discouraged that I own a 2011 Chevy traverse. I did so much research on this car and was so excited to find a used one that had all the bells and whistles that I wanted. We own this car for a little over a year and it has about 60,000 miles on it last week we had a lot of snow and ice here in Maryland and while driving on the road the stability track sensor came on and said service engine and powering down it was a very scary experience when the car did not want to drive over 25 miles an hour and when I pulled over to the side of the road it seemed like the engine was going to explode. After turning off the car and restarting it , it seemed to drive fine for a couple days until again on another cold icy day it repeated the same problem. We took it into the mechanic who ran the codes and said he couldn't figure it out because Chevy would not share what the codes meant. We took the car back and drove it the next day it happened again so we took it in to the mechanic again and this time it had other codes that came up indicating that the throttle needed replacing which would cost $500. After seeing all these posts we called the customer service number for GM and they told us this would not be covered under the powertrain warranty and we should take it to a Chevy dealer and not just any mechanic. We decided to go ahead and have our mechanic fix the throttle and GM said that they would give us a free inspection after it had been replaced. Waiting for the car to get fixed now to see if this will fix the problem. I'm very scared to drive the car after having this happen and I'm not sure that I really want to keep this car anymore. Those who have had the throttle replaced , has this corrected your problem and if so how long of you been driving since it's been replaced? Guess this is what happens when you buy American made cars.

dericg · March 2015

2011 Chevy Traverse:
Stabilitrak/Traction control/Check Engine Light/Loss of power
You probably have read lots and lots of blogs/forums on the internet on this issue and are not sure what the problem it is or what to throw the money at.

In most cases it is the Throttle Body.

Do NOT buy or have installed the factory OEM part. Why would you install the same part that was giving you this headache?

The gear can go bad on these and the throttle body can intermittently land in a place that the computer disagrees with and that will send codes. Most often throttle position sensor but it also will give phantom codes like stabilitrak, traction control and...

It is a terrible design with that oil and carbon build up in the throttle body. The fix is more often than not the bad throttle body. I would try replacing it before you panic and want to trade it in. It's under $200.00 and worth your gamble. If it happens again, maybe ditch it??

berri · March 2015

Isn't that GM 3.6L V6 kind of overly complicated anyway - I think I read it actually has something like 3 timing chains? Nice engine when it's running though, even if it's a bit thirsty.

jsfry · March 2015

My 2010 Traverse has 136,000 miles and we have had very few problems. A few months ago we began having the dreaded ding, ding, ding- Service Stabilitrak/traction control, loss of power, etc. We could shut the vehicle off for 30 seconds and it would reset. After doing this for a week or so, the check engine light finally came on. Took it to a parts store to get the codes read. Came back with throttle body issues. My husband cleaned the throttle body and changed the air filter ($25 total for the various cleaners and air filter).He said it was filthy

Check engine light went off and a week went by without issue. Felt like the vehicle was repaired and took off on a trip out of town. About 2 hours into the trip- ding, ding, ding. Spent another 2 hours pulling over repeatedly to reset the controls, etc and make it to our destination. While my husband was driving I was frantically searching the internet on my phone to see what else we could try (and of course it was a weekend). At some point I came upon one little post about electrical issues maybe being tied to a battery that hasn't yet gone bad- but is in the process of going bad. We thought that this sounded unlikely, but we were 4 hours from home on a Saturday night. We did recall our daughter leaving the key in aux. mode a few weeks back and depleting the battery- so we decided to give that a try.

Husband hit Wal-Mart on Sunday morning. Had to look up that the battery was under the passenger rear seat and purchase some tools to get it out. Battery and tool cost about $135.00. Check engine light went off. Able to return home (75 miles per hour for 4 hours- no issue). Have driven the vehicle for 3.5 weeks and no return of issue. We wanted to pass this on as it may help someone else. I should say that the battery gave NO indication it was having problems. We figured it was going on 5 years old, so would have to eventually replace anyway.

rumari73 · May 2015

Hello all, I'm glad I found all this info here, I have a Traverse 2010 with just about 66,000 and today I got my first scare on the road when the truck lost power and got all same stability messages, the engine light came on and after I parked and turned it on again, the messages were gone, it worked fine but engine light stayed on, I only had the car for close to a year, but I am going to start looking into trade it back! Does anybody know where I can find out about recalls on the Chevy Traverse 2010?

coach_b23 · July 2015

Like many of you, I am at my wits end. I was so excited when I bought my 2009 Chevy traverse in December of 2008. It was the first new car I had ever purchased, and it was a Christmas gift for my wife as we were expecting our second child. I thought that by buying a brand new vehicle that I was ensuring my growing family's safety for years to come. Now after owning the vehicle for only about 6.5 years, and after buying a second Chevy vehicle in 2011, I am left wondering what I have done to deserve this nightmare of an experience. If you look up problems with the 2009 Chevy traverse, I have probably experienced every single problem you would find. From water pump, to steering gear, to ignition coils, to transmission, to fuses melting, to catalytic converter, my wife and I (if we pay to have the vehicle fixed again) will have nearly paid enough to have bought 2 of these vehicles in the 6.5 years we've owned it. Sure, some things have been recalled, but a lot of the repairs were not under warranty and the problems were scary as hell for my wife who transports our 3 children in the vehicle daily. The power steering has gone out while my wife was driving it, the vehicle powered down twice while on the road with the kids in tow. This forum isn't big enough for me to list all of the things that have gone wrong, and each time I've had to shell out $2,500 here and $1,000 there, money that was supposed to be used to finally get ahead a little bit for me and my family. Each time we've reached out to our dealership to see if they will stand by there product, we get the run around and nobody from the dealership has ever even had the decency to explain why they refuse to do the right thing. I have a meeting with my dealership's customer relations manager tomorrow, and I'm not sure if I'll be able to contain my emotions, as this vehicle has destroyed my faith in GM, whom I will never buy from again. Now I'm stuck having to pay more than the vehicle is worth to get it fixed just so I can drive it somewhere to trade it in. No one in their right mind will buy it because of its history and, honestly, I would never sell it to someone for fear it would injure or (God forbid) kill them. If I see another GM customer experience rep reply to these posts with "I'm sorry you are having problems blah blah blah," I might scream (and I am about as laid back as anyone you'd ever meet). I have contacted GM's corporate office twice since my dealership was essentially just refusing to help me, and both times the corporate rep made it seem like they were going to help, only for me to find out that all they do is ask the dealership the same thing I could have myself. In other words....I just waited longer both times to hear I was screwed. When I was turned down the first time for assistance, I asked my dealership if there was a # I could call or someone I could talk to at the corporate office to plead my case and all they said was no!!!!!! I was happy when my tax dollars helped bail out GM as I believe in second chances, especially for American companies; however, my experience has made me wish that GM would have just gone belly up. I've watched my parents own cars for 10-12 years and not have a fourth of the problems I've had, and the countless trips to the dealership have really put a strain on me and my family financially. Now, with no legal recourse, and a company that is intent on not being accountable for its products or good to its customers, I am left helpless and having to find a way to pay for a car for my wife. I was told by the most recent corporate rep that it is up to the dealership to do the right thing if they choose to.....a corporate company that has no accountability....how convenient for them. Hopefully, someone out there will read this post and it will stop them from making the same mistake I did. At least then my pains will have helped someone. I am fighting the urge to say something rude to GM in this post, but I've learned it is pointless because there is nobody at GM with the authority to do anything other than what my dealership has done....which is basically not admit that they sold me a vehicle, the first one I ever bought new, that was a piece of junk and a danger to my family. It has really helped me to be less naive, as I used to think most companies had integrity and believed in doing good by their customers. How is there no law to protect people from this, I do not understand. Tomorrow....the rep at my dealership will finally have to face me and though it won't matter, he will know what this has done to me and my family. I have used every extra $$$ I have made asking them to finally "fix" my traverse and make it safe.... Only to end up here again...usually a month or so after it is "fixed." I paid the vehicle off a couple of months ago and now I am the proud owner of nothing and have to take on a note again. Thank you GM/Chevrolet, you have shown me why people hate big corporation's so much....and I am embarrassed for ever defending you and for thinking your product was "the most durable/dependable" product out there. If I had the money I'd sue you but I can't because I am not protected by the law and there is something deeply disturbing to me about that fact.

kidmobile · July 2015

This is absurd that this has been documented several times and Chevy has not taken a proactive approach to correct this known error. Just this morning on my morning commute to work my 2012 Chevy Traverse LT pinged and then I got 3 back to back messages.. traction control off... stability control service... Reduced engine power.. and then boom all the sudden I lose power in my car! I was in the middle of the morning rush to work I could have been in an accident!!! All without notice! I managed to pull of to the right and then slowly get into a parking lot and turn off my car. I waited a bit and turned it back on.. same errors... turned it off waited a bit more then it turned on no problems no warnings.. drove maybe a mile or two more but it just wasn't accelerating like it should. I pulled off again called my husband and waited. He came turned it on did a couple of laps in parking lot.. worked perfectly. I had him follow me to work and it didn't shut off again but it still 'feels off'. Called my local dealer and they couldn't fit me in until Monday morning (it's Friday). That was beyond scary to have that happen while in the middle of so much traffic I am just grateful my kids were not in the car. Hopefully this can get resolved quickly and inexpensively.

vmartinez1 · July 2015

I also own a 2009 Chevy Traverse that I have nothing but problems with. I figured it was just because it was a used car when I bought. My Traction/ Stability turned off but I did not notice the power loss. I have an appointment tomorrow that will hopefully fix the problem. I am also going on a 10 hours trip this Sunday. Praying nothing will happen. I also plan on trading it in and not buying another GM.

berri · July 2015

Worst case, I saw quite a few Traverse on the airport rental lot yesterday, so if you absolutely need one for a week...and the rental place will replace it for you if it breaks down. Seriously, might be an option for your trip?

tj353 · July 2015

2015 Traverse 9900 miles on it!!

You guys are going to appreciate this...I googled this issue because as I was driving home with MY 2 kids, I had the same issue. HOWEVER, I have a 2015 Traverse...and I noticed that a good majority of you have a '12 or older.

Fingers crossed for me. I just told my boyfriend that I'm not paying for a car (with an extended warranty) every month that DOESN'T work!! And I'm not buying ANOTHER Traverse if THIS one is not working after reading all of YOUR posts! (Thank you very much, by the way).

The kicker? I'm leaving Monday for Disney (a 4 hour trip, usually no sweat, as we live in the south) AND my 15 year old is learning to drive in MY car (although, not until I'm satisfied that this issue has been resolved). Poor thing, it's difficult enough to be a "new" driver--but to have to deal with a car that doesn't RUN correctly--yeah, learning experience, teachable moment, etc...but not yet...the girl hasn't even left the neighborhood yet (just turned 15 and hasn't had her permit for a month yet).

Taking it to the dealership today--fingers crossed that they don't give me the "it's the throttle body" routine...I'll pull up this thread faster than you can imagine!

Thank you all...

gmcustsvc · July 2015

tj353 said:
2015 Traverse 9900 miles on it!!

You guys are going to appreciate this...I googled this issue because as I was driving home with MY 2 kids, I had the same issue. HOWEVER, I have a 2015 Traverse...and I noticed that a good majority of you have a '12 or older.

Fingers crossed for me. I just told my boyfriend that I'm not paying for a car (with an extended warranty) every month that DOESN'T work!! And I'm not buying ANOTHER Traverse if THIS one is not working after reading all of YOUR posts! (Thank you very much, by the way).

The kicker? I'm leaving Monday for Disney (a 4 hour trip, usually no sweat, as we live in the south) AND my 15 year old is learning to drive in MY car (although, not until I'm satisfied that this issue has been resolved). Poor thing, it's difficult enough to be a "new" driver--but to have to deal with a car that doesn't RUN correctly--yeah, learning experience, teachable moment, etc...but not yet...the girl hasn't even left the neighborhood yet (just turned 15 and hasn't had her permit for a month yet).

Taking it to the dealership today--fingers crossed that they don't give me the "it's the throttle body" routine...I'll pull up this thread faster than you can imagine!

Thank you all...

Hi rumari73,

We recognize how frustrating this is and you certainly have the right to expect long term reliability from your vehicle. We definitely don't want this situation to affect your trip to Disney on Monday either. If there is anything we can do to assist please send us a private message, or email us at socialmedia@gm.com. With all inquiries, please include your VIN, full contact information, and primary dealership.

Amber N.
GM Customer Care

chevy00001 · July 2015

2014 Traverse with 17,000 miles is experiencing issues listed in this thread in regards to power loss, stability light and check engine light. Car is currently at Chevy dealer in California going on day 4 and I still have to get back to Texas. I should find out today if it is sensor or if the transmission needs to be replaced. After reading all of the posts above I think I should have bought Toyota!

berri · July 2015

Your experience is what drove me away from GM. I like driving a lot of their vehicles, but don't really trust owning them. Seems like between problems, dealerships that can't properly fix them the first time and waiting for parts, I gave up. These lambda's are really nice driving vehicles, but this Stabilitrak issue goes back to their inception in something like 2007. Toyota can have issues too, but they are usually resolved within a model year or two.

gmcustsvc · July 2015

chevy00001 said:
2014 Traverse with 17,000 miles is experiencing issues listed in this thread in regards to power loss, stability light and check engine light. Car is currently at Chevy dealer in California going on day 4 and I still have to get back to Texas. I should find out today if it is sensor or if the transmission needs to be replaced. After reading all of the posts above I think I should have bought Toyota!

Hi Chevy00001,

We truly apologize for the unexpected concerns with your Traverse. This is certainly not the kind of impression we wanted to provide you as our customer, and we want to look into this further for you. Can you please send us an e-mail to socialmedia@gm.com along with your VIN, current mileage, contact information and preferred dealership. We look forward to your message soon!

Patsy G
GM Customer Care

gmcustsvc · July 2015

berri said:
Your experience is what drove me away from GM. I like driving a lot of their vehicles, but don't really trust owning them. Seems like between problems, dealerships that can't properly fix them the first time and waiting for parts, I gave up. These lambda's are really nice driving vehicles, but this Stabilitrak issue goes back to their inception in something like 2007. Toyota can have issues too, but they are usually resolved within a model year or two.

Hi berri,

We're sorry to hear you feel this way. General Motors relies heavily on customer loyalty and we regret we were unable to address this to your satisfaction. Please know that we are always here if you have any questions and we hope to one day earn your business again.

Best,
Amber N.
GM Customer Care

JSutton · August 2015

We have a very similar problem, although we bought our 2007 Saturn Outlook used, we had contemplated the Chevy Traverse and I loved the Saturn and went with it. I love the car, don't even want to get rid of it. Took out the extended warranty. We had a few issues we took in when the belt broke - paid the deductible, and picked up the car. Immediately the Service Stabilitrak warning light came on. We went back into the dealership where we were told the warning lights would cycle thru and to come back if it didn't. Well it didn't. We called back, got nowhere except being put off, finally got in with an appt. where they told us that it just 'happened' while it was in their shop and it had nothing to do with them other than coincidence. Except it wasn't on when we went in and we didn't even leave the parking lot before telling them about it. Another deductible. If I have to pay another deductible, then it's not going to be to them. We just got done paying one and I don't trust they had nothing to do with it. Now the car freaks out - I had a work client with me when I tried driving and it just acted like I slammed on the brakes and felt like I was dragging a body - I freaked out, thought I'd ran over someone. Since then, it does it every single time until I can get the stabilitrak to shut off while driving slowly - for some reason just pushing the button doesn't shut it off immediately. Now it's lurching and whatnot - we are scheduled for a trip out of town Wednesday. I'm angry to say the least, as it appears to be a faulty product to begin with without a recall, and the dealership is jerking us around. I'll find an independent mechanic to fix it now, but not in time to leave town and honestly it's another $200 that I can't put out right now plus rental. I'm hoping the engine power issue doesn't happen while we're on the freeway driving 75MPH! I didn't even know that could happen. UNHAPPY.

gmcustsvc · August 2015

JSutton said:
We have a very similar problem, although we bought our 2007 Saturn Outlook used, we had contemplated the Chevy Traverse and I loved the Saturn and went with it. I love the car, don't even want to get rid of it. Took out the extended warranty. We had a few issues we took in when the belt broke - paid the deductible, and picked up the car. Immediately the Service Stabilitrak warning light came on. We went back into the dealership where we were told the warning lights would cycle thru and to come back if it didn't. Well it didn't. We called back, got nowhere except being put off, finally got in with an appt. where they told us that it just 'happened' while it was in their shop and it had nothing to do with them other than coincidence. Except it wasn't on when we went in and we didn't even leave the parking lot before telling them about it. Another deductible. If I have to pay another deductible, then it's not going to be to them. We just got done paying one and I don't trust they had nothing to do with it. Now the car freaks out - I had a work client with me when I tried driving and it just acted like I slammed on the brakes and felt like I was dragging a body - I freaked out, thought I'd ran over someone. Since then, it does it every single time until I can get the stabilitrak to shut off while driving slowly - for some reason just pushing the button doesn't shut it off immediately. Now it's lurching and whatnot - we are scheduled for a trip out of town Wednesday. I'm angry to say the least, as it appears to be a faulty product to begin with without a recall, and the dealership is jerking us around. I'll find an independent mechanic to fix it now, but not in time to leave town and honestly it's another $200 that I can't put out right now plus rental. I'm hoping the engine power issue doesn't happen while we're on the freeway driving 75MPH! I didn't even know that could happen. UNHAPPY.

Good Morning JSutton,

We appreciate the love you had for your Saturn, but we truly apologize for the negative experience with your Traverse. This is definitely not the kind of impression we wanted to provide you, and we would be more than happy to look into this more for you. We can also reach out to another dealership in your location to look into this further as well. Feel free to send us an e-mail to socialmedia@gm.com along with your VIN, current mileage, contact information and preferred dealership. Looking forward to hearing from you soon.

Patsy G
GM Customer Care

cmklhenderson · August 2015

After reading this thread I'm shocked I'm even having to post this... Considering this problem goes back 5+ years you'd think it'd be fixed.
My 2015 Chevy traverse, just over 3000mi, and I had this problem for the first time when I was STOPPED at a stop light one week ago, I took it in, and customer service was rude, but that's a story for another time. They said they saw the error code was logged by my vehicle, but said they couldn't do anything because they couldn't get my car to replicate the problem (with service codes why do they need it replicates?). Now a week later I had the same problem on a dry, paved road going about 30-35, I called and they made an appointment for me, but wouldn't commit to giving me a loaner comparable to the car I just bought from them. Sorry, but when I spend over $34k on a new vehicle and I obviously bought it because it best suits my family and our lifestyle I expect to have something similar, an I expect my car to be fixed and not to be treated like an inconvenience when I just gave your dealership an awesome payday!

amber_s · September 2015

I have a 2010 Traverse that has 88,000 or so miles. 2 days ago I was driving in rush hour traffic and the TCS light came on and also the check engine. Luckily I was able to get all the way to the side of the road (must have had an angel watching me) because my car wasn't moving when I pushed the gas pedal. Went back to the car after rush hour and started right up without the TCS light but the check engine still on. Drove around for awhile, seemed fine. I put fuel in it and when I restarted it, the check engine light was off. The dealer I bought it from couldn't even set an appointment for me until 10 days later. They were also extremely rude. I guess I should have traded it in when the dealer kept calling and asking if I would trade it in despite my many requests to STOP calling me. Luckily a chevy dealer close to my work got me in the next day. Problem was found fairly quick. Transmission Module. $775 fix. I don't trust my vehicle anymore. I have 3 children and I am very upset that I bought this vehicle. I bought it certified used in 2012 when I returned from Afghanistan. I have put more money into this vehicle than ANY of my previous ones. $1200 just in the past 6 months. I am a little over halfway paying on my loan. What's funny is a co-worker asked me if I had any transmission problems with it that morning and I said no. He had the SAME issue! This is an awful vehicle and complete waste of my hard earned money.

crossrowe · September 2015

Reading over all these comments. Had to just pay to have a wire fixed that affected my transmission. 2012 Chevy traverse. Anyone else have this issue? Then I come to find out that GM does not back their parts if they have 50k on them. Going to be an expensive vehicle then in repairs. Anyone else have to replace their front stabilizer links twice in just over a year?

berri · September 2015

Unfortunately, I think when you buy something GM with Stabilitrak, you probably need to price in a long term extended warranty when comparing vehicles.

writerdude · September 2015

Wow, just wow. My wife was almost killed on the freeway this morning when our 2015 Traverse flipped out with this StabiliTrak issue. The vehicle shook side to side several times, then shut off engine power abruptly and lurched forward and back 5 times hard enough to throw her into the seat belt. She said it was like the car was trying to brake to a stop. She had a blinking orange check engine light, and she saw a status message in place of the odometer that said something about the traction control turning off. Worse, she was surrounded by cars at 65 MPH in a construction zone without any shoulders, and couldn't even get off the road.

We had a weird transient issue about a month ago driving to California. The vehicle "staggered" (best description I can come up with) on the road and threw a blinking orange "service engine" light on the dash. After a couple of miles, everything returned to normal. I thought it was just a new car thing - the vehicle was only about 3 months old at the time.

At the time, we took the car into the dealer, and they said it was nothing, just that the sensor detected a problem with the ignition timing. Naturally, we were relieved, but I'm an old IT guy, and suspicious of problems that "go away on their own." If they go away on their own, they can come back on their own too.

We had no idea there were bigger problems, but as soon as she called me today, we started googling and found this thread. Now, I think it's clear that last month's stagger was the first incident indicating some kind of design defect in the computer/sensor/electrical harness.

And the loaner we got from the dealer, after driving onto the lot in a $35,000 Traverse? A Chevy Cruze. Wow, now that's adding insult to injury. Great customer service, GM.

This is intolerable and inexcusable. I am just shaking with rage right now - if she had lost control on the freeway and died, and the computer said there was nothing wrong, they would have blamed HER for the accident. And they might have gotten away with it. Chevrolet would have sat there and pretended they knew nothing about the problem so GM could hit their profit targets, and some executive could collect his bonus checks.

No doubt, some rank-and-file sociopath at Chevrolet right now is trying to figure out how they can fix this without actually taking responsibility for it. How many times are they going to tell people "oh, it was nothing, probably just a transient thing, sorry the computer doesn't show any problems" when people's lives are in jeopardy every minute that they're driving these death traps?

hewly2000 · October 2015

I had the same thing happen to me today I was driving home at 55 mph and the traction and stability light came on and a message of reduced engine speed. The car kind of shuddered a bit and reduced speed slightly.

I got home and turned the car off and when I restarted it the engine light was still on.

I bought this car only a year ago a 2012 with under 10,000 miles on it. Thought I was lucky and had found a great deal. After reading all of this I am panicked. I drive all day picking up my kids and dropping them off to various activities, school, etc. I am on the highway at least 4 times a day. I would never forgive myself if I knew there was this risk and drove anyhow. But they have to be at school. Don't know what I'll do now cant afford another car and scared to drive this one. Has anyone ended up with a happy ending ? Could use some hope at this point

scaredgmowner · November 2015

I'm in the same boat as everyone else. Second time with my 2009 LTZ Traverse in a couple years. Stabilitrak light and traction control off at of the blue. I've already had to pay out of pocket once for this and am dreading having to pay again for something that shouldn't return so soon if it was fixed correctly. This really should be a covered item by GM, especially considering the safety related issues piling up.... this is just awaiting lawsuits or a class action movement, especially if people are getting into vehicle accidents on the roads due to it. Anyways, once I get it fixed again, I'll pass on the fix that worked for me. Good luck everyone!

amelia3151 · November 2015

This just happened to me this morning with my 2 year old daughter in the car during a huge storm. No warning, just loss of power then the messages on the screen. Mine is a 2013 Traverse with 48k miles on it. Not happy at all. After reading your reviews I am beyond upset and want out of this vehicle.

phishmann · November 2015

my wife and i are in the market for a new car and test drove a Traverse yesterday. we liked it very much and WERE seriously considering buying one, despite my reservations with GM. that is, until i read this forum thread this morning.

to everyone that posted, thank you for sharing your experiences and i hope you each find an appropriate resolution soon without more problems. to GM customer service, don't bother wasting your time replying, your canned responses fall flat when your employer has a known issue for 6 model years running and fails to take responsibility for an obvious defect. i realize that's difficult to do when your parts divsion and your dealers' service departments are making a mint off of consumers' bad decisions in choosing your company in the first place, but you're not winning any new fans with your corporate behavior.

berri · November 2015

Stabilitrak has moved me away from buying any GM AWD vehicle, particularly where this problem has been around for a long time and still appears to be happening on the newer models. Where the heck is GM's engineering on this???

thecardoc3 · November 2015

The Stabilitrak system shuts down anytime there is an issue where the engineers cannot predict if the system will operate correctly or not. Most of the reports that you see amount to a basic failure of anyone of the systems that are a portion of the entire system. In other words, if you have a failure that can compromise the engine performance, the system will shut down. The same goes for a transmission issue, or a transfer case issue, an ABS system issue etc. Another thing that gets lost in perspective is the need for a throttle safety system. Any fault in the throttle control system results in it shutting down instead of potentially allowing a runaway. There is a balancing act in play between fault tolerance and the need to shut down in the event of a potential failure. Most of the reports that you see are the system working the way that the government requires it to.

berri · November 2015

Sorry cardoc, but I'm having trouble buying all of this and laying the blame on the government. If that was the case, why aren't Ford and Toyota having all these vehicle crapouts? I'm thinking either GM has a software issue in their stabilitrak or if you are correct about diagnosing issues elsewhere, then they must have a bunch of poor quality parts causing it. I think its software and they either need to fix it or develop a more reliable system. Ironically, we were big GM people into the 90's, and still like many of their vehicles when we rent them, but toward the end all of the electronic and computer problems we incurred, as well as dealers being unable to fix it right, drove us over to Ford and Toyhonda. I'd be back to buying GM if they became more reliable and their dealers became more able to diagnose and fix things. GM builds a lot of very comfortable vehicles. We have rented several Traverse and Acadia vehicles and liked them, but reading about this continuing unresolved stabiltrak, well honestly we don't want to go back to those old ownership issues and woes again. Life is too short!

thecardoc3 · November 2015

Your assertion that Ford and Toyota haven't had throttle body and software issues isn't correct and you need to do some research. As far as the service issues go, that deserves (needs) to get a lot worse before it is ever going to get better. Very few people want to become repair technicians and a large percentage of the ones that do leave because they find out that the career isn't worth having and that is in part related to things that turn into warranty well after the warranty period has expired. The dealers call the pay plan "flat rate" but there is nothing flat about it. The techs are paid differently for the same work depending on whether the job is customer pay or warranty and in some cases the job which suddenly turns into warranty cuts the techs pay to less than half. That means the person actually assigned to repair the car is getting cheated anytime the customer gets a goodwill adjustment.

You are right about one thing, life is too short and you don't get a second chance at it. Nobody should let their kids become mechanics/technicians until the dealers change the way they are paid and the workplace environment allows them to have a career that is worth the effort that it demands.

berri · November 2015

But GM has way more complaints on this than either Ford or Toyota on various threads.

And yes, business is ripping off employees a lot in this country.

Mr_Shiftright · November 2015

This is the old GM problem. Maybe their cars don't have significantly more defects than most of its competitors, but GM takes forever to fix the problems---they just go on, model year after model year. This is the maddening part about them.

thecardoc3 · November 2015

In order to solve a problem, one first has to recognize what the problem really is.

berri · November 2015

Isn't that what GM engineering is being paid to do??? They need to fix it or replace it. It just hurts product image dragging on and on like this on their AWD products.

thecardoc3 · November 2015

berri said:
Isn't that what GM engineering is being paid to do??? They need to fix it or replace it. It just hurts product image dragging on and on like this on their AWD products.

There really isn't one single problem related to the condition, there are any number of failures that just result in similar symptoms. To someone that doesn't understand what is really going on all they associate is the lack of throttle response, and of course the message from the drivers information center that the AWD system has been disabled. I have solved dozens of these issues (and the same goes for Fords and Toyotas) over the last few years and the cars are very repairable. It just takes a tech with the right tools, training, and a good game plan and even the most nightmarish issues can be accomplished in an efficient manor. Of course the techs have to be reasonably compensated as they both learn how to do this as well as continue to learn new techniques and strategies and that hasn't been happening for decades.

Here is one I posted recently.
http://forums.edmunds.com/discussion/comment/5145589/#Comment_5145589

This car presented with all of the normal symptoms, but the actual fault and repair was about a one in a million occurrence. Techs have to be successful even when faced with problems as complicated as this one really was. What people don't realize is that learning how to accomplish that diagnostic represents more unpaid time and after hours study than almost any other career demands. It also means having to cope with and tolerate the kinds of abuse that can be levied by consumers who don't even care to understand what it really took to solve the problem.

Mr_Shiftright · November 2015

All true, but in this case the problem needs to be solved at the factory level. NASA doesn't ask the astronauts to fix the rockets on the launchpad. There has to be some way to differentiate these faults and make some of them non-critical.

thecardoc3 · November 2015

Mr_Shiftright said:
All true, but in this case the problem needs to be solved at the factory level. NASA doesn't ask the astronauts to fix the rockets on the launchpad. There has to be some way to differentiate these faults and make some of them non-critical.

There is a difference between "A Problem" and "The Problem". "The Problem" can't be solved at the factory level because it isn't a single issue.

BTW The astronauts are expected to fix the thing if it breaks after it leaves the launch pad.

Mr_Shiftright · November 2015

If a factory can't solve "the problem" that is freakin' pathetic.

thecardoc3 · November 2015

How does this exchange help the consumer? Technicians with the right tools, training and experience can repair these cars and problems with this system just fine. If consumers don't have qualified technicians available to them place the blame for that on everyone that deserves a share of it.

Mr_Shiftright · November 2015

Fixing a Chevrolet to run properly should not require your decades of experience training and tools. It just shouldn't be made that difficult. This is a Chevy Traverse, not a Ferrari Grand Prix car

berri · November 2015

Cardoc, I think you're missing the point of this issue. Its not primarily a tech's issue, rather its engineering. The Traverse vehicles came out in 2007 and Stabiltrak is still a well complained about issue on the web going into the 2016's. For that matter it also seems to go well beyond just the Traverse type vehicles to pretty much the entire GM lineup of AWD vehicles from Equinox to Tahoe and Suburban as well. That is simply unacceptable corporate incompetence in my book. The engineers need to isolate the faults and fix them, or replace the current systems and parts involved. Also, any quality issues impacting it need to be resolved. The model has been out for going on 9 years now! As for the unsatisfactory repairs in resolving it for some owners, the engineers need to improve and resolve the computer and software that is not giving the tech's a clear reading on the problem and the appropriate fix(es). Honestly, I sincerely doubt most of these faults and fixes are "one in a million" occurrences. The sheer frequency involved here appears to make that kind of probability very unlikely as to the root of the problems. If that is in fact the nature of the problem, then statistically you would have a very wide collection of crap parts and computer software. I doubt that is actually the case. Its engineering and quality, combined with a management commitment to solve it that needs to happen. GM should be embarrassed by this really. All this is accomplishing long term is alienating those affected buyers and driving them to the competition for their next purchase while they complain to umpteen people about their ownership travails, some of whom will then relay that on to other people and so on. Seems to me that over time this costs more to GM than spending the money to resolve it.

thecardoc3 · November 2015

Mr_Shiftright said:
Fixing a Chevrolet to run properly should not require your decades of experience training and tools. It just shouldn't be made that difficult. This is a Chevy Traverse, not a Ferrari Grand Prix car

Well it does and if you really don't believe that it takes that long to become a tech, then go to school and start wrenching and lets see how long it takes you.

Mr_Shiftright · November 2015

I think you missed the point of my comments. I said "it shouldn't be MADE that difficult"...meaning, the factory engineers shouldn't make a car THAT hard to fix.

I'm even seeing videos on YouTube now suggesting that people not buy GM cars with this system. THAT would "fix" the issue a lot faster than complaints.

berri · November 2015

I think it is a shame how GM is handling this. Without that often "no warning" issue, the Lambda's are one of the nicest highway cars out there. Smooth, comfortable and pretty quiet. I've rented more than a few of them, as well as Explorers. I much prefer the Lambda. For my case at least, the Explorer has this weird interface between its driver's seating and steering wheel, plus an odd accelerator angle. It's also noisier. Whenever I get one as a rental it takes me several days to re-adjust to all of that. I think both companies are replacing all of these vehicles in several years. But for the interim, the Pilot or Highlander is probably the safer choice until then, particularly if you are going to keep it for more than just a few years or miles.

thecardoc3 · November 2015

Mr_Shiftright said:
I think you missed the point of my comments. I said "it shouldn't be MADE that difficult"...meaning, the factory engineers shouldn't make a car THAT hard to fix.

So they shouldn't make a car that is hard to fix, that's really what you are saying. There has been a disconnect between what people envision auto repair to be and what it really demands for next to a generation. When it comes to someone who is missing the point, that's the one that everyone needs to pause and figure out.

You (and others) appear to think that the factory can do something to make the repairs simple and that is based on a lack of experience and knowledge. If anything the link to the other thread should have helped you recognize that nobody can predict every failure and the only answer is for there to be a trade full of service ready technicians. The reason that there are so many complaints about the cars not being repaired comes down to there not being enough qualified technicians and the consumers (and consumer experts) deserve their fair share of the blame for that. What the consumers really need from the "experts" is for them to finally admit that they really don't know how to do anything beyond the most basic services. That copper to copper sneak circuit would have beat everybody who has ever posted on these forums and the reality is that it was just another failure that a tech gets to see one time in his/her career and everything is then judged by whether he/she was up to the task or not.

Mr_Shiftright · November 2015

If GM can't fix this problem then the consumer will. The free market suggest that if your product sucks, you die. If fixing an automobile requires genius level aptitude, then obviously these automobiles should be recycled and reconditioned at the factory rather than repairs be attempted. If your product cannot be serviced in the field by 99% of technicians, then you have created a recipe for disaster for your company unless you have established other means to satisfy the customer.

thecardoc3 · November 2015

Have you even begun to consider the complexity of the robotics involved in the autonomous cars that are coming in the not so distant future? Right now we are talking about one in ten thousand working technicians who will be able to learn how to deal with that level of sophistication. (That's a guestimate, and probably a generous one at that) The technology that is in the cars today is already beyond 99%(+) of the population and it has been that way for years.

stever · November 2015

They'll phone home and self-diagnose a lot of stuff. Shoot, they'll even go into limp mode and drive themselves home if the code download doesn't fix the problem.

Robotics - just some zillion lines of code, a bunch of sensors, and some actuators. Big whoop. The John Deeres have been doing that for years now out of traffic.

Chevy Traverse Stabilitrak/Traction Control problems

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