Problem Lookup āŗ Chevrolet āŗ Traverse āŗ 2013
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2013 Chevrolet Traverse problems, recalls and owner complaints
What the 2013 Chevrolet Traverse has been recalled for and what owners report, from official government data. Updated October 25, 2026.
- 4safety recalls
- 162owner complaints
- 7crash reports
- 2fire reports
- 6injuries reported
162 complaints, against an average of 258 for the other 14 Chevrolet Traverse model years.
Every Chevrolet Traverse model year with its number of owner complaints. Pick a year to compare.
What goes wrong with the 2013 Chevrolet Traverse?
The components named most often in the 162 owner complaints. One complaint can name several, so the shares can add up to more than 100%.
What symptoms do 2013 Chevrolet Traverse owners describe?
Found by reading the text of all 162 owner complaints. Tap a symptom for the answer, a real owner quote and any related recall.
- Why does my 2013 Chevrolet Traverse stall, lose power or shut off while driving?27 owners Ā· 16.7%
- Why is the check engine light on in my 2013 Chevrolet Traverse?25 owners Ā· 15.4%
- Why are the ABS and stability control lights on in my 2013 Chevrolet Traverse?19 owners Ā· 11.7%
- Why is the airbag light on in my 2013 Chevrolet Traverse?18 owners Ā· 11.1% Ā· Recall 21V782000
- Does the 2013 Chevrolet Traverse have rust or paint problems?6 owners Ā· 3.7%
- Why does my 2013 Chevrolet Traverse transmission jerk, shudder or shift hard?5 owners Ā· 3.1%
Has the 2013 Chevrolet Traverse been recalled?
4 U.S. safety recalls. Repairs are free at a franchised dealer; some are done over the air.
Air Bags: Frontal General Motors, LLC (GM) is recalling certain 2008-2017 Buick Enclave and 2013-2017 Chevrolet Traverse vehicles. The driver's air bag inflator may explode during deployment, due to a manufacturing defect.
Risk: An inflator explosion may result in sharp metal fragments striking the driver or other occupants, resulting in serious injury or death.
Fix: Dealers will replace the driver's air bag module, free of charge. Interim owner notification letters were mailed on November 3, 2021. Owner notification letters were mailed on January 10, 2022. Owners may contact Buick customer service at 1-800-521-7300 or Chevrolet customer service at 1-800-222-1020. GM's number for this recall is N212349040.
Air Bags: Critical Fasteners 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.
Risk: Unsecured side curtain air bags may not perform as intended, increasing the risk of injury.
Fix: 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.
Seat Belts General Motors is recalling certain model year 2009-2014 Buick Enclave vehicles manufactured April 14, 2008, through May 14, 2014, Chevrolet Traverse vehicles manufactured June 6, 2008, through May 14, 2014, and GMC Acadia vehicles manufactured April 9, 2008, through May 14, 2014, and 2009-2010 Saturn Outlook vehicles manufactured April 14, 2008, through March 18, 2010. In the affected vehicles, the flexible steel cable that connects the seatbelt to the front outboard seating positions may fatigue and separate over time.
Risk: If the steel cable becomes fatigued and separates, the seatbelt may not properly restrain the seat occupant increasing the risk of an injury in a crash.
Fix: General Motors will notify owners, and dealers will inspect and, if necessary, repair and replace the lap pretensioner, free of charge. Parts are not currently available. An interim notice will be mailed to owners in July 2014. A second notice will be mailed to owners once parts become available. The recall for the 2009-2010 model years began on July 11, 2014. The interim letter for the 2011-2014 model years were distributed on July 11, 2014. Owners may contact General Motors at 1-800-222-1020 (Chevrolet), 1-800-521-7300 (Buick), 1-800-462-8782 (GMC), 1-800-553-6000 (Saturn). General Motors recall number for this campaign is 14187.
Air Bags: Side/Window General Motors LLC (GM) is recalling certain model year 2008-2013 Buick Enclave and GMC Acadia and 2009-2013 Chevrolet Traverse and 2008-2010 Saturn Outlook vehicles. In the affected vehicles, increased resistance in the driver and passenger seat mounted side impact air bag (SIAB) wiring harnesses may result in the SIAB and seat belt pretensioners not deploying in the event of a crash.
Risk: Failure of the side impact air bags and seat belt pretensioners to deploy in a crash increase the risk of injury to the driver and front seat occupant.
Fix: GM will notify owners, and dealers will replace the affected harness connections with soldered connections, free of charge. The recall began on June 16, 2014. Buick owners may contact the owner center at 1-800-521-7300, Chevrolet owners at 1-866-694-6546, Saturn at 1-800-553-6000, and GMC owners at 1-866-996-9463. GM's number for this recall is 14030. Note: Vehicles repaired as part of Customer Satisfaction Campaign 10085 and special coverage 10335 have already had the subject condition repaired and therefore are not included in the safety recall.
What do 2013 Chevrolet Traverse owners report?
12 of the 162 complaints, the most recent for the most-reported components, as the owners wrote them. NHTSA removes names and VINs; long reports are trimmed. CarHooq has not verified individual claims.
Service Air Bag light is on and wonāt go off. Car was never in an accident or anything done for this light to be on so Iām a bit confused. Car has been inspected and looked over only issue is the service air bag light on the dash which came on after my battery completely died in my car. I bought a new battery car still drives normal and all is good other then the light still being on which I figured would have went away by now.
Service Traction Control, Traction Control Off/On/Off, Service All Wheel Drive display on dash. Check Engine Light on at times, When starting vehicle Service All Wheel Drive displays immediately. Codes come up as fuel pressure high, fuel pressure low, no communication with BCM. Driving from a stop the engine has to idle high to switch gears, hard shift when it does. Goes into limp mode sometimes while driving. Been to dealership, can not duplicate problems. But they see display info and no current code, do have stored code of BCM lost communication.
Rain Water is getting into the door connectors and caused some pins on passenger side to corrode. All audio in vehicle has stopped including turn signals, pack up sensor audio, and radio ect. GM/Chevy knows about this and is quite common reading in a lot of forums but GM has done nothing about it. This is a safety hazard.
Vehicle dies while driving in traffic. Has done this since I bought it. Very unsafe. I have had my car since march 2022. While driving it says engine power reduced, traction control, stabli track, and loses power and I have to try to safely make sure I get it off the road. After it dies it won't start. I have to get tow truck to bring it home. Then next day it starts fine sometimes. Very unsafe. I have children . I have barley been able to prevent myself from being in a wreck. When it dies the whole cars jerks. It does it all the time. This last time it was doing it so much I haven't been ableā¦
It happened several times already and couple of times was so dangerous, I had 4 kids in my car. When I drive from Salem, OR to Portland, OR, in the middle of a highway, my car suddenly doesn't drive. On the dashboard signs are traction controll and stability track or something. Please help me. When it happens, car doesn't drive and stops on freeway. It's so dangerous.
The contact owns a 2013 Chevrolet Traverse. The contact stated while driving 25-35 MPH, the vehicle jolted and shuddered upon depressing the accelerator pedal. There was no warning light illuminated. The contact stated that the failure mostly occurred while accelerating in 2nd and 3rd gear. The vehicle was taken to the dealer, where it was diagnosed that the torque converter had failed and needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The contact related the failure to Technical Service Bulletin Numbers: 13120 and 18-NA-358. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failureā¦
the breaks grind and took it to a shop they said it was my anit break locked up when my car comes to a stop it shakes and my tacation control warning comes on
I was parking in front of a restaurant- my foot was on the brake and as I came to a stop the engine revved up and the car surged forwarded about 5 feet - The car pushed a pole and blew out the front door and the door frame- all this time my foot was on the brake. If someone was walking in to the restaurant they surly would have been killed. NO warning lamps or lights-I have not taken it to the dealer yet the body shop still has it. There was no police report the accident was on private property. If the dealer gives me the runaround I'll get rid of this car.
Iāve told penland automotive llc car dealer Joey my vehicle cuts off while Iām driving me & my kids have been in 8 near death experience & Iāve been in 6 by myself I went to trade it in because thatās not safe & Iāve done plenty of work on it Iāve told him the service stabiltack keeps shutting it off & im scared he says itās nothing he can do about it & Iāve only had this vehicle a year it started before the 1 year anniversary on the truck!! Him not doing nothing is not ok!! I thought it needed a tune up but I really didnāt so I paid out that for nothing! Iāve also went to green lightā¦
Was driving down the road and the seat belt warning came on even though the seat belts were buckled and the car suddenly lost power the traction control light blinked I tried to give the car gas and it acted like it did not want to go I pulled over and cut it off and let it sit for a minute and then cut it back on and it's drove fine
I HAVE BEEN HAVING PROBLEMS WITH MY 2013 CHEVY TRAVERSE THE TRACTION CONTROL LIGHT/STABILITRAX COMES ON, WHICH MAKES MY CHECK ENGINE LIGHT COME ON, WHICH THEN CAUSES MY ENGINE TO POWER DOWN, I WILL THEN HAVE TO WAIT 2-3 MINUTES AND IT WILL EITHER CRANK UP OR IT WON'T (HAS TO BE TOWED), IT ALSO CAUSES IT TO STALL OUT WHEN TAKING OFF OR COMING TO A STOP. STALLED OUT ON ME WHILE PULLING OUT INTO ONCOMING TRAFFIC THANKFULLY I WASN'T ALL THE WAY OUT IN THE ROAD OR I WOULD HAVE BEEN T-BONED. I HAVE TAKEN THE VEHICLE TO A TWO DIFFERENT CHEVY DEALERS WHICH IT HAD TO BE TOWED TO BOTH WITHIN A MONTH THEā¦
WHILE DRIVING THE CAR ON THE FREEWAY WITH MY KIDS DRIVING NORMAL WHEN THE STABILITRAK HAPPENED, AND THE CAR WENT FROM 60 MILES PER HOUR TO 20 MILE PER HOUR ON THE FREEWAY ALMOST CAUSING A BAD ACCIDENT. WE GOT VERY SCARED. I BEEN LOOKING UP ONLINE ON THIS ISSUE AND IT SEEMS THIS IS A ISSUE WITH THE GM CARS.
2013 Chevrolet Traverse: questions owners ask
Is the 2013 Chevrolet Traverse reliable?
NHTSA data alone cannot rate reliability, but it shows what owners reported. Owners filed 162 complaints with NHTSA about the 2013 Chevrolet Traverse; the most common categories were electrical system (53, 32.7%), engine (45, 27.8%), electronic stability control (esc) (43, 26.5%). There are 4 safety recalls. 7 complaints mention a crash, 2 mention a fire, 6 injuries were reported.
What are the most common problems with the 2013 Chevrolet Traverse?
Across 162 owner complaints filed with NHTSA, the categories mentioned most often are electrical system (32.7% of complaints), engine (27.8% of complaints), electronic stability control (esc) (26.5% of complaints), power train (17.3% of complaints), air bags (16.7% of complaints). One complaint can name several components.
Does the 2013 Chevrolet Traverse have any recalls?
Yes. NHTSA lists 4 recalls for the 2013 Chevrolet Traverse; the most recent (campaign 21V782000, 2021-10-07) concerns Air Bags: Frontal. Recall repairs are free at a franchised dealer; check your VIN at nhtsa.gov/recalls.
Why does my 2013 Chevrolet Traverse stall, lose power or shut off while driving?
27 of the 162 owner complaints NHTSA has on file for the 2013 Chevrolet Traverse (16.7%) describe the engine stalling, losing power or shutting off while driving. One owner wrote: "Was driving down the road and the seat belt warning came on even though the seat belts were buckled and the car suddenly lost power the traction control light blinked I tried to give the car gas and it acted like it did not want to go I pulled over and cut itā¦" (NHTSA complaint 11425157, July 2021). If it happens to your car, check your VIN for open recalls at nhtsa.gov/recalls and report the problem to NHTSA; complaints are what trigger investigations.
Why is the check engine light on in my 2013 Chevrolet Traverse?
25 of the 162 owner complaints NHTSA has on file for the 2013 Chevrolet Traverse (15.4%) describe the check engine light coming on. One owner wrote: "Service Traction Control, Traction Control Off/On/Off, Service All Wheel Drive display on dash. Check Engine Light on at times, When starting vehicle Service All Wheel Drive displays immediately." (NHTSA complaint 11601162, July 2024). If it happens to your car, check your VIN for open recalls at nhtsa.gov/recalls and report the problem to NHTSA; complaints are what trigger investigations.
Why are the ABS and stability control lights on in my 2013 Chevrolet Traverse?
19 of the 162 owner complaints NHTSA has on file for the 2013 Chevrolet Traverse (11.7%) describe ABS, traction or stability control warnings or faults. One owner wrote: "Was driving down the road and the seat belt warning came on even though the seat belts were buckled and the car suddenly lost power the traction control light blinked I tried to give the car gas and it acted like it did not want to go I pulled over and cut itā¦" (NHTSA complaint 11425157, July 2021). If it happens to your car, check your VIN for open recalls at nhtsa.gov/recalls and report the problem to NHTSA; complaints are what trigger investigations.
Why is the airbag light on in my 2013 Chevrolet Traverse?
18 of the 162 owner complaints NHTSA has on file for the 2013 Chevrolet Traverse (11.1%) describe airbag warning lights or airbag faults. 3 related recalls exist: campaign 21V782000 (air bags: frontal). The fix: Dealers will replace the driver's air bag module, free of charge. One owner wrote: "Service Air Bag light is on and wonāt go off. Car was never in an accident or anything done for this light to be on so Iām a bit confused." (NHTSA complaint 11758122, August 2026). Recall repairs are free at a dealer; check your VIN at nhtsa.gov/recalls.
Does the 2013 Chevrolet Traverse have rust or paint problems?
6 of the 162 owner complaints NHTSA has on file for the 2013 Chevrolet Traverse (3.7%) describe rust, corrosion or peeling paint. One owner wrote: "Tl* the contact owns a 2013 chevrolet traverse. the contact stated that the air conditioning was not operating properly. the vehicle was taken to beaty chevrolet (9615 parkside dr, knoxville, tn 37922, (865) 233-9063) where it was diagnosed that the motorā¦" (NHTSA complaint 11267872, October 2019). If it happens to your car, check your VIN for open recalls at nhtsa.gov/recalls and report the problem to NHTSA; complaints are what trigger investigations.
Why does my 2013 Chevrolet Traverse transmission jerk, shudder or shift hard?
5 of the 162 owner complaints NHTSA has on file for the 2013 Chevrolet Traverse (3.1%) describe harsh, jerky or delayed transmission shifting or shuddering. One owner wrote: "Service Traction Control, Traction Control Off/On/Off, Service All Wheel Drive display on dash. Check Engine Light on at times, When starting vehicle Service All Wheel Drive displays immediately." (NHTSA complaint 11601162, July 2024). If it happens to your car, check your VIN for open recalls at nhtsa.gov/recalls and report the problem to NHTSA; complaints are what trigger investigations.
Check your own Traverse
Counts are a starting point, not a verdict: popular models collect more complaints because more of them are on the road, and NHTSA does not verify individual reports. To see whether a recall is still open on your car, enter your VIN at nhtsa.gov/recalls (U.S.) or your registration at check-vehicle-recalls.service.gov.uk (UK). Had a safety problem? Report it to NHTSA; complaints are what trigger investigations and recalls.
Data: NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation recall and complaint databases (public domain), retrieved October 25, 2026. Model year 2013 only.