Chevrolet Sonic — reported problems

What owners report: issue areas

Owner complaints are classified by the system they concern: 2,844 classifications in all. One complaint can concern several systems, so these add up to more than the number of complaints.

• Engine508 (17.9%)
• Powertrain (transmission & drivetrain)462 (16.2%)Official recall records for this system: 2, covering model years 2012.
• Electrical system452 (15.9%)Official recall records for this system: 8, covering model years 2013–2016.
• Air bags (restraint system)252 (8.9%)Official recall records for this system: 11, covering model years 2012–2014.
• Fuel system148 (5.2%)Official recall records for this system: 2, covering model years 2013–2014.
• Steering108 (3.8%)

Other / uncategorized: 330 classifications (11.6%) were not assigned to a specific system by the source. They are counted but not treated as an issue area.

These are counts of records held by CarFaultIQ, not a failure rate. More records can simply mean more vehicles were sold or more owners reported. No vehicles-in-service figure exists in this data, so no reliability or risk score can be derived from it.

What the records are about, by source

Each source is kept separate: owner complaints, recalls, manufacturer communications and investigations are different kinds of record and are never added together. All model years.

• Owner complaints (1,902 records, model years 2012–2020) are most frequently classified under: engine, powertrain (transmission & drivetrain) and electrical system.
• Manufacturer communications (12,338 records, model years 2012–2020) are most frequently classified under: equipment & accessories, electrical system and engine.

"Most frequently classified under" reports how the records are filed by the source. It is not a finding about causes, and a record can be filed under more than one system. Read the individual records

Mileage reported when the issue occurred

• 1,414reports included a mileage
• 54,754average of those mileages

This is the mileage owners recorded at the time they reported, not an expected failure mileage and not a prediction for any individual vehicle. The lowest and highest figures on record are not shown: they are unverified odometer entries that include zeros and implausibly high readings, so they would not describe a real range. A median is not shown either, because the stored figures are group totals and a median cannot be recovered from them.

Evidence by model year

Records held per model year. Select a year to narrow this page to it.

1. 2012 1,957 records for 2012 1,957
2. 2013 1,953 records for 2013 1,953
3. 2014 1,660 records for 2014 1,660
4. 2015 1,449 records for 2015 1,449
5. 2016 1,131 records for 2016 1,131
6. 2017 997 records for 2017 997
7. 2018 834 records for 2018 834
8. 2019 585 records for 2019 585
9. 2020 552 records for 2020 552

Counts are not adjusted for how many vehicles were sold in each year, so a taller year is not necessarily a worse year.

Reports mentioning outcomes

• 182mention a crash
• 34mention a fire
• 152mention an injury
• 4mention a fatality

These are counts of records whose report mentioned the outcome. They are not a severity rating and not a safety assessment of this vehicle.

Official records held

• Safety recalls NHTSA 39
• Manufacturer communications NHTSA 12,338
• Investigations NHTSA 5
• Transport Canada recalls Transport Canada 43
• Owner complaints NHTSA 1,902

Explore the underlying evidence records

Diagnostic codes found in evidence for this vehicle

These codes appear by explicit identifier in official records matched to this exact model and year.

• P0299 in 118 records · 2012–2020
• P0300 in 49 records · 2012–2020
• P0442 in 36 records · 2012–2020
• P0446 in 24 records · 2012–2017
• P0341 in 23 records · 2012–2017
• P0171 in 16 records · 2012–2019
• P2635 in 15 records · 2013–2017
• U0101 in 14 records · 2012–2017
• P2138 in 11 records · 2012–2018
• U0209 in 11 records · 2012–2015
• U0028 in 10 records · 2013–2018
• P1101 in 8 records · 2012–2017

A code appearing in a record means the code was named in that document. It is not a diagnosis of this vehicle, not a fault this vehicle has, and not an indication of urgency. Diagnosis requires reading live data from the vehicle.