2018 Chevrolet Camaro: What to check before buying

Power steering assist cuts out without warning, often mid-turn, at low speed, or at highway speeds near 75 mph, and the wheel turns very stiff. A "Service Power Steering" message sometimes appears, and some cars log a stuck steering gear code. A few reports pair the loss with a service rear axle message, gauges dropping to zero, or violent wheel shaking. Shops diagnose steering gear or assist motor failure. One car's steering seized at 92,276 miles. Several near-crashes and one collision with a divider are reported. A smaller group describes the car drifting, which was called tramlining.

Water collects in the trunk, where the rear fuse box, battery, and amplifier sit, and it corrodes or shorts them. Reports describe smoke from the trunk, melted relays and wiring, and cars that shut off while driving or will not restart. Two complaints involve fire. Owners blame poor drainage or leaking seals. A second pattern is a false "Shift to Park" message that keeps the car from shutting off fully and drains the battery. Other reports cover battery drain while parked, doors locking and unlocking on their own, and dead USB ports.

Automatic cars shudder as if driving over rumble strips, with lag and loss of power. Owners tie the problem to the transmission fluid and report a flush under service bulletin 18-NA-355 as the fix, paid by owners once out of warranty. The 2.0-liter turbo draws complaints of violent shifts, especially into first at a stop. Manual cars stall or cut out pulling away from a stop, and one stall ended in a rear-end crash with an injury. Six-speed manuals grind or pop into neutral on downshifts to second.

Oil pumps fail early on some cars. Oil pressure drops and then falls to zero while driving. Metal debris has destroyed engines and forced long-block replacements. Owners report pump trouble at 11,000 and 14k miles, and one engine was ruined at 18.6k miles after a dealer turned away the early warning signs. Other reports cover a collapsed lifter, an exhaust leak under the center console that lets fumes into the cabin while the repair waits on parts, and ZL1 manual cars whose torque management cuts power on takeoff and can stall.

No single repeated defect shows up here. In one crash, the driver airbag did not deploy after a dealer said an airbag warning had been fixed. One used car was sold without working airbags. In another case, the car sat for months because replacement curtain airbags were unavailable, a parts shortage rather than a failure. A fire complaint involves a phone charger that caught fire, ignited the passenger seat, and burned the whole car.

The defroster fogs the inside of the windshield instead of clearing it, especially with the A/C running, so drivers wipe the glass by hand while driving. Owners say dealer fixes did not help, and GM told one owner the car works as designed. The other reports cover the convertible's rear glass separating from the top. One car showed it at 32k miles, and owners were told the repair is not covered.

Fuel pumps fail and leave the car unable to start. Before that, owners notice whining from the tank, hesitation, stalling, and a fuel smell at startup. One car was first misdiagnosed with a bad battery. A broken weld on a fuel line bracket at the cylinder head caused a leak that sprayed fuel toward the exhaust, a fire risk. Poorly welded exhaust pieces come loose repeatedly and let fumes escape.

Both reports describe a sudden loss of control at freeway speed that ended in a crash. In one, the car kicked sideways during a lane change, left the highway, and flipped. In the other, a rear wheel locked, the brake pedal went hard, and the car spun out. Both drivers felt the car speed up instead of slowing down. The two crashes injured 3 people, and one car later showed antilock brake and stability system faults.