2020 Chevrolet Trax: What to check before buying

The instrument cluster screen goes black, turns snowy or fills with white dots while driving, leaving no digital speed or gear readout. Blackouts can last 15 to 25 minutes. Reports cite 30,000 and 88,000 miles. Dealers and mechanics often cannot reproduce the fault, and the fix offered is a full cluster replacement. The radio and touch screen also go black or stop responding. Other reports describe repeated warning lights along with lost power. The one crash-flagged report is about a dealer hiding a rebuilt title, not about a defect.

Turbocharger failure is the main pattern. The car loses power, sets the check engine light and drops into limp mode, in one case unable to go over 40 mph. Several reports tie the problem to cold weather, either a plastic turbo tube cracking or condensation freezing in winter, and some owners describe repeat turbo replacements. Coolant leaks and overheating also show up, including a cracked overflow line and a water pump failure that led to a blown head gasket. One fire report describes smoke coming through the vents, lost power and the vehicle burning to a total loss.

The transmission jerks, slips or shudders, or slams into gear when pulling away from a stop. Power drops on hills and with the air conditioning on, which makes highway merges risky. Hill Assist fails to hold the car, and it rolls backward. Some report the shifter moving from Drive to Neutral with a light touch. Others describe the brakes locking at highway speed with StabiliTrak, ABS and traction control lights on. One of those repairs was traced to a fuse box. Dealers often cannot duplicate faults and return cars unrepaired.

Most reports here describe brakes locking up without warning at highway speed while the StabiliTrak and traction control lights come on. Repairs pile up: fuse block, master cylinder, coil pack, ABS module and brake booster. Cars sit at dealers for weeks between attempts. Other complaints cover a clunk when pulling away from a stop, Hill Assist rollback, a front lower control arm the dealer blamed on defective factory assembly, and service power steering warnings with shaking.

Failure to deploy in frontal and side impacts is the main complaint. Injuries include a concussion, a broken nose and spinal disc damage. In a crash at about 60 mph, the driver seatbelt also failed to lock. The front passenger occupant detection system can fail to sense a seated passenger. One report places this at 518 miles, and the dealer found the sensor within specification. A warning light that stays on is another complaint. These five reports include two crashes and four injuries.

The wheel can turn on its own and seize, and this has led to a crash into a parked car. Another crash followed a suspension part breaking. Power assist can cut out along with a service power steering warning, a speedometer reading zero and a total loss of power. Front lower control arms and tie rod ends wearing out early are reported at 23,300 miles. Two of the four complaints involve crashes.

Front brakes lock up while driving, including at interstate speed, with the StabiliTrak light on and an electronic brake control module code stored. Shops replace several parts without curing it, and dealers sometimes say nothing is wrong. Other reports describe the opposite problem. In one, the pedal needs several presses before the brakes grip. In another, a burst brake line between the master cylinder and ABS module sent the pedal to the floor, and the brake booster is suspected. The lockup pattern matches reports filed under suspension and power train.

Limp mode can cap speed at 9 mph. It comes with a code for a voltage mismatch between the accelerator pedal position sensor and the throttle position sensor. Clearing the code helps only briefly before the fault returns. A separate report says the hand parking brake does not hold the car when fully engaged, which is a risk on inclines. Another describes low RPM and slow acceleration with a B3935 code. With only three reports, no broad pattern is clear.