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Chevy is one of America’s most popular car brands, but Chevy has made many mistakes in the past. The Chevy Traverse, while it’s usually a decent or good mid-size SUV, has two model years that are examples of those mistakes. Here are the two model years of the Traverse that you should never buy.

The 2010 Chevy Traverse

To be fair to the Traverse, CarComplaints.com doesn’t actually say that the 2010 Traverse is the worst model year of the car. That said, it was one of the two model years that were plagued by virtually identical issues.

As a result of that, not only did the 2010 Traverse receive the most complaints on Car Complaints, but it also received the “Beware of the Clunker” badge from Car Complaints. 

The main issue with the 2010 Traverse had to do with its engine. Sometimes, these complaints were mild, but the most common and the most severe issue was a total engine failure. Not only was this a potentially dangerous issue, but it was also a very expensive issue to fix as the only way to fix it was to simply replace the entire engine. 

The 2010 Traverses that suffered this issue had an average mileage of 103,000 miles, so they weren’t the newest cars on the road. However, the average price for repairing the engine, according to Car Complaints, was about $6,400. While this was a severe issue that affected many Traverse owners, the next model year of the Traverse was even worse. 

The 2011 is the worst model

The issues that the 2010 Traverse had were not serious enough for Chevy to redesign the whole car. As a result, the 2011 Traverse had many of the same issues that the 2010 Traverse had.

For example, the most common 2011 Traverse issues had to do with its engine. Like the 2010 Traverse, the 2011 Traverse usually started having some mild or minor engine problems at about the 70,000-mile mark, according to Car Complaints.

The most minor of these issues was that the 2011 Traverse’s engine would stall while it was on the road. This minor issue cost on average of about $390 to fix. However, down the line, the 2011 Traverse’s engine issues got more severe, and the repair costs also kept rising.

Car Complaints says that at about 76,000 miles, many 2011 Traverse owners had an issue where the engine would have reduced power. This cost, on average, about $2,100 to fix.

Then, at about 88,000 miles, many more 2011 Traverse owners suffered a total engine failure. This again could only be fixed by replacing the entire engine. On average, this repair cost owners about $5,200.

As a result of these chronic engine issues as well as other more minor problems, Car Complaints gave the 2011 Traverse a “Beware of the Clunker” badge. While these two model years weren’t great for Chevy, Chevy eventually bounced back. 

The modern Chevy Traverse is impressive

After the 2012 model year, Chevy finally solved the engine issues that were plaguing the Traverse. Since then, the Traverse has not only been a great SUV, but it’s also been relatively problem free. 

The complaints about the Traverse on CarComplaints.com have been on the decline ever since the 2012 model year. This is in part due to Chevy finally fixing those issues, but it’s also in part due to Chevy redesigning the Traverse for the 2018 model year. 

Currently, the Traverse is one of the better and more reliable SUVs on the market. It’s not the best SUV that’s available, but compared to the 2010 and 2011 model years of the Traverse, Chevy has taken a big step forward since those troubled times.

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