AutoUtility currently tracks 20 official NHTSA owner defect complaints for the 2019 Chevrolet Cruze. Powertrain & Transmission issues are the most frequently reported category, appearing in 6 complaints (30% of submitted records). Among these NHTSA complaint records, 4 filings cite a crash, 1 cites a fire, 2 report one or more injuries.

Key Problem Findings
  • Total NHTSA Complaints: 20 reports
  • #1 Reported Problem Area: Powertrain & Transmission (6 reports • 30% of submitted complaints)
  • Secondary Problem Areas: Driver Assistance & Safety Tech (5), Engine & Cooling (5)
  • Crash-Citing Complaints: 4 filings
  • Fire-Citing Complaints: 1 filings
  • Complaints Reporting Injuries / Fatalities: 2 injury filings • 0 fatality filings
Reporting Methodology: Statistics describe unverified consumer submissions voluntarily filed with NHTSA. Complaint volume is not normalized for vehicle sales volume or miles driven. Multiple components can be cited within a single owner complaint submission.
Total Complaints
20
Submitted to NHTSA ODI
Crash-Citing Complaints
4
Filings citing a collision
Fire-Citing Complaints
1
Filings citing smoke or fire
Complaints Reporting Injuries
2
Filings citing one or more injuries
Complaints Reporting Fatalities
0
Consumer filings citing fatalities

Most Reported Problems for 2019 Chevrolet Cruze

Top automotive subsystem defect categories ranked by unique owner complaint volume in federal records

#1 Problem Area 30% of complaints

Powertrain & Transmission

6 owner complaints submitted to NHTSA ODI
⚠️ NHTSA Recall Context

NHTSA records list 1 official safety recall campaign for this model year involving the same broad component area:

*Component overlap means an official recall exists for the same broad vehicle system. It does not establish that an individual owner complaint was caused by, covered by, or resolved through that recall.
✓ 0 crashes or fires cited
#2 Problem Area 25% of complaints

Driver Assistance & Safety Tech

5 owner complaints submitted to NHTSA ODI
⚠️ 3 crash reports 🔥 1 fire report 🩹 2 injury report entries
#3 Problem Area 25% of complaints

Engine & Cooling

5 owner complaints submitted to NHTSA ODI
✓ 0 crashes or fires cited
#4 Problem Area 15% of complaints

Brakes & Traction Control

3 owner complaints submitted to NHTSA ODI
⚠️ NHTSA Recall Context

NHTSA records list 1 official safety recall campaign for this model year involving the same broad component area:

*Component overlap means an official recall exists for the same broad vehicle system. It does not establish that an individual owner complaint was caused by, covered by, or resolved through that recall.
⚠️ 1 crash report
#5 Problem Area 15% of complaints

Air Bags & Restraints

3 owner complaints submitted to NHTSA ODI
⚠️ 1 crash report 🩹 1 injury report entry
Domain Share Note: Share percentage represents the proportion of unique complaint filings referencing each vehicle system. Because single complaints may cite multiple systems (such as engine and electrical simultaneously), domain percentages represent individual category incidence and may sum to over 100%.

Recent NHTSA Owner Reports for 2019 Chevrolet Cruze

Representative defect filings submitted by owners to the NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation

Driver Assistance & Safety Tech NHTSA ODI ID: #11747783
Crash Cited Filed: 07/01/2026

"The brakes system didnt seem to be stopping properly almost as if i had to push really hard on the brakes to get the car to stop. Finally today, I was 1.6 car lengths behind another vehicle whom slammed their brakes on for no reason and I had to do so as well. My car would not stop, the brakes..."

Incident Date: 07/01/2026 • Raw NHTSA Component: SERVICE BRAKES,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE
Powertrain & Transmission NHTSA ODI ID: #11730583
Filed: 04/11/2026

"For a year I have had my car to the shop multiple times due to a musty smell inside my car. I have never been able to find any fluids or moisture inside the car, however, the inside of my windshield tends to get a weird film on it, I am constantly cleaning to keep visibility especially at night...."

Incident Date: 07/05/2025 • Raw NHTSA Component: POWER TRAIN,ENGINE
Air Bags & Restraints NHTSA ODI ID: #11657080
Filed: 04/27/2025

"I am leasing this vehicle and it continues to have warning light on staring the vehicle engine power reduced as I'm driving and holds back vehicle and also airbag restraining system light continues also to be on. This is not normal wear and tear and I read previous years had this issue as well...."

Incident Date: 06/12/2024 • Raw NHTSA Component: ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,SEAT BELTS,ENGINE
Engine & Cooling NHTSA ODI ID: #11641590
Filed: 02/09/2025

"Timing chain rattles, due the the chain tensioner not having motor oil at early morning start-up. This causes the chain to be loose and eventually engine damage. Europe already issued recalls to this issue. They solved this issue by installing a seal, TIMING CHAIN TENSIONER FOR CHEVROLET GMC OPEL..."

Incident Date: 02/05/2025 • Raw NHTSA Component: ENGINE
Driver Assistance & Safety Tech NHTSA ODI ID: #11592522
Filed: 06/04/2024

"The vehicle needs the transmission bolts replaced has a recall need repaired as as possible. The automatic transmission jerk"

Incident Date: 06/03/2024 • Raw NHTSA Component: POWER TRAIN,ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE
Consumer Narrative Notice: Excerpts are sanitized text descriptions submitted by vehicle owners to the federal ODI database. They reflect the reporting consumer's observations at the time of filing and have not been independently confirmed by vehicle manufacturers or government investigators.

Complaint History for Chevrolet Cruze

Reported defect complaint volume across sibling model years (2015–2019)

Model Year NHTSA Complaints Crash Reports Safety Recalls Detailed Report
2015 Chevrolet Cruze 251 20 4 View 2015 Problems →
2016 Chevrolet Cruze 249 19 4 View 2016 Problems →
2017 Chevrolet Cruze 201 8 2 View 2017 Problems →
2018 Chevrolet Cruze 109 17 3 View 2018 Problems →
2019 Chevrolet Cruze Current Page 20 4 2 Current
Comparative Disclaimer: Complaint totals are unadjusted historical counts and are not normalized for vehicles sold, active fleet size, or total road mileage. Newer model years naturally have had less calendar exposure time to accumulate owner filings.

Detailed NHTSA Component Breakdown for 2019 Chevrolet Cruze

Complete distribution of consumer defect reports across all 15 granular NHTSA system and subsystem classifications

Vehicle Component / System Total Complaints Crash Reports Fire Reports Reported Injury Entries Reported Fatality Entries
Powertrain NHTSA category: POWER TRAIN 3 0 0 0 0
Air Bags NHTSA category: AIR BAGS 2 1 0 1 0
POWER TRAIN,ENGINE 2 0 0 0 0
Service Brakes NHTSA category: SERVICE BRAKES 2 0 0 0 0
Electrical System NHTSA category: ELECTRICAL SYSTEM 1 0 0 0 0
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,SEAT BELTS,ENGINE 1 0 0 0 0
Engine NHTSA category: ENGINE 1 0 0 0 0
FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM,BACK OVER PREVENTION 1 1 1 0 0
POWER TRAIN,ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE 1 0 0 0 0
SERVICE BRAKES,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE 1 1 0 0 0
Tires NHTSA category: TIRES 1 0 0 0 0
VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,ENGINE 1 0 0 0 0
VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,UNKNOWN OR OTHER 1 1 0 2 0
Visibility / Glass NHTSA category: VISIBILITY 1 0 0 0 0
Visibility & Wipers NHTSA category: VISIBILITY/WIPER 1 0 0 0 0
Data Attribution & Reporting Methodology: Complaints are unverified voluntary submissions to the NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation (ODI). Because multiple vehicle components can be cited within a single owner complaint submission, component-level rollups may sum to more than the unique complaint count (20). Injury and fatality entries in the detailed table reflect raw values entered by reporting consumers across individual submissions; they are not deduplicated casualty statistics and may include duplicate or unverified entries. Complaint volume is not normalized for sales volume or vehicle mileage and does not represent an audited component failure rate.
Official US Government Data Provenance

The complaint records on this page are retrieved directly from the NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) public database.

Local Production Store Compiled: August 2026 • Deterministic Audited Dataset • Zero Dynamic External API Runtime Latency.