Shifter assembly- Shift to Park. The 2018 Chevrolet Traverse repeatedly shows a shift to park message when the vehicle is already in park, this causes the vehicle to not turn off. I have already had this issue fixed by a dealership previously and the issue has come back yet again.
2018 Chevrolet Traverse
Owner reports · Recalls · Investigations
Similar to other model years
Owner complaints for the 2018 Chevrolet Traverse do not stand out strongly from the model-year median of 302.
About this comparison →How this year compares
Owner complaints by model year
Compare all Traverse years →Counts vary with age, sales and reporting. They are not failure rates.
What owners reported most
All reported categories
Tap a category to read its complaints. One report may name several components.
When problems were reported
Mileage at the reported incident
186 reports with mileage · 274 unknown
NHTSA’s mileage field refers to the reported incident, not necessarily the filing date. This shows report counts, not the likelihood of a failure.
What to inspect
Issues worth paying extra attention to based on owner reports.
- Power Train. Review the 194 owner reports in this category and discuss these concerns during a pre-purchase inspection. Read reports →
- Electrical System. Review the 101 owner reports in this category and discuss these concerns during a pre-purchase inspection. Read reports →
- Engine. Review the 84 owner reports in this category and discuss these concerns during a pre-purchase inspection. Read reports →
NHTSA owner reports · September 18, 2026 snapshot.
Power Train complaints
194 reportsI purchase my 2018 Traverse in 2020 from day one there was a transmission problem. Took it to a Chevrolet dealer and they told me there something broken inside the transmission which it was still under warranty. A year later we notice the transmission would slip from time to time. Took it to the dealership told the service depar…
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I purchase my 2018 Traverse in 2020 from day one there was a transmission problem. Took it to a Chevrolet dealer and they told me there something broken inside the transmission which it was still under warranty. A year later we notice the transmission would slip from time to time. Took it to the dealership told the service department the issue I was having with the vehicle. Just to be on the safe side I told them to do a transmission flush on the vehicle and ask the service tech to drive it to make there were any problems. Of course I was told everything was fine with the transmission. Maybe three weeks later it was still doing the same thing slipping from time to time. Now current yesterday I went to the store with no problem, went to leave the vehicle wouldn't go in reverse and barely wanting to move. I had to put the transmission into manual to get it home. The next day I was able to drive it to the dealership to see what was wrong with it. A few hours later, I received the unwanted phone call saying the transmission was done. I was told $11,000 dollars for the repair and two weeks for it to be complete. Now I am stuck in between a hard place and a rock. I am not sure if I want to take the chance on having it replaced for it to do the same thing again in the future.
Lost power to transmission at 36k miles. Transmission replaced by GM. Currently, the vehicle lost transmission power while driving and had to be towed to dealership. Notified that the transmission needs replaced again
as i come to a stop and go to accelerate my transmission stutters and sometimes slips,i went to gm website and there is a recall on the 2018 chevy traverse transmission but my vin isnt included. i have all the symptons of the recall as described on the gm website but again my vin isnt included in the recall. it only has 61k mile…
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as i come to a stop and go to accelerate my transmission stutters and sometimes slips,i went to gm website and there is a recall on the 2018 chevy traverse transmission but my vin isnt included. i have all the symptons of the recall as described on the gm website but again my vin isnt included in the recall. it only has 61k miles i been having issue since around 30k i been in and out of dealership but the test drive it and it doesnt do it and they just give it back to me,they told me i gotta catch it doing it and try to get it in.i contacted chevy and they instructed me to come to this site fill this form out. chevy told me my vehicle probally wasnt included in the recall because not enough people reported it so i should fill out a report. around 55k miles when the transmission slipped and the rpms rose really high it snapped the drive shaft which was scary as i had my children in car and car just stopped moving right in the middle of traffic if it would of been busy i could of been rear ended because of the sudden stoppage. i keep trying to get back in dealership but i work mornings so the driving i do is later i day so when it acts up the dealer is closed and they are closed sat and sun so by the time i get to them the next day or on a monday it doesnt do it for them so they just keep giving me car back and i keep worrying about something happening like on the highway with my kids in car. the dealer did have someone test drive car and it did reproduce the symptoms but they made appointment for following week and when tech it then it didnt act up so it was returned to me once again
Purchased the car in 2022 noticed some trans slipping issues and immediately reported it to the purchasing dealer. They took the car in serviced it and said it was good shortly after that noticed the problem again. We took it to be looked at and was told "nothing was noticed". A few months later again noticed some issues took …
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Purchased the car in 2022 noticed some trans slipping issues and immediately reported it to the purchasing dealer. They took the car in serviced it and said it was good shortly after that noticed the problem again. We took it to be looked at and was told "nothing was noticed". A few months later again noticed some issues took it to another dealership and was told "nothing was noticed". Driving time dropped on the vehicle 2023-2025. Once instance driving down a major highway transmission started slipping. I reached out to Chevrolet and they were less than inclined to offer help other than to say take it in for service. I explained to them that we were lucky we were not in an accident as we lost transmission while driving on a major highway. Same response. Sporadically it would happen but no major problems. Fast forward to 2026 we noticed 2 weeks ago that driving down the street it would slip. Before we could make an appointment we pulled into a parking spot and reverse dropped. Now we have a car with no reverse. Took it to be looked at a local shop near where we were and was told transmission is bad. Now it sits because it can not be driven safely. Waiting for an appointment at a Chevrolet facility.
The vehicle shudders and it very slow to shift from park to drive.
Our Traverse has the transmission shudder really bad. This started at about 20k miles. Dealership made some adjustments which helped. Now that it out of warranty, this has gotten soo much worse. This needs to recalled.
The contact owns a 2018 Chevrolet Traverse. The contact stated that upon parking and attempting to turn off the vehicle, the message "Shift to Park" was displayed while the gear shifter was already in park(P). The contact stated that the vehicle responded after several attempts to shift to park(P). The dealer and the manufacture…
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The contact owns a 2018 Chevrolet Traverse. The contact stated that upon parking and attempting to turn off the vehicle, the message "Shift to Park" was displayed while the gear shifter was already in park(P). The contact stated that the vehicle responded after several attempts to shift to park(P). The dealer and the manufacturer were not contacted. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The failure mileage was approximately 81,000.
My car has been acting odd and shaking a lot. Was told it could be transmission since i fixed everything else it could be
My 2018 Traverse has had several issues the past few years such as the electrical components in the car turning on and off randomly, a shift to park message which has been fixed twice, and the most current problem is the transmission. I was out of town 160 miles away with my family of 6 and we were about to drive home when the …
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My 2018 Traverse has had several issues the past few years such as the electrical components in the car turning on and off randomly, a shift to park message which has been fixed twice, and the most current problem is the transmission. I was out of town 160 miles away with my family of 6 and we were about to drive home when the engine started to sound forced while I was driving. It wouldn't go past 30 mph and I had to quickly and safely get off the road and look for a mechanic. Had we already gotten on the freeway my family would have been in much more danger. After driving cautiously to 2 mechanics they referred us to a transmission service location. We had to leave the car there for several hours and came to find out that the transmission needed to be replaced and it would cost anywhere between $4,000-$9,000 depending on if they try to fix our transmission or replace it with another transmission and the cost would depend on the warranty years. We ended up getting it towed home so that our local mechanic can take a look at it. We still haven't gotten it fixed because the repair cost is so high and we can't afford it. For being a 2018 and only having 65,000 miles we should not be having transmission issues. We also took it in to our local Chevy service dealer who confirmed the transmission needs to be repaired or replaced and an accurate cost is unknown until they open it but the first estimate was $10,000. My vehicle is available for inspection upon request. I did see there was a recall for transmission issues for this make and model but it doesn't come up for my VIN. I really hope that Chevrolet can apply the recall to all VIN numbers affected because it is a very costly repair and has put my families safety at risk. It should not keep happening to others.
Official recalls
221V246000 · Air Bags:critical Fasteners
Apr 8, 2021
General Motors, LLC (GM) is recalling certain 2010-2015, 2017 Buick Enclave, 2010-2019 Chevrolet Traverse, and 2011-2016 GMC Acadia vehicles. The side curtain air bags may not be properly attached.
Consequence & remedy
Consequence: Unsecured side curtain air bags may not perform as intended, increasing the risk of injury.
Remedy: GM will notify owners, and dealers will inspect and, if necessary, realign or replace the weld nuts, free of charge. Owner notification letters were mailed on May 24, 2021. Owners may contact Buick customer service at 1-800-521-7300, Chevrolet customer service at 1-800-222-1020, and GMC customer service at 1-800-462-8782. GM's number for this recall is N202321200.
20V668000 · Power Train:automatic Transmission
Oct 29, 2020
General Motors LLC (GM) is recalling certain 2018-2019 Chevrolet Cruze and Buick LaCrosse, 2018-2020 Chevrolet Equinox, Chevrolet Traverse and GMC Terrain, 2018 Chevrolet Malibu, 2019-2020 Buick Encore, Buick Enclave, Cadillac XT4, Chevrolet Blazer and GMC Acadia, and 2020 Cadillac XT6 vehicles. The start/stop accumulator endcap may have missing bolts.
Consequence & remedy
Consequence: Missing bolts on the start-stop accumulator endcap could result in a transmission oil leak and may progress to a loss of propulsion, increasing the risk of a crash. A transmission fluid leak in the presence of an ignition source may increase the risk of fire.
Remedy: GM will notify owners, and dealers will inspect the start-stop transmission accumulator and replace it if any bolts are missing, free of charge. The recall began December 15, 2020. Owners may contact GMC customer service at 1-888-988-7267, Buick Customer service at 1-866-608-8080, Chevrolet customer service at 1-800-222-1020 or Cadillac customer service at 1-800-458-8006. GM's number for this recall is N202313440.
Model-level recall history does not show whether a particular VIN is affected or has received a repair. Check a VIN with NHTSA ↗
NHTSA investigations
0No exact-year investigations in this snapshot.
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