The old six-speed Traverse, with the most recalls of any first-generation year and a driver air bag inflator campaign that GM was still mailing letters about at the end of 2025. The engine is durable if it was fed; the timing chain is the bill if it wasn't.

The single most expensive thing that goes wrong on a first-generation Traverse. The chain stretches, and the correct repair means separating the engine and transmission from the car. A mechanic filming the job: 'this is why a timing chain job on the Chevy Traverse is so expensive. What you're looking at here is the engine cradle along with the transmission engine. The proper way to do this is to drop everything out.' A second mechanic will not take the work: 'I don't even do them at my shop no more because if I have to warranty it out, it's a job.' A third frames the risk honestly rather than dramatically: the chain, if neglected, 'doesn't stretch out and damage the engine' only because owners catch it, and 'that's the most expensive part of these vehicles and something that most often it goes wrong. But it doesn't happen always, doesn't happen on average. Just be careful.' The stated cause is oil intervals stretched to the manufacturer's own recommendation. No GM programme in our data covers this repair on a 2016. None of our sources quoted a price on camera, so we will not invent one; treat it as a major-repair line item and price it locally before you buy.

GM published a run of service bulletins for 2014 to 2017 Traverses describing 'a severe launch shudder in 1st gear from a stop, or while driving along when in 4th gear, or during the second-third upshift or third-second downshift,' plus a separate one for 'shake and/or shudder during light throttle acceleration between 25 and 80 mph at a steady state.' The remedy is to replace the upper and lower valve body housings. A TSB, a Technical Service Bulletin, is the fix instructions GM sends its dealers. It is not a warranty extension and it does not pay for anything once your powertrain warranty is over. A mechanic who reviews these bulletins is explicit: 'none of the registered issues were proven to be a safety concern, so there are no proper recalls for torque converters or transmissions for the Traverse model with free repairs.' Mechanics also disagree on how common this is. One sees transmission failure regularly and blames skipped fluid services, saying 'you're supposed to service your transmission about every 30,000 miles.' Another says he has 'never had honestly problems with transmissions on these vehicles.' Drive it and decide for yourself.

The everyday failures on this generation, all named by mechanics on camera. The EVAP purge valve, the part that meters fuel vapour from the tank into the engine to be burnt, is called 'the number one problem' by one mechanic: 'when this part goes out it will stick.' Another gives the code and the symptoms: 'another common code I get on these vehicles is P0496 valve stuck open. It's nothing too expensive to fix, you can even do it by yourself, but common symptoms are hesitation and cranking, hard start.' Power steering is next: pumps 'have a high failure rate,' get noisy when turning and make the wheel hard at low speed, and the lines and the rack leak. The expensive one is climate control: the rear air-conditioning lines corrode and leak, and 'that's really expensive actually to fix. Either to replace the complete lines, which can be up to $2,000 to fix, because there is lots of labor and even the parts are quite expensive.' The same mechanic offers the cheap alternative he actually performs: deleting the rear air conditioning, 'like 1 hour labor.' Also on the list: catalytic converters after prolonged misfires, valve cover gasket leaks at higher mileage, ignition coils, and fuel pumps that 'sometimes fail before the vehicle reaches 100,000 miles.'

Three smaller campaigns, all free, all worth confirming by VIN rather than assuming. Recall 15V-609 (GM number 15780) covers Traverses built between 18 August and 24 September 2015 whose windshield wiper motor 'may overheat when used,' increasing fire risk. GM's advice at the time was blunt: owners were told not to use the front wipers until the cover assembly had been replaced. Recall 15V-833 (GM number 21930) covers cars built 6 to 12 November 2015 whose 'third row left lower seat frame may have welds that are not in the correct location,' so the seat may not protect its occupant in a crash. Recall 21V-246 (GM number N202321200) is the smallest of all: 'the side curtain air bags may not be properly attached,' remedied by realigning or replacing weld nuts. Its scope reads 2010 to 2019 Traverse, but resolved on NHTSA's campaign-number endpoint it covers only 108 vehicles in total across every make and model year. Statistically your car is not in it. Check anyway, because the check is free.