General Motors has released an Emissions Recall for select units of the 2024 Chevy Trax and 2024 Chevy Trailblazer due to an issue with the engine control module (ECM).
“General Motors initiated a voluntary emissions recall affecting certain model-year 2024 Chevrolet Traxes, Trailblazers and Buick Envistas to resolve an engine ignition timing issue,” said a GM spokesperson to GM Authority. “We’re taking this action out of an abundance of caution and working to provide a quick remedy for our customers.”
The problem: Affected Bow Tie crossovers with the turbocharged 1.2L I3 LIH gasoline engine may have a condition where the ECM may not properly control engine ignition timing following certain Auto Engine Stop / Start events.
The hazards: If this condition were to occur, the Malfunction Indicator Lamp (Check Engine Light) would illuminate, and the engine may run rough or knock. In fact, if the vehicle is driven with engine knock, engine damage could occur.
The fix: Certified GM technicians will be instructed to inspect affected vehicles and reprogram the ECM as necessary. It should take roughly 30 minutes to complete the fix. It’s worth noting that proper engine ignition timing control will resume following a subsequent Auto Engine Stop / Start event.
Affected components: ECM.
Affected vehicles:
Number of affected vehicles: It’s currently unclear how many units are affected by the recall at this time.
Owners should: General Motors will notify owners of affected vehicles and instruct them to make an appointment with their local GM dealer. Any owners who are unsure whether or not their vehicle is affected by this recall can visit my.gm.com/recalls and type in their VIN to see any open recalls or other actions that may be active on it. Owners can also reach out to Chevy or the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) directly with any questions or concerns they may have using the recall number and contact information included below.
Contacts:
- GM recall number: A242435780
- Chevy Customer Service: 1-800-222-1020
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Comments
If I owned one, I’d never use the blasted stop-start function to begin with, turning it off at every start, so I wouldn’t care. They feel the need to shove all this junk, like stop/start, down our throats and I’m rapidly tiring of it. Most of the tech junk too.
We bought a 2024 Trax LS this year. I thought I wouldn’t like the auto-stop annoyance/feature but it’s actually not all that bad. It’s very quiet when idling so a lot of times I have to look down at the tach to check if it actually turned off. There’s even a little notation printed on the tach where the needle drops when the engine stops and it’s labelled “Auto-Stop”. The A/C keeps blowing cool air and the engine starts right back up the nanosecond you start to release the brake. It’s a lot more unobtrusive than the F*&d Escape I rented in Oklahoma a few years back.
We’ll be taking the Trax on some road-trips this summer and I’m curious to see what kind of mileage it gets. We’ve only gone through a tank of gas so far and it’s averaging just over 32 mpg from 75% hwy. / 25% city driving.
We already brought it in for this recall and to have the ambient light sensor replaced under warranty.
Here’s a way to avoid auto start/stop …. that extra little wire on the negative terminal of the battery …. just unplug it and tie it off so it doesn’t fall into anything else under the hood. What auto start/stop does is allow the engine to either run or stop when at a stop light for instance. It stops the engine if the 12 volt battery has sufficient charge on it … when the 12 volt battery needs charging it keeps the engine running. The only side affect, you’ll need to get used to the same light that says auto start/stop is switched “off” is illuminated all the time. You don’t need the $20 to $100 gizmo that you plug in to stop the feature.
Friend, you don’t know how much you don’t know … those extra terminal wires exist on cars built with the auto start/stop system. I drive Fords and am about to take delivery on a ’25 Trax. LAST WEEK I showed the dealer salesman in the dealership parking lot how to disconnect it … and it worked. And we looked at one of every model on the lot from pickups, vans, car, and SUV …All had the wire. You friend, are the poser … I can backup my claim, this isn’t a new idea, many YouTube “influencers” have shown this for years … by the way, do you have a warehouse full of auto start/stop disconnect kits you can’t sell now because someone who knows more than you do “shared” facts not FEAR (false evidence appearing real) on this platform ?
There is no “extra little wire” on the 2nd Gen Trax negative battery terminal.
Yes there is … while some are exposed, the 24/25 Trax has a plastic cover that hides it. It’s the same cover that “hides” the fuse block under the hood. Always look before you speak, showed the dealer salesman last weekend how to do this for a lady customer who recently purchased a Trax and hates the auto/start/stop, we met in the dealership parking lot, took about 45 seconds.
So, now it’s the fuse block.
I did look under the battery cover because you used the word “battery.” There are no “little” wires at all, let alone “extra.” Just seven big honkin’ cables running off the positive bus plate.
There are no wires at all under the fuse block cover.
So, what’s the next location of your “that extra little wire”?
Oh, let me… Hanging down underneath the engine, there’s an auxiliary water pump. The “that extra little wire” is “hidden” in there!!
Seeing you’re willing to “go into the weeds” and show your total ignorance in all of this, here’s the facts jack …you’re just some little “social media troll”, dozens have come forward to do an thanked me on F/B private message since this back an fourth started and you can’t grasp the fact that an accessory connection that’s on the negative power cable that hooked up to the ground plug on the battery is there, the upper right hand side of the fuse block cover hides the negative battery cable, you obviously can’t handle the task of removing the cover an unplugging the semi round terminal. But that’s ok … just use the on/off button and cry about the auto start/stop. And by the way, since you won’t use your real name that sinks the hook about you being a “social media troll” who can’t find his/her way outta a paper bag with one end open to the world. Now, am done with someone like you.
The “accessory connection that’s on the negative power cable that hooked up to the ground plug on the battery is there, the upper right hand side of the fuse block cover hides the negative battery cable” is delusional.
That Gen2 Trax under-the-hood fuse block is an box measuring 6x8x5 inches. Removing the 1½” deep cover reveals a panel stuffed full of fuses.
There are three massive wrapped harnesses and one cable entering the fuse block and as viewed looking from front to rear of the Trax…
One at the left rear bottom corner running out from the firewall. Two are terminated in large plugs, bottom front where the harnesses branch in from various runs.
On the upper front is a thick single red cable with a massive bolted lug running to a 250A fuse on the battery’s positive bus plate. The bus plate is hiding under the battery cover.
Without disassembly or an OEM service manual, what goes on in that 190 or so cubic inches under the fuse panel is speculation, other than CANFD bus multiplexing is involved judging by some harness shielding.
Barefoot knows he’s been exposed and needs to resort to name calling, character assassination and an imaginary fan club.
Nuff said.
Post your real name … and post the above. Now, go to YouTube, look up Micah Martin’s post concerning the auto start/stop plug in … and watch it, about 3 minutes … the only difference over the model years is the size of the “square” plastic receiver that it plugs, some made today are smaller. This video proves everything I’ve written to be true. Many videos are out there from Ford, GM, and Chrysler. I’d thought by this day an time you’d looked up the video, I suppose that the research capability for others are better than some. I said I was thru with you, but you can’t seem to admit defeat … but the evidence defeats you. You can unplug the wire, or order the accessory harness that does the same bypass … now understand this … you locked horns with a writer whose covered the auto industry for close to 50 years, I don’t write/post anything that isn’t possible/provable.
Don’t even start with me on that “auto stop/start” garbage. It would have been a dealbreaker if gm hadn’t relented and began installing defeat switches. Second thing I do after starting my Trax and fastening the seatbelt is turn that “feature” (annoyance) OFF.
Actually, it’s the third thing you do. The seatbelt should be the first. Doesn’t that chime annoy you?
For me, it’s also the second. I can’t remember a vehicle that has chimed at me for seatbelts before I shift out of park. Decades. I don’t own a newer GM vehicle with the “Buckle to Drive” feature – that could be it. If that’s why it’s chiming you to death, my understanding is that it can be disabled easily, probably in the Driver Information Screen.
I actually like the stop start.
Yup. Me too. It’s near-instant, smooth and quiet. I just went a winter/spring of 95% (no HVAC) major big-city stop & go and ACC and averaged 32 MPG; trip odo miles divided by pump gallons. The combination of the two is a rush-hour traffic godsend.
The Trax has the latest gen where it stops with one cylinder at TDC so only a bump from the starter gets it going. An electric motor keeps the torque converter, um, torqued in first gear.
I haven’t verified it for the Trax, but presumably the latest gen starter motors have two rotors, one for the auto start. (Waiting on some one to ask, what’s the other one for…)
It’s the same auto start/stop tech used in hybrids except they don’t have starter motors but use one of the electric motors.
Agreed. It doesn’t bother me in the slightest, I don’t understand the level of hate and anger aimed at it.
Why is it that we have start/stop to save on emissions at stop lights, but we have drive-up windows at every bank, fast food joint, Starbucks, dry cleaner, pharmacy where people will sit for 15/20 minutes waiting for a cup of coffee or they’ll sit in the parking lot of their kid’s school for 25 minutes waiting to pick up their child?
Your start/stop should work everywhere you mentioned. If it doesn’t bring it in for that recall.
Does it work when the engine is idling and the transmission is in park? I thought it only worked when the trans is in gear and you come to a complete stop.
No, not when in park, only when in “D” and when you come to a stop…..except under certain conditions. It’s a long list.
I own a 2016 Rav4, a 2005 Rav4, and a 2017 Encore. NONE of them have start/stop.
Your Encore should have it……it came on that year and model.
The recall has NOTHING to do with any of the things mentioned in his list. It does not work when you’re in park.
I wonder if this recall is related to the stumble/stutter/hesitation that occurs cruising at 65-70 mph.
Mine feels like it surges, it is very slight but noticeable at highway speeds. The tach needle stays steady during this sensation.
I never had the sensation you are describing UNTIL I had this recall done. I’m very disappointed, it also seems to adjust the throttle of the car which feels like full throttle at 25%.
How did you get the recall done so fast? It only came out 2 days ago!?!? It seems this car, from my own driving and reviewers, that the first 1/3 of the throttle is very responsive, probably for city driving.
I had made an initial free courtesy appointment 2 months ago when I bought the car. The appt. happens to be on Thursday. Fingers crossed.
It was released on 05/30/24. GM Program # A242435780.
My service tech said to expect some surging and lagging, rough idle and gear hunting for the first 50-100 miles while the ECU goes through a learning curve. Mine was driving fairly funky but now at 70 miles, it’s just about as smooth as it always was.
I had the recall done 3 days ago and the car drives fantastic now! Smooth and steady, no stutter/sputter or hesitation. Very happy.
That sounds accurate, I had those issues come up after the reprogramming but now its smooth. No complaints here!
Just got back from looking at a Trax. Best time to window shop. No salesman asking,,’what do I have to do to get you in this car today?’. Interested in as 2024 1RS. Was hoping to see the Montana available but doubt it.
My wife likes the Montana as well, and wants one… hopefully the truck will be available, if we could get rid of “Typhoid Mary” and let some of “us” help them make sales an marketing decision based on common sense, not what the current crop of “woke soccer moms” wants to buy things would be very different … this is why we don’t have a Caprice Estate Station Wagon or the Chevy Astro. I owned three of the Astros, two Estate Wagons … built to last, comfortable, and made sense. I’m looking at the Trax myself, hopefully in about two weeks a LT in Gray will be in our driveway.
I was hoping I would be wrong, but I knew deep down inside that the auto stop start systems would lead to problems down the road. This recall is one example. The starter’s long term durability will be another. I also don’t feel safe to have the motor shut off and hopefully quickly back on again when I’m trying to make a quick left turn on a busy intersection.
Do away with it yourself … 1-turn off the car. 2-open the hood. 3-remove the plastic cover that covers the battery box. 4- locate the negative cable … on the negative cable is an “accessory” wire/plug. Simply unplug the extra wire on the cable. 5-what does this wire do ? It’s part of a system that monitors the “charge” on the battery … if the charge on the battery is good, it stops the engine, if the battery charge is low it keeps the engine running. Now if you don’t live with rush hour traffic fine … if your drive includes at least 30 minutes to a hour then your battery will not have enough of a charge as you start/stop too much. 6-the only side effect the auto start/stop indicator on the dash stays lite up. You don’t need to buy any “gizmo” to stop this.
There is no “extra little wire” on the 2nd Gen Trax negative battery terminal.
Why is there so much cabin noise 2024 active same as my 2017 lt
Since the recall I have lost confidence in this car! I feel that the cars affected should be recalled period and
The customer given a new car, no questions asked.
I am going in tomorrow for my software adjustment. I don’t know the percentage of ppl who survive this horrific thing that will be done to my Trax, but I hope I make it. What a catastrophe of unmatched proportion.