Vehicle report
2012 CHEVROLET SONIC
This model year
What the record shows
The 2012 Chevrolet Sonic is a compact car, and the 2nd model year of a nameplate NHTSA records from 2011 to 2020.
The EPA rated four configurations: engines from 1.4-litre four-cylinder to 1.8-litre four-cylinder, front-wheel drive only, three transmissions and running on regular gasoline.
Combined fuel economy ranges from 28 to 32 mpg depending on which one you have.
NHTSA's best overall crash rating for this model year is 5 out of five stars.
The federal record holds 354 owner complaints, 7 safety recalls and 1,313 service bulletins for it.
Counts are reports, not rates. A complaint is something an owner chose to file; it is unverified and unadjusted for how many of these cars were sold, so the useful comparison is against other model years of the same car. Recalls and investigations carry more weight because a manufacturer or regulator acted on them.
Reading this report
Complaint counts are reports filed with NHTSA, not failure rates. A common model collects more of them than a rare one that breaks more often.