2015 Chevrolet SONIC - Ratings, Complaints and Recalls

The 2015 Chevrolet Sonic has an impressive overall safety rating of 5, indicating excellent crash protection. This car received the highest scores in various crash tests, including front crash, side crash, and rollover ratings. It is equipped with standard electronic stability control, which helps the driver maintain control during sudden maneuvers. Additionally, it offers optional features like forward collision warning and lane departure warning for enhanced safety.

On the downside, there have been 104 complaints reported for this model, which is relatively high. Furthermore, there have been 3 recalls issued for the 2015 Chevrolet Sonic, suggesting potential issues that need to be addressed. Overall, while the safety features and ratings of this car are noteworthy, potential buyers should be aware of the reported complaints and recalls before making a purchase decision.

Top stats at a glance

Complaint Count

104

Recall Count

3

Investigation Count

0

Safety Rating

5/5

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Safety Features

2015 Chevrolet Sonic 4 DR FWD Safety Features

Here are the safety features that come as standard on the 2015 Chevrolet Sonic 4 DR FWD

Electronic Stability Control (ESC)

ESC is an advanced safety feature in vehicles designed to help drivers maintain control during challenging driving conditions. By continuously monitoring various factors such as steering angle, vehicle speed, and individual wheel speeds, ESC can detect and reduce the risk of skidding or loss of control. It achieves this by automatically applying brakes to specific wheels to stabilize the vehicle.

Standard
Forward Collision Warning (FCW)

Forward Collision Warning (FCW) is a safety feature in vehicles that helps prevent frontal collisions by alerting the driver of an imminent collision with a vehicle or obstacle ahead. Using sensors such as radar or cameras, FCW monitors the distance and speed of vehicles in front, and if it detects a potential collision, it provides visual and/or auditory warnings to prompt the driver to take evasive action.

Optional
Lane Departure Warning (LDW)

Lane Departure Warning (LDW) is a safety feature in vehicles that alerts drivers when their vehicle unintentionally drifts out of its lane without signaling. Utilizing cameras or sensors to monitor lane markings on the road, LDW detects when the vehicle crosses these lines and triggers visual, auditory, or haptic alerts to notify the driver of potential lane departure.

Optional

2015 Chevrolet Sonic 4 DR FWD Safety Ratings

Here we have the crash and rollover ratings for the 2015 Chevrolet Sonic 4 DR FWD Where possible we've included the ratings for the oldest and latest models of this car so you can compare how the safety ratings have changed over time.

Frontal Crash Ratings

Combines Driver and Passenger star ratings into a single frontal rating. The frontal barrier test simulates a head-on collision between two similar vehicles, each moving at 35 mph.

Test 2012 Score 2015 Score 2020 Score
Overall Front Crash Rating 5 5 5
Front Crash Driver Side Rating 5 5 5
Front Crash Passenger Side Rating 5 5 5

Side Crash Ratings

Combines Side Barrier and Side Pole Star Ratings into a single side rating.

Test 2012 Score 2015 Score 2020 Score
Overall Side Crash Rating 5 5 5
Side Crash Drivers Side Rating 5 5 5
Side Crash Passenger Side Rating 5 5 5
Combined Side Barrier Pole Rating - Front 5 5 5
Combined Side Barrier Pole Rating - Rear 5 5 5
Overall Side Barrier Rating 5 5 5

Rollover Ratings

The Rollover Resistance test measures the risk of rollover in a single-vehicle, loss-of-control scenario.

Test 2012 Score 2015 Score 2020 Score
Rollover Rating 4 4 4
Rollover Possibility % 0% 0% 0%
Dynamic Tip Result No Tip No Tip No Tip
Side Pole Crash Rating 5 5 5

Complaints for the 2015 Chevrolet SONIC

This chart show the number of complaints for each car component. A Higher number of complaints could indicate that this car might have a common fault. Something to look out for when purchasing one.

Component Complaints

Choose a component to see what complaints people have made about them.

Complaint:
"air bag light on. there are 4 codes in the sdm, due to an internal fault in the sensing diagnostic module. the dealership states that it has to be replaced and will cost close to $1100 to have repaired and to clear all of the codes."
Components Involved: AIR BAGS
Date of incident: 2024-12-06

Complaint:
"passenger side front airbags did not deploy during a front end vehicle crash. all other airbags in vehicle did deploy. injury did occur due to this."
Components Involved: AIR BAGS
Date of incident: 2024-11-04

Complaint:
"the passenger air bag system turns off even with an adult in the passenger seat. sometimes it turns on and then turns off midway through a trip, while the vehicle is in motion, with no explanation. it works sometimes and other times does not for no rhyme or reason. *tr"
Components Involved: AIR BAGS
Date of incident: 2022-06-05

Complaint:
"passenger side airbag sensor light is inconsistent. with any passenger seated the "on" light does not stay on. it will sometimes come on temporarily then off again. this happens whether or not the car is in motion. i have noticed numerous similar concerns from others on line and even on this site."
Components Involved: AIR BAGS
Date of incident: 2019-01-10

Complaint:
"the passenger side (occupant sensor) air bag switch is inconsistent. it will not always turn on when a passenger is in the seat. sometimes it does sometimes is does not."
Components Involved: AIR BAGS
Date of incident: 2020-07-12

Complaint:
"yesterday 9-9-2018, i started car, drove it one block and airbag light came on. car has 30k miles, never been in an accident, and never had any safety problem. dealer says it went out of warranty 5-26-2018........"
Components Involved: AIR BAGS
Date of incident: 2018-09-09

Complaint:
"our vehicle was hit while in motion at approximately 30 mph on a city street on the driver side by another vehicle that didn't yield at a stop intersection. side airbags did not deploy. entire driver side of our the vehicle was destroyed. my head bounced off the driver side window causing injury that i didn't seek medical attention for. child in backseat driver side hit head as well, and did seek medical attention. our vehicle was inoperable, and had to be towed from the scene."
Components Involved: AIR BAGS
Date of incident: 2018-05-06

Complaint:
"tl* the contact owns a 2015 chevrolet sonic. the contact stated that the air bag warning indicator illuminated. the dealer was notified of the failure and diagnosed that there was a premature failure with the sdm module. the manufacturer was notified of the failure. the approximate failure mileage was 46,000."
Components Involved: AIR BAGS
Date of incident: 2016-02-09

Complaint:
"tl* the contact owned a 2015 chevrolet sonic. while merging into the left lane, an oncoming vehicle crashed into the driver side door of the contact's vehicle. the driver side air bag failed to deploy. a police report was filed and there were no injuries. the vehicle was destroyed and towed. the manufacturer was made aware of the failure. the failure mileage was 9,000. ..updated 12/28/16 *bf *tr"
Components Involved: AIR BAGS
Date of incident: 2016-08-07

Complaint:
"air bags deployed while driving down the freeway. no collision once so ever, police and i agreed there was no physically indication on why they went off. as well as the gm inspector could not find anything either. still waiting to hear back from gm."
Components Involved: AIR BAGS
Date of incident: 2018-02-05

Recalls for the 2015 Chevrolet SONIC

Component Recalls

Choose a component to see what recalls people have made about them.

Recall:
"general motors llc (gm) is recalling certain model year 2014-2015 chevrolet spark vehicles manufactured april 30, 2014, to may 20, 2015, and 2015 chevrolet sonic vehicles manufactured june 18, 2014, to june 10, 2015. in the affected vehicles, equipped with the base radio and onstar, the radio may lock up due to a software issue, causing the display to go blank and all audio functions to cease. because of this, there may be no warning chimes such as the reminder to buckle the seat belt and the key being left in ignition when the driver goes to exit the vehicle. as such, these vehicles fail to comply with the requirements of federal motor vehicle safety standard (fmvss) no. 208 "occupant crash protection", and 114 "theft protection.""
Consequence:
Without audible indicators, the driver may leave the key in the ignition, increasing the risk of theft. If a driver or front passenger does not buckle their seat belt, there would be no chime to remind them to fasten their seat belts. If a driver or passenger does not buckle their seat belt there is an increased risk that they will be injured in a crash.
Remedy:

GM will notify owners, and dealers will update the radio software, free of charge. The recall began on August 11, 2015. Owners may contact Chevrolet customer service at 1-800-222-1020. GM's number for this recall is 15504.

Component(s) Involved: EQUIPMENT > ELECTRICAL > RADIO/TAPE DECK/CD ETC.
Date of incident: 2015-06-30

Recall:
"general motors llc (gm) is recalling certain model year 2013-2016 chevrolet sonic and trax vehicles and 2013-2015 chevrolet spark vehicles equipped with a bring your own media radio. the affected radios may fail to provide an audible warning chime when the driver, after turning off the ignition and leaving the key in the cylinder, waits 10 minutes or longer to open the door. as such, these vehicles fail to comply with the requirements of federal motor vehicle safety standard (fmvss) number 114 "theft protection.""
Consequence:
Without audible indicators, the driver may leave the key in the ignition, increasing the risk of theft.
Remedy:

GM will notify owners, and dealers will update the radio software, free of charge. The manufacturer has not yet provided a notification schedule. Owners may contact Chevrolet customer service at 1-800-222-1020. GM's number for this recall is 17130.

Component(s) Involved: EQUIPMENT > ELECTRICAL > RADIO/TAPE DECK/CD ETC.
Date of incident: 2016-04-28

CHEVROLET Overall Complaint Ranking

This table shows the ranking of car manufacturers when it comes to most complaints and recalls. The manufacturer with the most complaints is at the top. However this doesn't necassarily mean they should be avoided. Some manufacturers might just have more popular or affordable cars which a lot of people have bought. Which means there's more scope for a complaint to be made. Use the ranking table below as a part your wider research into buying a car.

CHEVROLET ranks 2 out of 44 in the complaints ranking table.

Manufacturer Complaint Count Recall Count Ranking
FORD 208,358 3,259 1
CHEVROLET 111,306 2,082 2
TOYOTA 81,019 1,852 3
HONDA 61,937 1,268 4
NISSAN 56,226 930 5
DODGE 45,756 827 6
HYUNDAI 44,150 649 7
GMC 34,441 1,410 8
KIA 29,832 501 9
CHRYSLER 27,698 254 10
TESLA 26,230 730 11
BMW 24,890 1,877 12
VOLKSWAGEN 23,125 829 13
MERCEDES-BENZ 19,066 2,925 14
SUBARU 18,513 703 15
MAZDA 10,599 364 16
PONTIAC 10,430 138 17
CADILLAC 9,434 444 18
AUDI 7,865 1,093 19
BUICK 7,851 279 20
SATURN 7,672 84 21
MERCURY 7,374 135 22
LEXUS 6,373 408 23
LINCOLN 5,897 423 24
ACURA 5,722 382 25
MINI 5,585 366 26
INFINITI 4,000 187 27
MITSUBISHI 3,912 397 28
VOLVO 3,875 727 29
PORSCHE 2,646 1,231 30
SUZUKI 2,272 123 31
FIAT 2,205 80 32
SAAB 1,536 76 33
JAGUAR 1,195 198 34
SMART 528 17 35
GENESIS 436 42 36
ISUZU 249 37 37
ALFA ROMEO 161 37 38
MASERATI 76 46 39
BENTLEY 46 159 40
POLESTAR 42 2 41
LUCID 14 6 42
CODA 4 2 43
MAYBACH 0 0 44

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