Open safety recalls, the components owners report failing most often, crash-test results and running costs for the 2017 Chevrolet Spark, assembled from NHTSA and EPA records.
Everything on this page applies to the model as a whole. Run its VIN to decode that exact car, its engine, trim, assembly plant and factory equipment, alongside these records.
Open a VIN recordRecalls and complaints are filed against a specific model year, so figures differ from one year to the next even within a single generation. See every Chevrolet Spark year.
NHTSA lists 1 recall for this make, model and year. Recalls apply to the model, so some may already be fixed on this specific car. A dealer can confirm from the VIN.
Issue: General Motors LLC (GM) is recalling certain 2016-2017 Chevrolet Spark vehicles. In the event of a crash, if a young child is seated improperly and not wearing a seat belt while in the front passenger seat, deployment of the front passenger air bag may injure the occupant's neck. As such, these vehicles fail to comply with the requirements of Federal Motor Safety Standard (FMVSS) number 208, "Occupant Crash Protection."
Risk: In the event of a crash with a frontal air bag deployment, an unbelted child in the front passenger seat has an increased risk of injury.
Remedy: GM will notify owners, and dealers will replace the passenger air bag module, free of charge. The recall began July 5, 2017. Owners may contact GM customer service at 1-800-222-1020. GM's number for this recall is 17199.
Campaign 17V307000
The parts named most often across 29 owner complaints filed with NHTSA for this make, model and year.
2 crashes · 1 injured
1 crash · 2 injured
1 crash · 3 injured
Complaints are self-reported and skew toward problems people find alarming, so read this as where to look rather than as a defect rate.
My transmission has been acting up like other stated where it will rev the motor high and then jerk and shift hard. There are no recalls for it when there are known issues with the transmission for the 2017. I was driving down the road and went to stop and my brakes were very hard and almost had to stand on them to stop, almost hit a couple cars, very dangerous situation. This has happened twice to my 2017 spark and both time it was due to vacuum pump. I have taken my car to a mechanic for these issues and the mechanics have also told me they have seen both of these issues with the 2017 spark and that a recall needs done.
The contact owns a 2017 Chevrolet Spark. The contact stated that while the vehicle was parked or while driving at various speeds, the A/C was blowing out hot air. A dealer was contacted. The vehicle was taken to the dealer to be diagnosed, and the air conditioning hose was leaking and the condenser needed to be replaced. The vehicle was then taken to another dealer where it was diagnosed and determined that the freon was low and that the compressor needed to be replaced. The hoses and the condenser were replaced three times. The contact stated that the failures had occurred on several occasions. The manufacturer was notified of the failure and suggested that the vehicle be taken to the dealer to be repaired. The failure mileage was approximately 100,000.
When the car reaches a certain speed (50 mph plus) it jerks and jolts. The engine light is on and a P-code is present. Each mechanic says something different.
I feel that there are issues with the transmissions on the 2017 Chevy spark. I noticed that there have been complaints in years such as 2014 and 2019. I find that my 2017 exhibits exact same transmission issues as years that came before or after. Lots of indecision with the car about whether to upshift or downshift. Sometimes violent jerking back and forth. Normally. Especially bad between 4th and 5th and 5th and 6th in the upper gears. But in the lower gears more recently it has become more pronounced. This has been going on for quite some time and is getting worse. The car is not that old. First. Noticed it when the car was at 40,000, mi. It is now recently went past 100 and the problem at sometimes is horrible. It does feel unsafe to a high degree. It is a sealed system so there is no way to do routine maintenance, which is unfortunate. I am a person who is usually up on routine maintenance and with a sealed system such as this transmission made by Daewoo in Korea, there's no way to ensure fluid levels are correct and changed in intervals. I feel like reporting just because it should be checked out. I do not know if this is an issue with other people who have spark 2019, but I wanted to send this out because the car's transmission has aged horribly over a short period of time. If I knew then what I know now I would have never owned the spark. Otherwise a great car. This is my only complaint but a big one.
vehicle brakes went out suddenly after hearing a loud POP sound...brakes wouldn't respond and pedal hard, ran off road and could only glide to a roll stop and not really then...fortunately a repair shop adjacent so drove their and rolled stop. initial look shop advised vacuum pump needs to be diagnosed...they came back with a 'caution on file #pip5598a which advised of known issue but no recall... they came back with a 479$ fee to diagnose exactly what's wrong (those pics enclosed) they are now staring they will not guarantee week or warranty and say engine must be replaced...they are still working up quote to repair vacuum pump, camshaft and timing chain but now are saying will be well over 2k to just SEE if will work and wont guarantee
The contact owns a 2017 Chevrolet Spark. The contact stated that on various occasions, and while driving at approximately 55 MPH, the vehicle shuddered while accelerating. The contact stated that the failure persisted while driving above 50 MPH. The check engine warning light was intermittently illuminated. An independent mechanic arrived at the residence and diagnosed the vehicle and retrieved fault codes for the transmission pump. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 120,000.
Took the Car to Emissions wouldn’t pass because the check engine wouldn’t illuminate they gave me a recall paper related to the check engine light not illuminating MFR#N192268880/ Took car to Gateway Chevrolet at 9901 W Papago Freeway Avondale AZ, 85323 to get the recall done which the my did and now the car is not shifting properly and it engine revs up and does not accelerate almost got in accident when making a turn because of this problem the car running good prior to the recall
105000 miles: Lost Brakes extremely hard to push brake pedal. Lost vacuum, enabling to stop car safely. Took brake vacuum line off vacuum pump and plug pump so oil don’t leak out pump. Then join the line to an existing vacuum line. Problem solved no issues since. 205000 miles: Repeatedly theft mode, flickering dashboard, and dead battery issues. Battery was good charged, alternator charging right. To lead with fusebox circuit board needed to be re-soldered. Have no idea how it happened but no problem since. I still have all factory parts on car. This is a stick shift 5 speed. Get 40ish bit more miles a gallon. Keep oil changed as normal. I float gears when putting around. Leaving less stress for clutch issues. As I’m 208000 so miles still have few miles before replacing factory clutch brake pads belts plugs etc… I keep check at all wear clean up dust collected grease all joints every season. So can’t say much about car being a problem.
Electrical : First instance in 2020. There are instances when you stop the car, and it appears the vehicle has no electrical charge (it is a gas vehicle). Happened once while parked (2020)- service request August 2020, and another while waiting for a green light (2021). My concern is this occurs and causing an accident. Suspension: First instance in 2021: The vehicle has less than 50K miles. The car rattles loudly. Service request Aug 2021. I went into the dealership and was told that the suspension on the driver side right needed replacement with another part. I had to go to the dealership three times for correction. Was told the car was safe to drive at the time. June 2022, the car is making the same cricket noises, and is unstable. It is my concern that the strut mounts/ suspension are defective and poses a risk. This may be a structural issue, since I though this was corrected last year for a young vehicle with under 50K mileage is not a normal occurrence. I am concerned something will dislodge and I may loose control on the road. I have routine maintenance and i am diligent, there is a structural and electrical issue with this vehicle make.
Headrest angle is hurting me and my Wife, to the point where we really want to turn them around and add velcrow strapped pillows! Something's got to be done about the standard. Headrests are way too far forward. They're nit safe. My wife has minor scoliosis and her 2012 Prius C that she bought used messes up her back and my neck has been getting progressively worse over the two years of owning my 2017 Chevy spark.(picture attached of my 2017 chevy spark seat vs headrest angle). If I drive any longer than about 20 minutes in my spark I find myself tilting my head to the left or the right of the headrest and pushing it back just to get some relief. But my 2011 Infiniti G37 has a perfect headrest, it keeps the distance between it and my head to a minimum while keeping the angle from the flat of the back on the chair up to my neck and head in line making it comfortable. So why are the cars so different since the new rule in 2008? I have reached out to the manufacturers Toyota and Chevrolet and a refer me to the NHTSA. I argue with them that they aren't consistent with the rule and I've even gone as far as to drive my Infinity down to the Chevy dealership and argue with the manager that told me it's a law straight across the board and everybody's the same. I clearly showed him he was incorrect. You may have come up with a rule for minimum distances and dimensions for headrests but what you did wrong is not come up with a maximum for those angles because I've been forced to turn our headrests around and find velcro pillows on amazon just so it doesn't feel like our necks are going to break when we're driving. Recently I've also been going to manufacturers and trying different headrests to see if the posts match up to my chair and I found a couple at this point I'm just looking for the right color and style for my car. So this whole regulation has made it more unsafe than it was before. I hope my comments don't fall on deaf ears? No more room to comment....
AT RAILWAY PARKING LOT, FIRST CAR BLOCKED WHEN BACKING OUT OF SPACE. AFTER 3 TRIES, ABLE TO MOVE ON, EXITING LOT AND ABOUT TO TURN RIGHT INTO STREET, CAR SWERVED HARD RIGHT BY ITSELF AND LOUDLY HIT CURB. PASSENGER SIDE WHEEL AND TIRE TOTALLY DAMAGED. I HAD TO GET IT TOWED TO COLLISION SHOP. IT IS STILL AT THE SHOP WHERE AM TOLD REPAIR AT MINIMUM WILL COST OVER $ 1400.00! I FOUND 2 RECALLS EMAILS THAT SAME NIGHT AND TRUL Y BELIEVE THE CAR MALFUNCTIONED. AM JUST THANKFUL NO ONE WAS INVOLVED BUT ME. COULD HAVE BEEN DRAMATIC IF CAR WAS ON THE ROAD AND MALFUNCTION MADE ME HIT ANOTHER VEHICLE INSTEAD OF A CURB. HAVE HAD TO RENT A CAR, AND COST IS MOUNTING. FOUND THRU ONLINE RESEARCH THAT OTHER SPARK OWNERS HAD SAME PROBLEM. THIS COULD CAUSE FATAL ACCIDENT. EVEN WHEN FIXED, I WILL BE PETRIFIED TO DRIVE THIS CAR AGAIN WITH FEAR OF RECURRENCE OF SAME PROBLEM.
THE FOLLOWING HAS NOW HAPPENED ON 3 SEPARATE OCCASIONS WHEN DRIVING ON A HIGHWAY: WHEN DRIVING AT HIGHWAY SPEEDS (50 -55 MPH) AND HITTING A BUMP THAT JOLTS THE CAR (NOT NECESSARILLY A HUGE BUMP), THE ENTIRE ENGINE AND ELECTRICAL SYSTEM CUTS OFF AND SHUTS DOWN. THIS HAPPENS ONLY ON THE HIGHWAY AND HAS NOT HAPPENED ON STREET DRIVING YET. THE CAR POWER TURNS OFF AND THIS CAN BE VERY DISORIENTING TO AN UNSKILLED DRIVER. IT REQUIRES THAT I PUT MY CAR IN NEUTRAL (MY CAR IS A STICK SHIFT), TURN OFF THE IGNITION AND THEN TURN IT ON AND RESTART IT, WHILE MOVING AT 55MPH AT NIGHT ON A WET HIGHWAY. THE LAST TIME THIS HAPPENED IT WAS AT NIGHT AND RAINING. THIS HAS HAPPENED 3 TIMES OVER THE PAST 6 MONTHS.
Showing 12 of 29 complaints.
1 open NHTSA investigation into this model. Investigations come before recalls, so these are potential defects not yet covered by one.
Rated configuration: 2017 Chevrolet Spark 5 HB FWD
Over 5 years this costs $1,750 less in fuel than an average new vehicle.