Torque converter failure on the 2012 Chevrolet Camaro
Only 4 reports for this mode came with an odometer reading, which is too few for percentiles to mean anything. The page is here because someone linked to it; treat the figures as anecdotes, and see the full report for this year instead.
When torque converter failure gets reported
There are 4 reports of torque converter failure on the 2012 Chevrolet Camaro, 4 with a mileage attached. That is too few to place the failure on the odometer with any confidence.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 96,000 miles. It is the 7th most-reported problem on this model year.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| — | — | 12,196 miles | — | — |
Read the 10th percentile as “one report in ten arrived this early”. Exact figures are shown in this table because it is the table of record; everywhere else on the site they are rounded to the precision the sample can carry.
What a percentile can and cannot tell you here
These five numbers describe the readings owners gave, in order. The median is the middle one: half the reports arrived below it. The 10th and 90th are the edges of the bulk of the distribution, and the distance between them is the part worth reading. A tight spread — say 70,000 to 95,000 miles — points at something that wears out on a schedule, and the schedule is knowable. A wide one, 20,000 to 190,000, points at a fault that hits some cars and never troubles others, which means the mileage on the listing in front of you tells you very little about your odds.
What these figures are not is a survival curve. Every reading here comes from a car whose owner filed a complaint, so the sample contains only failures: it cannot say what share of the fleet made it past 150,000 miles untouched, because those owners had nothing to report. Nor is the mileage the moment of failure — it is the odometer reading as recalled at the time of filing, which may be weeks later and is sometimes rounded to the nearest ten thousand by the person typing it.
Percentiles are shown at all only once 8 readings exist for the vehicle and mode. Below that the middle of a handful of numbers is noise wearing a decimal point, so the figures are withheld rather than dressed up.
What happens, and what it costs
Putting it right typically runs $1,100–$3,200 at an independent US shop. That range is an editorial estimate held in this site's failure-mode catalogue, not a figure from NHTSA, and it is a repair cost rather than a diagnosis cost.
The same failure on other years
The same failure is reported on 4 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2012, at a median of 10,000 miles, and latest on the 2019 at 60,000 miles.
By volume the 2017 carries the most reports, with 8; the 2012 has 4. A mode that appears across most years of a model is usually a design choice rather than a bad batch.
If one year stands out to the left, that is the year to avoid; if the whole line sits at a similar mileage, this is wear rather than a defect in one production run.
Tick median reported mileage Solid middle half of reports Faint 10th to 90th percentile Colour how bad the failure is when it happens
What owners wrote
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint narratives, trimmed for length. The mileage is the one the owner gave.
At RPM's approximately 1200-2000 car stutters, like it needs to downshift. Happens at various speeds when applying gradual acceleration. Dealer service says no error codes found, that this is "normal" on the 6 speed transmission & that because of all of the computer components, the transmission naturally lags. Seems to be problem in the torque converter? *tr
In may, started to feel a vibration/shimmy of some sort when accelerating in all sorts of speeds. Took vehicle to dealership and they could not duplicate. Vibration/shimmy continued and gradually become more frequent so took vehicle back to dealership in june in which the tech test drove and was able to duplicate the issue. Was told he was not the transmission expert so they had the so called transmission expert test drive and he was unable to duplicate the problem. Took my car back to the dealership the very next day and it was determined to be the torque converter. The transmission had to be flushed due to metal shavings in the transmission. I have had continuous problems with the transmission since the torque converter was replaced. The transmission is hesitating when attempting to increase speed, it slams into gear, downshifts when its not suppose to and the vibration is slowly starting to come back. Dealership is claiming this is normal for the type of transmission I have and its operating as designed. *tr
Tl* the contact owns a 2012 chevrolet camaro. While driving at 45 MPH, the vehicle started to jerk violently. The failure recurred numerous times. The vehicle was taken to a dealer where it was diagnosed that the torque converter needed to be replaced. The vehicle was repaired; however, the failure recurred. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was 17,000.
Also reported on the 2012 Chevrolet Camaro
Other engine problem
Other body or interior problem
Other electrical problem
Other powertrain problem
Blower motor or climate control failure
Timing chain, belt or tensioner failure
How far this goes
This page is kept out of search results because 4 reports is not enough to publish percentiles from. It stays reachable because somebody looking at this exact car would rather see the reports than be told there are none.
Complaints are voluntary, so 4 is a floor and not a count of affected cars. Mileages are typed in by owners and cluster on round numbers. And the mode itself is assigned by software reading the complaint text, which is reliable in bulk and fallible one report at a time.
Questions this page answers
At what mileage does torque converter failure happen on the 2012 Chevrolet Camaro?
Across 4 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 10,000 miles. A quarter were filed before — and a quarter after —. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is torque converter failure on the 2012 Chevrolet Camaro?
4 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 0.1 per 1,000 vehicles. Complaints are voluntary, so this is a floor rather than a count of affected cars.
What this is and is not. These are the mileages at which owners chose to complain to a federal agency, which is not the same as the mileage at which the part fails on every car. It skews toward failures that happened outside warranty, cost real money, or frightened someone. It is still the only public dataset that carries failure mileage at all, and the shape of a few hundred readings is informative even when a single one is not. Methodology · JSON · this failure on other cars
Source Owner complaints and recall records published by the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, model years 1996–2027 Figures rebuilt Published by AtWhatMileage How every figure is computed