Woman Buys A Chevy. Then The Transmission Blows At 30,000 Miles: ‘That’s Expected To Happen’

An Ohio woman is facing a frustrating problem. Her Chevrolet blew its transmission at 30,000 miles.

Amanda (@amandasharpless) took her concerns to TikTok.

“Anybody else having trouble with cars they bought in 2020? How does a transmission go bad with only 30k miles on it?” she asks in the caption. Meanwhile on screen there’s a shiny orange Chevy Trailblazer being loaded onto a flatbed tow truck.

Amanda’s TikTok has been viewed over 442,000 times, and 379 people have commented at the time of this writing.

Is This A General Motors Issue?

Many General Motors vehicles have transmission problems and it’s been an ongoing recall issue for several years.

In 2024, the Detroit Free Press wrote, “GM recall[ed] 461,839 pickups and SUVs over transmission problem.” The recall was expanded in 2025 and again in 2026. The Drive reports, “The issue arises from abnormal wear of a valve inside the transmission. As this wear progresses, it can lead to hard shifts and in rare cases, cause the drive wheels to lock up entirely.”

But the Trailblazer is not included in the multi-year recall impacting hundreds of thousands of vehicles.

The problem that Amanda’s Trailblazer is purportedly exhibiting is not a valve issue. There is a recall for the Trailblazer for the engine control module. GM announced “affected units of the Chevy Trailblazer may have an issue in which the engine control module (ECM) may not clear the permanent status of data trouble code (DTC) P0521 (Engine Oil Pressure Sensor Performance).”

However, there are reports of problems with the Trailblazer’s transmission. According to a 2024 GM service bulletin, there’s an issue in which the continuously variable transmission (CVT) appears to have lost forward gear or is slipping. The service bulletin does not mention Trailblazer transmissions failing entirely, however.

Do Trailblazers Have Transmission Problems?

The Trailblazer was reissued in 2021 as a new subcompact SUV that got high marks for style, but lower ones for the turbocharged three-cylinder engine. Of the reissue, Car and Driver wrote, “There must be some shame in a three-banger since Chevy has gone to great lengths to scrub all mentions of the phrase ‘three-cylinder’ from its press and marketing materials.”

Several commenters claimed they’ve had transmission problems with newer Trailblazers.

“Yep, we just spent $8,000.00 couple weeks ago on a new transmission on his 2021 Trailblazer,” said courtney_sharp_noby.

“U had better luck than I did. My 2025 brand new Trailblazer needed a new transmission 12 days after I drove it off the lot. They bought it back cuz I was over it,” wrote itswhatever1256.

Marimay092 shared, “My transmission went out at 62k in my Equinox. I now own a 2025 Toyota Camry…”

According to Kelley Blue Book, it costs roughly $7,000-$7,500 to replace a 2022 Chevy Trailblazer transmission.

Motor1 reached out to Amanda via email and TikTok direct message, and GM via their media portal. We will update this if either respond.