# 2012 won't crank after crash on driver side front clip



## chevrasaki (May 1, 2015)

Welcome to the forum. Sorry to hear you're experiencing issues after your Cruze's recent "modification" but there could be any number of things going wrong. Is there anything more you can tell us? Could you perhaps post a few pictures of the damaged area? How many miles are on the car?


----------



## NickD (Dec 10, 2011)

Did it push in the left front fender? This is where the fuse/relay box is located with a huge bunch of wires on it.

Were air bags tripped, is that anti-thief LED flashing, all kinds of U type data links in this thing.

Main concern is getting your Cruze fixed properly and depends what kind of insurance company the culprit has. Claim you are 30% guilty for just being there, and want to use the cheapest body shop they can find. Been through a number of these, small claims court has been the answer, and chose the best body shop I knew of with all brand new OE parts. And had to pass my inspection, before signing the release. Be awfully slow about signing that release.


----------



## Shawn1012 (Mar 11, 2016)

There is about 50000 miles on it I get power to everything but it just won't crank the tow gut said it might have a safety switch somewhere on it that has tripped but I have not found one


----------



## Shawn1012 (Mar 11, 2016)

NickD said:


> Did it push in the left front fender? This is where the fuse/relay box is located with a huge bunch of wires on it.
> 
> Were air bags tripped, is that anti-thief LED flashing, all kinds of U type data links in this thing.
> 
> Main concern is getting your Cruze fixed properly and depends what kind of insurance company the culprit has. Claim you are 30% guilty for just being there, and want to use the cheapest body shop they can find. Been through a number of these, small claims court has been the answer, and chose the best body shop I knew of with all brand new OE parts. And had to pass my inspection, before signing the release. Be awfully slow about signing that release.


Unfortunately the lady that hit me had no insurance and passed away in our wreck so I don't want my insurance going up and luckily for me my step dad owns a body shop but specializes in Ford's not Chevrolet so he is not sure if there is a safety switch that has been flipped there is no damage to the fuse box we've already checked that it has pushed the frame over about 4 inches to the passenger side have to get the car crank so we can put it on my step dad's frame machine


----------



## chevrasaki (May 1, 2015)

Ouch. I am currently unaware of any "safety switch" that may have "triggered" but I am very aware of all of the sensitive electronics that live inside the engine bay. If it's not starting, it likely needs to be towed to a GM certified repair shop and given an estimate. They'll have trained technicians who know the Cruze, look at it and tell you what is possibly wrong and how much it will be to fix it, then you can discuss options with them and the insurance company.

Did the airbag deploy? Are there any messages in the driver information center, or any check engine lights?

Note: Just saw your post about the insurance issue. A lot of it depends on the coverage that you have. For instance, I have full coverage which covers the event of an uninsured motorist collision. If I am deemed not at fault my rates will not increase even if they have to pay to fix it. You may want to double check with them on your specific coverage, they might be able to help you out.


----------



## Shawn1012 (Mar 11, 2016)

i trust my dad and myself to fix it before someone else just need to get it to run so we can fix it thanks for the info


----------



## Jim Frye (Mar 16, 2011)

Have you hooked up a code reader to this car yet? I have to believe there are some stored after that impact. They might help with diagnosing what is keeping the engine from turning over.


----------



## Yates (Aug 24, 2012)

Shawn1012 said:


> Unfortunately the lady that hit me had no insurance and passed away in our wreck so I don't want my insurance going up and luckily for me my step dad owns a body shop but specializes in Ford's not Chevrolet so he is not sure if there is a safety switch that has been flipped there is no damage to the fuse box we've already checked that it has pushed the frame over about 4 inches to the passenger side have to get the car crank so we can put it on my step dad's frame machine


I take it you had full coverage ins so why not use the uninsured motorist provision? Unless your very young or have a sketchy driving record the hit shouldn't be all that bad.


----------



## NickD (Dec 10, 2011)

Our state law we have to carry uninsured motorist. Bad enough paying for our own insurance, then have to pay extra for those that don't have it.

Your Cruze doesn't appear to be driveable anyway that front fender is bent it, and did hitting your left front wheel bend the frame that way?

Here is a circuit for the starter.

View attachment 184433


Fuse and that starter relay is located in the underhood fuse/relay box, location of this relay is under the cover. Can pull that relay and put a jumper in the socket to complete the starter circuit, should crank bypassing the ECU. If in run, hopefully it will start.

Relay has four terminals on, two for the solenoid, two for the contacts. An ohmmeter will read around 80 ohms for the solenoid, don't want to jumper that, could fry your ECU.

Another way is to jumper that small terminal on the starter solenoid directly to the positive terminal of the battery. Maybe you dad has a starter switch for this. My son's dad has one, nice for doing a compression check.


----------



## ChevyGuy (Dec 13, 2014)

chevrasaki said:


> Ouch. I am currently unaware of any "safety switch" that may have "triggered"


Ditto. If it's not the fuse box or the wiring, it's the computer system. That would be bad news.

You could try disconnecting the battery and see if it resets anything.


----------



## Gus_Mahn (Aug 16, 2011)

I don't know the how's or why's, but my brother's '12 Eco was bought as a front end hit savage, and it wouldn't crank. It turned out to be a blown fuse. I've thought it could have been caused by trying to crank it with a weak battery, but I'll never know for sure. It's been fine for three years since the fuse was changed. Check the basics first.


----------



## Jim Frye (Mar 16, 2011)

Bump for OP.


----------



## spaycace (Feb 9, 2012)

many times in a front end collision, the fuel system gets shut down and starter gets disabled. I'm not exactly sure how this works, but it happened a few years ago to me with my 2003 GMC Yukon. Damage was in the same area as your Cruze. Best of luck to you. It's also unfortunate that there was a loss of life caused by the accident ... then again, that may have been the cause of the accident.


----------

