I honestly suspect EA of releasing patches just to screw it up for people who have or use NOCDs.
Well I played for about 2 hours and forgot to save. It just crashed to my desktop - no error message, nothing. It just returned me to my desktop. So add that to the pile. Save often.
This is happening to me quite often. Roughly every hour on average. Ususally while in transit.
This is generally expected from EA products. At least in my experience. Save often is simply a way of life.