This data is from the NHTSA — the US gov't agency tasked with vehicle safety. Complaints are spread across multiple & redundant categories, & are not organized by problem.
So how do you find out what problems are occurring? For this NHTSA complaint data, the only way is to read through the comments below. Any duplicates or errors? It's not us.
Volt loses power when switching from electric to gas motor. Has no occurred two times, both resulting in a tow bill. Te Volt depletes the onboard battery charge and is then supposed to switch ove to the niternal combustion engine. Instead, at the time of transition the vehicle loses all propulsion power, power steering, etc. The car comes to a complete stop and will not move. This has happened on a multiple-lane freeway and is very dangerous trying to maneuver a vehicle that has no power to drivetrain or steering.
Airbag light coming on intermittently took car to Chevrolet dealer and was told it was a bad sensor in the passenger seat and the cost would be 900 dollars for part and labor.
The check airbag sensor comes on sporadically, and the car does not seem to recognize when someone is in the passenger seat. The estimated cost of the sensor repair is ~$900 even though the warning is not consistent. This happens while driving. As far as I can tell, there is no known cause.
The car will shut itself off with very little time to get to the side of the road if that is even a possibility. When switching from battery power to the gas motor. Randomly. The car will die at any speed. First message is low propulsion power. Next message engine not available, service soon. Less than 4 minutes from 1st message to total shut down. Least amount of time between messages and shut down is 15 seconds. Car will decelerate (on highway where vehicles behind have no warning... no brake lights that car is rapidly losing speed). Never know when it will happen. Usually car will restart and run terrible.. after 20 minutes or so. After restart car runs bad low power. Check engine light is on. After 10 more minutes of driving. It straightens out. Usually. Dealership unable to find problem. Assorted codes in computer. Very dangerous when driving. Especially when it happens and it is 15 seconds to complete shut down. I have opened a case with Chevrolet. No response as of yet. They were supposed to call within 2 days. I will upload an attempt at restart as it is the only one I have where I was safely in a parking lot when it happened. Usually I am not. And many roads in my area do not have a shoulder.
Driver's information screen failure. Upon starting, screen would not illuminate. Cannot see speed traveling, fuel available, turn signals, hazard lights, etc. Unsafe and seemingly common problem that we are now experiencing ourselves.
- Waxhaw, NC, USA
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I was driving in 50 mph traffic it lost all propulsion. The problem I have sounds exactly like the problem GM has issued a recall for with 2013-2015 Volts. I believe GM did or should have anticipated the problem and did nothing. GM program N172130462 has owners of 2013-2015 Volts bringing their cars in to dealerships for a software update. GM has recognized that these cars "may have a condition where it could gradually lose the ability to maintain voltage. If battery concerns are not addressed, over time the vehicle could enter a reduced propulsion mode while driving, or lose propulsion, or it may not start." I brought my Volt in to the dealership on January 31, 2019, because it was not consistently holding the charge that it normally did and the car would often start in "low propulsion mode" when starting it after turning it off with the battery low or depleted. Despite being under warranty the dealership, bob steele Chevrolet in cocoa, fl, claimed the could not figure out what was causing the problem, refused to try further, and sent me on my way with a bill for their failed efforts. On July 19, 2019, I was driving in on my way to work in my 2012 Volt with 101,400 miles. The car switched from battery to gas as it had many times before. About one mile later it switched back to battery, gave a message that it was going into "low propulsion mode", and stopped providing any propulsion. This occurred while I was on US1 and it was dangerous for me to rapidly change lanes while losing speed to get off the road. I got to a parking lot without enough speed to get up the mild incline at the entrance and was stuck blocking the entrance while I awaited a tow truck. This loss of propulsion could have happened at any speed and things would have been worse had I been on the interstate.
The instrumentation panel has went blank. Started blinking when driving, went fully blank by the time I reached home. No way to see the seep or remaining fuel. Contacted dealership the wants to replace the panel but the part to fix this is unavailable. I have been waiting for it for 4 months now,
Volt loses power when switching from battery to gas. Has now occurred four times. Each time Volt is traveling on highway 65+mph. Volt depletes battery charge and immediately upon transition to gas will lose all power. Cannot accelerate. Steering wheel loses power steering. Volt will decelerate until 0 mph. Very dangerous. In each instance driver is forced to get to shoulder or off freeway in Volt which is rapidly losing speed. Occurred on highway without shoulder last time. Almost caused a serious accident.
The information display has gone black. The information display shows speed, mileage, fuel level, turn blinker status, and other critical information. The screen brightness adjustment does not affect the display and is not the problem. The issue continues whether the vehicle is in motion or stationary, on city streets or highway, turning, or braking. I do not know the root cause of the issue but it appears to involve onboard computer components. The vehicle has not been in an accident nor damaged in any way.
Passenger side air bag / seat sensor malfunctioned shortly after purchasing the vehicle. Seen many other complainants exactly the same issue. Got in a car accident and my passenger was almost killed as the air bag did not deploy. The manufactures really needs to recall and fix these seat sensors. This has been going on way to long. Also the conditioning unit failed due to faulty manufacturing.
The contact owns a 2012 Chevrolet Volt. While driving 35 mph, the tachometer gauges became inoperable. The contact was unable to determine the speed, fuel level, temperature, or other functions with the vehicle. The contact stated that the failure persisted for approximately three days. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The dealer and manufacturer were not notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 80,000. The VIN was not available. Update: Neither dealer nor manufacturer have found part to repair vehicle.
2012 Chevy Volt airbag passenger side. Light car has been tampered with by the dealerships. Have been dealing with this since I bought the car. Refusal to fix. Issue allows for third party access to my vehicle. Using sub language menus. For spanish and french. This is a major problem and no one is doing anything about it. This calls for a major investigation into Chevy dealerships, fraud. My car had this right after my first in warranty service at roseville Chevy dealership. Please help. My vehicle is being illiegaly monitored. And exstorted for money to fix a problem that is related to tailight switching bulbs and antilockout issues with the car.
Vehicle dies suddenly while moving, although under full electric charge. Could not restart. Chevy said was software problem and made fix Dec 2018. Just happened again yesterday 2/17. Others reported on Volt blog site. Said wait 5-10 minutes and then restart, which I did and that worked. Concern that loss of power is sudden and without warning. Died in middle of intersection this time but fortunately no cross traffic. This is serious problem -- apparently others have had same issue. Reporting to local Chevy dealer at this time.
Instrument panel went totally black while driving, engine still runs and vehicle was drivable. Can not check the speed, other than follow the speed of the other vehicle.
11/10/2018 while driving about 45mph heading school the car totally shut down for not reason, and would not restart. The ev mode shut down and the gas engine did not start. Police recommend to get it towed to safe location. Onstar records, multiple shut down of computer modules.
Went out to start my car to go to work and the touchscreen or main data screen is black. I can't tell if I have any electrical power or if the heat or ac or stereo is on. If this were to happen on a trip out of town it could put me in severe danger.
NHTSA id number:10872363 the instrument panel display screen went blank and will not come back on. The backlight is functioning and it will intermittently reboot and display but only temporarily. It started gradually and would occasionally go blank while driving on highways and city streets; both in motion and stationary, and eventually failed entirely. After researching the issue, it seems this is a common issue which no dealer seems to know how to fix. This means no speedometer, no fuel/battery range information, and no indicator lights of any kind. The odometer is also now not visible. Originally this issue only occured when the outside temperature was over ~75F (a common noted factor with other Volts having this problem). The issue has since progressed to being fully disfunctional.
Driver's instrument cluster screen flickers and then goes blank while driving/in motion on a city road and on the highway. Driver loses all indication of speed, turn signals, lighting, speedometer, cruise control, fuel level, charge level, and all other critical information that is displayed on the driver screen.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Archbold, OH, USA