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10.0

really awful
Crashes / Fires:
1 / 6
Injuries / Deaths:
3 / 0
Average Mileage:
17,511 miles

About These NHTSA Complaints:

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.

2017 Chevrolet Volt electrical problems

electrical problem

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2017 Chevrolet Volt Owner Comments (Page 1 of 9)

problem #162

Jul 142023

Volt

  • miles

A D V E R T I S E M E N T S

The vehicle suddenly, and unexpectedly lost propulsion while driving. The vehicle is no longer able to turn on or drive. I contacted several Chevy official dealers and took the car in for repair. They said it is a problem with the hybrid battery system. But the car is no longer manufactured and parts are no longer available. So I am now stuck with a car that is non-operational and not repairable.

- Los Angeles, CA, USA

problem #161

May 052021

Volt

  • miles
Vehicle displays warning "Shift to park" sometimes when vehicle in placed in park. Vehicle will not lock properly and drains battery if left in this state. Vehicle is unable to turn off while this message is present and the only way to get it to go away is to repeatedly shift the vehicle in and out of park and attempt to turn it off. This issue is commonly reported with several GM models. TSB 19-NA-206 was published for this issue in September 2019, but the repair is not covered under a recall at this time.

- Portland, OR, USA

problem #160

Jun 222023

Volt

  • miles
The car was been driving, shifting, and turning off normally for 10 months. Then last week, I started to get a "Shift to Park" message on the dashboard when I tried to turn off the car. On all occasions, I was stopped and the shift gear was in park, but the car kept running. I could not get the "Shift to Park" message to stop. I finally had to hit Power again, shift the car from park to drive, then return it to park. After a couple attempts, the electrical system changed to "Park." This has now happened over 10 times. I'm concerned at some point the trick will stop working and I won't be able to power off the car.

- Springfield, MA, USA

problem #159

Jun 212023

Volt

  • miles

A D V E R T I S E M E N T S

While driving the 2017 Chevy Volt, for about 20 minutes, the electrical system shut down. The warning said to put the car into park and look at the screen. The first instance the car was traveling at 45 mph, the second time it was on the freeway at 70 mph. At this point the check engine light came on. After turning the car off and on three times the car was able to be driven, but it happened again on the next leg of our journey.The Volt at first would not charge. It said "charge not available", then after about an hour the Volt was able to be charged. We believe it is the battery charging module being defective. GM was sued for this very problem, and lost, but has not issued a recall on this very dangerous occurrence. It has issued a bulletin to it's employees, but again, has not addressed the issue.

- Huntington Woods, MI, USA

problem #158

Jun 142023

Volt

  • miles
After putting the vehicle in park and turning off the engine, the car gives a warning that the car is not in park. The main problem with the inability to shift into the park gear is that I anm unable to shut off my vehicle, which could potentially drain the battery. Consumers have been unable to exit, lock, and turn off their vehicles due to the shifting malfunction. The true issue at hand here is not that the vehicle is unable to physically shift into the park gear, but the vehicle is incapable of detecting the shift. Typically, when this malfunction occurs, the driver will receive a -??Shift to Park-?? message on the driver information center, even if the gear selector is moved to park and the ignition is switched to the off position. The driver then must either restart the vehicle and try to repeat the shutting down process or toggle the shifter enough that the vehicle-??s electrical system finally detects the shift change. While this strategy sometimes does the trick-?"it doesn-??t always work, and drivers are stuck with a vehicle that will not shift into park.

- Forest Grove, OR, USA

problem #157

Oct 102020

Volt

  • miles
When I first purchased the car (used around 30,000 miles), I began to have electrical and propulsion issues where the engine would turn off. After Chevy refused to warranty or lemon the car, eventually the electrical/hybrid issue repeated and caused cooling issues with the car and then water pump went bad. while chevy still refused to fix the hybrid and battery issues, that continued issue and then the water pump failing from it then caused overheating that then broke the head gasket

- Los Angeles, CA, USA

problem #156

Mar 182023

Volt

  • 36,436 miles

A D V E R T I S E M E N T S

The contact owns a 2017 Chevrolet Volt. The contact stated while driving 30 MPH, the message -??Loss Of Power Proportion" was displayed, and the vehicle stalled. The contact was able to veer to the side of the road. The vehicle was able to restart. The contact was able to drive to the residence; however, the vehicle failed to restart while in the garage. The contact stated that upon investigating the failure online, he became aware that the failure mostly occurred in cold weather. As the weather became warmer, the contact was able to restart the vehicle. The vehicle was taken to the dealer, where it was diagnosed that the Battery Energy Control Module (BECM) had failed and needed to be replaced; however, the part was not available. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure and informed the contact that the part was not available. The failure mileage was approximately 36,436.

- Plantation, FL, USA

problem #155

Mar 172023

Volt

  • miles
Loss of power propulsion while driving Eventually vehicle completely stoped. After doing some research this is a common occurrence. Highly dangerous and it seems the manufacturer is aware but ignoring the problem. This problem can cause accidents and also leave people stranded in isolated areas.

- Plantation , FL, USA

problem #154

Mar 042023

Volt

  • miles
When I got home at 11:50 am at March 4, 2023. The shift-to-park error message came up and prevented shutoff and driving. The car kept running in my garage which pause great danger to my house and my family. The weather is freezing cold with rain and snow. We are scare to stay in the house and afraid of explosion. I contacted Chevy and its dealers. All could not find tech to support. Then I searched on websites. There are tons of complaints that Chevy knows the problem in multiple car modes but resist to make a recall. Also Chevy lost a case due to damage by shift to park error.

- Newton , MA, USA

problem #153

Jan 162023

Volt

  • miles
BECM failure. Initially, it caused the vehicle to operate in a low propulsion state. However, it now prevents the vehicle from starting. Likewise, I have heard it has stopped the engines from working/shut down the engines while people are driving on the highway.

- Tahlequah, OK, USA

problem #152

Jan 142023

Volt

  • miles

A D V E R T I S E M E N T S

When attempting to turn off the vehicle, an error message "action required - shift to park" appears even though the shifter is in the park position.

- Lubbock , TX, USA

problem #151

Dec 112022

Volt

  • miles
On Sunday night, I was driving around 65 mph on the 405 freeway to take my friend to the airport. I noticed that the car started to give a weird feedback sensation on the pedals and had started to jerk us forward. As I merged onto the two-lane on ramp to the 10 freeway, the car started to rapidly lose power and then completely died and went dark. I was unable to use the hazard lights as the car had just gone dark but then it turned back on but would not let me shift it into drive. As I was on a two-lane on-ramp with no shoulder in the dark, we just had to pray that no one would hit us. In doing research, I suspect that this was yet another BECM failure that has been repeatedly happening with this year of Chevrolet Volts. There was most recently a class-action lawsuit filed for this very issue. The car is currently at the dealership awaiting inspection but I am terrified to drive that car again if it even becomes drivable. Especially since there were no warning lights or signs on the vehicle to indicate that this could be an issue and to have it die on the freeway in the way that it did, putting my life and many other lives at risk, I am shocked that there hasn't been a recall for this issue.

- Los Angeles, CA, USA

problem #150

Aug 312022

Volt

  • miles
Battery Energy Control Module failed. Car stopped unexpectedly while driving which was a huge safety issue. Car has been broken for 3 months waiting for parts which seem to be unavailable.

- Auburn, MA, USA

problem #149

Nov 302022

Volt 4-cyl

  • miles
Our vehicle is a 2017 Chevrolet Volt VIN: [XXX], leased/purchased new delivered 12-31-2016. Vehicle experienced an unexpected loss of power when the check engine light came on and we had to immediately pull off the road. The vehicle is currently at the dealership waiting on the Battery Control Module (BCM) P/N: 24296900 and we have a Case open with [XXX]. We are told the part is not available, only 14 in stock nationwide, and are not being released as they are reserved already. No expected delivery date for the module. Noticed a class action lawsuit may be in the works. Wanted to ensure you had another record of vehicles affected. https://www.classaction.org/news/2016-2019-chevy-volts-suffer-from-battery-energy-control-module-defect-class-action-claims#embedded-document INFORMATION Redacted PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6).

- Pittsford, NY, USA

problem #148

Jul 132022

Volt

  • miles
Vehicle started to lose power. Showed error messages "reduced power" after a series of "shift to park" messages when first starting. Had no propulsion power until several attempts to start vehicle. Once started engine would run but all electric propulsion was inoperable. Vehicle has become totally unreliable at approx 22,000 miles, sometimes starting and sometimes not. Power loss occurs while driving which is definitely a safety hazard if on the Interstate and minimum speed can't be maintained. Have taken vehicle to dealer where it was diagnosed as a defective "BECM" (I believe a master control module attached to the main propulsion battery). The dealer has ordered a replacement module but it's been four months with no sign of a replacement. Essentially I now have an unreliable and potentially unsafe vehicle with no sign of the manufacturer trying to facilitate repairs.

- Marysville, WA, USA

problem #147

Nov 072022

Volt

  • miles
Our car would not start. Took to dealer for repair. They changed 12 volt baterie and a fuse. Next couple days later same problem. No start or baterie. Took back to the dealer they diagnosed a bad becm battery electric control module. They have had it for 2 weeks with no estimate on when the part will be available. I understand it is common failure on volt cars.

- Rigby , ID, USA

problem #146

Aug 242022

Volt

  • miles
Emergency warning messages appeared on 24 Aug 2022 and a day later vehicle was taken to Chevrolet dealer who first replaced a "section of the battery" and eventually verified a problem with the BECM (Battery Energy Control Module). Now (end Nov 2022) 3 months later no repair part has become available. Because we immediately took the vehicle to a dealer, we had no safety issues.

- Silver Spring, MD, USA

problem #145

Aug 052022

Volt

  • miles
The problem is generally referred to as a -€œShift to Park-€ issue. The car will effectively not turn off. I-€™m unable to lock the car and the lights will stay on for a few minutes. Worse yet, it is intermittent although it is getting worse over time.

- Forest Grove, OR, USA

problem #144

Sep 152022

Volt

  • miles
I parked my Volt with approximately 24 miles of electric range remaining. Later when I got in to start it up, the guess-o-meter showed a full charge but at the bottom of the meter it showed 0 miles of electric range. Shifting to Drive caused the "shift to park" message to appear. Shifting back to Park made the message go away. The car would not move under either electric or gas power. The check engine light was on. By the way, this Shift to Park issue is not the same as the microswitch shift to par however you could pay for the shift to park repair and it not be that resulting in more money spent-€¦ also many people have waited months for the part and chevy does little to nothing

- Clarksville, TN, USA

problem #143

Feb 032021

Volt 4-cyl

  • miles
Dear Madam or Sir, regarding the recall of Chevrolet Volt 2017. The vehicle made in USA, VIN No [XXX] has been bought an officially from IAAI auction (after an accident, but repairable) and delivered to Lithuania (Europe), repaired successful. The information regarding the recall has been found in an official GMC site (the details please see in att.) Starting from March 2022 I have been tried to contact to GMC US (Chevrolet authorized dealership is not exist in Lithuania, just for Cadillac), but any help did not received yet. At this moment the vehicle is not safety to drive, because already several times it's has been stopped in a road - the defected Energy control module, which has been mentioned in recall. So, be so kind and help to pass this problem. Waiting the comments Thanks for the kind replay. Sincerely Doctor[XXX] P.S. the conversation please make by email INFORMATION Redacted PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6).

- Tahoma, CA, USA

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