As an electric vehicle, when running on battery, it is difficult to know when the vehicle is left running. Upon returning home one day, I exited the vehicle and plugged it in. I didn't realize at the time, that I had not turned off the Volt by pressing the blue power switch on the dashboard. The next morning, I came into my enclosed garage and could hear the Volt's gas powered generator running. I looked at the dash display and could see the Volt had not charged, had used up all remaining battery, and had been running on gas generator for some time. My concern is regarding carbon dioxide poisoning risks. I have tried over the past 60 days to get a response out of GM as a Volt owner and I feel they are stonewalling me as they have not responded to me on this concern despite three different inquiries on my behalf. This is very unusual for GM who normally is quite responsive. I propose if the vehicle can sense it is plugged in that it should shut down should the battery become depleted rather than turn on the gas generator to keep the car running. I'm confident GM can detect the car is plugged in so programmatically I'm not understanding the challenge to solve this safety issue. Electric cars are not like other cars in that you can't hear when they are on. Chances are, if the vehicle is plugged in it's in a garage. No GM employee who I have spoken with has explained why it's reasonable to run the generator in the scenario I have described. I do hope no one dies before this issue is resolved. It should be a simple software update for the Volt to resolve the issue.

- Temecula, CA, USA

Our Volt was left overnight to charge using the supplied 120V level one charge cord that comes with the vehicle (therefore I consider it part of the vehicle.) in the morning the vehicle was not charged -- at some point during the night the charge failed after the battery accumulated just 5 miles of estimated range. The socket into which the charge cord had been plugged, the receptacle of a kill-A-watt charge measuring device, was scorched and partially melted. There may have been a small electrical fire at the point where the Volt's cord plugged into the device, but it is impossible to say. This seems to have happened because the strain relief on the cord was torn in half and the wires it was supposed to protect became exposed to the outside and perhaps to each other. It is quite likely that these exposed charge cord wires shorted against something inside the charge cord assembly, and that short caused the damage where the cord was plugged in at its wall end. Guaranty Chevrolet took possession of the cord (at GM's request) and ordered a new one under warranty, so the cord itself is no longer available for inspection. I still have the kill-A-watt device, and, despite the obvious visible damage, it still works. (I don't use it, though.) to me the strain relief on this cord was very flimsy. The material seemed too soft an pliable to do very much. The replacement seemed to be no different apart from one additional flex segment. I was not impressed, but so far the failure has not repeated. I have photos if you would like to see them. Photos of the old cord, the melted socket and the new cord. Also, I used a new kill-A-watt on this car after the incident and on other electric cars with no problems. It may be tempting to blame this device, but it has a sufficient amp rating and the problem happened on a day the strain relief failed.

- Santa Monica, CA, USA