Car was being driven on an interstate highway at the speed limit, approximately 30 miles from home. As the drive battery's charge ends, the vehicle should start the internal combustion engine to take over propulsion from the battery. Did not happen. What did happen was a mil illumination, and several messages on the drivers display about the "propulsion system not available" or words to that effect.(spouse was driving car, not submitter.)the driver was immediately forced to negotiate through several lanes of very busy interstate traffic to get to the road shoulder all while dealing with what was eventually a complete loss of drive power. Dead by the side of the road, several attempts were made to start the internal combustion engine.no success.roadside assistance notified.I head towards location to offer help (1 hour away from home) and arrive before tow does. Manage to start internal combustion engine this time, and cripple car 7 miles into dealership, where mechanic pulls dtc's P0ac4, P1E00, C12fe and updates vehicle software with GM tsb pic5803C-"charge incomplete-charge interrupted and mil with dtcs P0D3E or P0D3F with P1E00" fixing problem.my main complaint with GM on this issue is that this software update was released 6/7/2013 and I had just had this vehicle in dealership for another software update 3 months ago-12/2/13.why didn't GM provide the pic5803C update at the same time as that one, avoiding a dangerous engine failure that occurred in traffic at highway speeds"contact with GM only reveals that software patches are applied if a failure occurs-like ours-and not proactively.I believe this to be a potentially negligent policy in light of the dangerous event that happened to us.updates like these should be pushed to the consumer as a recall or whenever a Volt is at a dealer for any service.can GM learn anything from their ignition switch debacle" I hope so...

- Lakeway, TX, USA

The contact owns a 2012 Chevrolet Volt. The contact stated that while driving approximately 35 mph, the check engine warning light illuminated intermittently. The vehicle was towed to the dealer where the technician was unable to diagnose the failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the problem. The VIN was not available. The approximate failure mileage was 5,492.

- Wayford City, ND, USA

Was driving Volt at low speed in traffic. Attempted to switch modes (normal to sport). This is accomplished by pressing a button on the dashboard twice in quick succession. The button is located right next to the start/stop button. I accidentally pressed the start/stop button twice in quick succession, which shuts the car off. The car shut off and I was unable to restart it until I came to a full stop, shifted the car to park, and pressed the brake. The resulted in a small traffic backup behind me. However, this the design and placement of these buttons is very poor. I believe the start/stop button has been designed to shutoff the car relatively easily in light of the recent and public "sudden acceleration" problems by other manufacturers. However, accidentally switching off the car is also an undesirable consequence. Had this event happened at higher speeds (on the highway) it could be quite dangerous.

- Cambridge, MA, USA

There is an apparent design flaw in the Chevy Volt related to an individual exiting the vehicle without powering down the systems which could result in co poisoning or death and possible fire hazards in the right situation. The Volt uses a key fob system and push button start. Key fobs are already proving to be a safety issue. With the Volt, the situation is exacerbated. Since the car is virtually silent, it is very easy for a person to forget to turn off the car, and when they exit, the lack of any engine noise will often not give them the cues necessary to realize their mistake. When the individual leaves the car powered on, the battery will drain. When the battery is sufficiently drained, an engine will turn on and charge the batteries. This is significant, because this will likely happen sometime after a person has parked their car. The result will be a garage filling with co fumes. The Volt will continue to run the engine, in cycles, until there is no more gas in the tank. While there have already been deaths associated with non-electric vehicles equipped with key fobs and co poisoning as the result of the driver forgetting to turn the car, this is going to be much more common in electric hybrid vehicles. In an unscientific poll conducted on GM-Volt.com, of 100 respondents, 30% admitted to forgetting to turn their vehicle off. One user on the site forgot to turn the vehicle off, and entered the garage sometime later to find it filled with fumes. There needs to be passive (horn signals upon exit) or active (well engineered auto shutoff) systems put in place to prevent a tragedy.

- Raleigh, NC, USA