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10.0

really awful
Crashes / Fires:
2 / 1
Injuries / Deaths:
2 / 0
Average Mileage:
31,445 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.

2013 Chevrolet Volt fuel system problems

fuel system problem

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2013 Chevrolet Volt Owner Comments (Page 2 of 3)

« Read the previous 20 complaints

problem #26

Mar 092020

Volt

  • 60,000 miles

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

This vehicle suddenly looses propulsion while driving and it switches from electric to gas. It has happened more than once, but this last time I was on the highway and almost caused an accident. I took it to a dealer to be repaired but the problem has persisted.

- Ormond Beach, FL, USA

problem #25

Dec 202019

Volt

  • 67,000 miles
My car had the exact issues that are documented in NHTSA campaign number 18V397000 while driving on the freeway, I got a low propulsion warning when the lithium battery was depleted and switched to engine. Engine was revving very high and almost no acceleration was available. I made it home and car wouldn't restart. 12V battery was dead so I replaced it but still could not start the car.

- Murray, UT, USA

problem #24

Oct 262019

Volt

  • 73,500 miles
Reduced propulsion warning. Causes car to not go over 40 mph while driving. Covered under voltech warranty but dealers want to charge for the diagnosis. Unfair, as this is a safety concern. I refuse to pay for a warranty diagnosis.

- New Port Richey, FL, USA

problem #23

Sep 172019

Volt

  • 97,919 miles

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

I was driving my 2013 Chevrolet Volt and I received a loss of propulsion message on my dashboard and immediately followed by a check engine light. My car shut down and slowed down on the freeway as I was driving. It was very dangerous because it was also dark. I was able to glide to exit the freeway. My car came to a complete stop in the exit lane of the freeway. I pressed the power button to turn off the car and then I waited about 30 seconds and I turned the power button back on and the car came on as only power mode. I was able to move the car very slowly somewhere more safe. I called tow truck and I towed it to dealership. The Volt was still able to move slowly up the tow truck and when I arrived at the dealership, it was still able to move slowly to the entrance of the service station. Check engine light was on, but loss of propulsion light was gone. Service advisors told me they would fix my car as it was covered under the recall even though my car was salvaged. The estimate was $145. Later on they called me that my car had 8 check engine lights on and that I needed a transmission because their was a whining sound and also loss of propulsion still on. I went to go look at my car a couple days later after I filled a complaint with GM headquarters because this should be covered under the recall. When I went to go check out my vehicle, it was in a worse condition then when I dropped it off. My car would not even turn on. When I pushed the power button, it would say engine not available and it would also say loss of propulsion and check engine light still on. I was not able to move my car and the battery still had 8 miles left. It was weird as to why my car is getting worse while being in the dealer. Dealer told me they are done with the update and in order to diagnose the vehicle, I have to pay $430 and more than likely thousands of dollar to fix it.

- Ontario, CA, USA

problem #22

Jul 202019

Volt

  • 66,781 miles
Car slowed down and then came to a full stop on side of residential street. Tried to turn off and restart engine to no avail. No power coming from motor

- San Jose, CA, USA

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problem #21

May 012019

Volt

  • 78,000 miles
Overall battery life appears to have been reduced from average 38 miles at full charge to 31 miles.

- Nashua, NH, USA

problem #20

May 272019

Volt

  • miles

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

I have had my car for 2 years and have not experienced any issues with the battery or propulsion control system. I got a recall notice to fix "loss of propulsion due to low cell voltage". the service team was very nice, I sat in their waiting room for about two hours. They said it was done so I then went to work for a couple hours. When driving home I get to the point where the initial electrical battery is depleted and then it turns on the gas generator. I immediately get an alert "loss of propulsion" and the car stops accelerating and drives very different. Low acceleration, ac turns off. I make it home and then the charging system says it is not working. I try to turn the car back on and it doesn't let me put it in gear. I called on star and they scheduled a tow truck to come and have it towed back to the dealership. Will let you know how it goes.

- Kailua, HI, USA

problem #19

Apr 212019

Volt

  • 66,085 miles
While starting vehicle for commute back home, the on board diagnostic warning popes up saying that profusion peer was reduced. The gasoline engine then turned on even though battery was approximately 75% charged. While driving I noticed that the vehicle had difficulty with acceleration as well as deceleration; as a result, I elected to take the side streets instead of the interstate

- San Jose, CA, USA

problem #18

Mar 182019

Volt

  • 20 miles
While on the highway and the main high voltage battery is depleted, I have a sudden reduction in speed and zero acceleration. I get a dashboard alert "propulsion power reduced". "reduced" is an understatement! the gas engine tries to keep up with speed by ramping up the rmps. The sudden loss of speed forces other cars to avoid me and I cannot increase my speed if needed. I expect I will be rear ended or lose control when this happens again. Engine revs extremely high. I usually pull over and turn off vehicle- sometimes a restarts fixes it. I have also waited (5 mins?) with the engine running at high rmps hoping the battery would recover, but no. I also fear the gas engine will overheat. The car can no longer drive at highway speeds safely after depletion and cannot accelerate sufficiently even in a 30mph zone. This is a continuing issue and has happened for the past several days. The dealership says the high voltage battery is bad, but the main battery charges and drives fine until it is depleted. I now don't drive farther than what the ev battery can achieve. (all other current recall issues, software updates have been addressed)

- Mt Horeb, WI, USA

problem #17

Feb 032019

Volt

  • 83,000 miles
2013 Chevy Volt stopped accelerating and received a low propulsion while driving on a state route in Ohio. Our son was driving the vehicle and could have been killed if this was on a highway. The Volt would not move and he had to try to glide off the road since it had no power. He pushed the car off the road so it would not be hit. If this situation would have occurred while driving on the highway, our son could have been killed. This problem has occurred to other Volt owners if you look this issue up on the internet. Why hasn't GM fixed this issue so people are safe when driving this vehicle? we brought our Volt into the service department, this car is now going on 3 weeks and we still do not have our car back. They first said it was a short in the electrical module, and replaced parts. Now they are stating that it did not work and it is the transmission. I am not sure they know what is really wrong with this Volt. They are now asking us to pay $3661 to have this transmission replace and GM will pay 2000 or it would be 5661. This car is not even worth that much at this point has 83000 miles on it and the transmission should have never went out. GM tried to say it was the short, now they are saying it was not a short. I do not care what it is I just want a safe car for my son to drive. It seems like they are back pedaling to try to not pay for something that they (GM) should pay for. Especially since this issue is not a new issue for the Chevy Volt. GM needs to stand by their products and fix this vehicle.

- Youngstown, OH, USA

problem #16

Apr 072018

Volt

  • 37,000 miles

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

Volt has minimal propulsion when stomping on the accelerator in electric or hybrid mode. It has lost 60-70 percent of its power since new. It is a safety hazard when pulling onto a highway or needing to accelerate to avoid a accident. Chevrolet says nothing is wrong and refuses to acknowledge the issue not wanting to honor electric warranty.

- Bourbonnais, IL, USA

problem #15

Sep 052016

Volt

  • 135,569 miles
On Sept. 5th 2018 I hit the center island while turning on the city street at about 15mph. The impact was so slight that the air bags didn't even deploy. I was able to get it to the dealers on it's own power. My insurance company sent their appraiser, jeremy, to inspect the damage. I had to get some items out of my car before that. The mechanic had the car on the rack so he could show me. The only damage I readily noticed was the radiators were crushed, a 2 1/2" square frame cross member had a 1 1/2" dent where it had impacted the island, and some panels- noticeably the front underside and driver side front wheel well were damaged. Later jeremy called me and told me the car was a total loss.he said the entire frame was bent out of shape. I couldn't believe it. In his report he itemized the parts but about the propulsion system he wrote, conditions exist that the electrical motors could start up the gas engine and flood the passenger compartment with co. Well if that's the case, why don't they simply replace the components that would lead to that condition or if it was inherent in the car, why doesn't the dot declare the car a road hazzard and recall all vehicles" ln consumer reports they declared the Volt scored 5 out of a possible 5 rating on collision survival. What? the car running at 15 mph getting totalled by hitting a bump is a 5" I think Mr. Jeremy is padding all his estimates and should have an independent appraiser review the car. Either he is lying or the car is actually a lemon. I would like your advice on what legal course I should take.

- San Leandro, CA, USA

problem #14

Apr 032018

Volt

  • 67,890 miles
The car reduces speed without advance warning on hwy and decreases to 30-40 mph in a 65-70 mph zone. The air conditioning stopped working, some safety electrical components malfunction mid drive and resume working

- Lake View Terrace, CA, USA

problem #13

Jun 162018

Volt

  • 66,000 miles
I've brought my 2013 Chevy Volt to the dealership 4 times because it dies suddenly while driving. It has put my family in danger multiple times. One of the "fixes" was a software update that ended up as a recall because it causes the engine to die suddenly (it's recall #N172130460, which came out two days before my latest incident, but I didn't receive the recall notice in the mail until 7/28/18...6 weeks after my last incident). The most recent time the car died (6/16/18), I was on a mountain highway and I was lucky enough to not get hit as I pulled the car to the side. There was no signage there except for the "caution bear xing" sign. After towing my car to the nearest dealership (in carson city, nv, an 8 hour ordeal), I had expenses for lodging and transportation (including lyft to South lake Tahoe to rent a car because no rental car offices open on Sunday in carson city, then flying to reno and taking a lyft to carson city to pick up the car because Chevy refused to ship the car to me even though I said that I was afraid and didn't trust the car in the mountains). Chevy customer service and concierge services refused to reimburse me because I had the car towed myself instead of calling their "concierge service" to tow it because that's "policy." How about the safety of their customers so that they may live to drive another day? I'm not asking for anything more than the expenses incurred from the last adventure: $1040.72, which I can itemize. Other times that my car has died include: While making a U-turn in a busy intersection (in 2016), it died and started back up as if nothing happened 20 minutes later and a separate time was when the car wouldn't start at all but then started up again two hours later as if there was never an issue.every time this happened, I had a "power propulsion reduced" warning on my dashboard. I see online that many have had this issue.

- San Jose, CA, USA

problem #12

Apr 052017

Volt

  • 35,063 miles
Driving in traffic, multiple lanes.." reduced power" message appears on dash..car shuts down immediately...no steering assist...brakes okay...stuck in middle lanes with no propulsion...luckily a firetruck happened by and was pushed off the road...car towed to dealer. Informed multiple Volts towed in for same issue. Also informed extreme backorder for repair battery across U. S. told approx 2 month wait for battery section...once this battery fails while you are driving, you are dead in the water...no power steering and unable to move in or out of traffic...if this dealer has 3 cars, how many unsafe cars are there across the country?

- Sarasota, FL, USA

problem #11

Apr 032017

Volt

  • 34,000 miles
Lost power while driving down the road!

- Lockport, NY, USA

problem #10

Sep 052016

Volt

  • 30,000 miles
The contact owns a 2013 Chevrolet Volt. While driving for more than two hours over 75 mph, the "propulsion power low decrease speed" message displayed and the speed decreased to 55 mph. When the failure occurred, smoke was present inside and outside the vehicle and the odor of fuel was present. The contact indicated that the failure occurred on multiple occasions. The cause of the failure was not diagnosed. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 30,000.

- Corona, CA, USA

problem #9

Mar 232016

Volt

  • 32,800 miles
While driving down a road in indianapolis at 35 miles per hour, my car suddenly slowed down and a message reading " engine not available - service soon" appeared on my hud. My car only has 32,800 miles on it and a clean title. Nothing about my driving changed to cause this issue, it was sudden and without apparent cause. I had the car taken to the mechanic, and GM just reset the codes. It is driving ok for now, but a reset of codes is a temporary fix to the issue, and I've read extensively about many, many other Volt owners with the same issue. It is extremely dangerous to have your engine shut off while driving, especially if I had been on the high way during rush hour. This is something that needs looked into, and I feel that GM is trying to bury it with resets which aren't working for most people.

- Indianapolis, IN, USA

problem #8

Sep 162015

Volt

  • miles
While entering in the highway the car started to decelerate regardless the fact the gas pedal was pushed several times. The car decelerated and then stalled. The car has been rear ended by the car behind. This could have been a much more serious accident and it was a vehicle failure.

- Royal Oak, MI, USA

problem #7

Apr 132015

Volt 4-cyl

  • 17,400 miles
A warning message appeared on the dash, which said "propulsion power is reduced, " followed by, "engine not available. Service soon, " as well as a check engine light. I pressed the onstar button to find out what was wrong but they had never heard of the error message and could not establish communication with the vehicle to perform diagnostics. While on hold with onstar, the vehicle began to spontaneously decelerate very rapidly despite my attempts to accelerate, in the middle of fast highway traffic. I made it over to the side of the road safely, limping along at 3-10 mph, with the help of a good samaritan who blocked traffic for me. This is a spontaneous occurrence, with no maintenance negligence to explain the event. The car was towed to a dealer, which has yet to determine the source of the issue.

- Berkley, MI, USA

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