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.
After putting the shift lever in park, then powering the vehicle off the dashboard would advise to shift the vehicle in park. Could not lock vehicle, lights would remain on. This could be worked around by pressing the shifter knob a few times to clear the message. Brought vehicle in for regular service, was advised there was a short in the wiring harness related to the shifter knob. Harness was replaced, issue has not repeated. It has been noted online that this is a common issue with generation 2 Volts, I wanted to add my vehicle to the list of those affected.
When putting shifter to park, the action required messages is shown as: 'shift to park' issue. The car will effectively not turn off. You'll be unable to lock the car and the lights will stay on for a few minutes. Worse yet, it is intermittent although it generally gets worse over time.
The vehicle does not recognize it has been shifted into park, which does not allow the vehicle to be turned off. Dash display states 'action required, shift to park'. this happens consistently and is a known issue by Chevrolet. Yet they have not issued any recall. It is known as the 'shift to park' issue. There is no work-around for the issue other than shifting back and forth into gears, sometimes hundreds of times, before the error clears. For example: My wife took my daughter to an emergency room and could not get the vehicle to turn off. She tried to clear the error a few times before having to leave the vehicle running in the parking lot.
Keep getting action required message "shift to park" even though the car has been powered off. It takes about 5 trys now to actually power off the car, have to repeatedly turn the car on and off to actually power off the vehicle.
While turning off vehicle: Vehicle is shifted to park ignition button is pressed message appears on console 'action required: Shift to park' vehicle will not turn off with prndl in park position
- Union, KY, USA
Search CarComplaints.com for these popular complaint phrases...
System does not recognize when gear is in park (P) - the prompt on the screen states "action required: Shift to park" (see attached screenshot) even when the gear is already on park (P) - the work-around is shifting the gear from park (P) then L then back to park - sometimes you have to do this several times.
Unable to turn off car when shifter is physically shift to park, but dash warning has a "shift to park" warning. Back in Dec 26 I bought the car in for the same issue and the shifter cable was replaced. But shift to park warning returned a few months later. It is a matter of time before this issue will return.
Shift to park issue. When trying to turn off the car you put in park and press on/off button. Car says you need to shift into park even though you have shifted into park and is so indicated on the dash. You have to shift the shifter and turn on and off until finally turns off. Crazy and a know problem. Dangerous and need a recall.
Car says "shift to park" at random, when car is already in park. Prevents you from powering off the vehicle, and have to sometimes wiggle the shifter before it will detect it is actually in park.
Various times when putting the car into park and then turning off the car the message stating action required: Shift to park will show on the console screen. The car will not turn off until the car recognizes the gear is in the park position, which it already is. It takes some shaking of the shift button to get the car to register that the gear is in the park position. It used to happen maybe once a month but now it seems to happen a few times each week.
2016 gen 2 Chevy Volt experiencing error message of 'shift to park' even though car is in park. Car will not turn off until message cleared and that takes several attempts. Issue is widespread based on internet search. Also, transmission cooling fluid leak from transmission coolant intake line requiring complete replacement.
This is an update to my original complaint #:11299056 for un-commanded acceleration on 1/13/2020. The Chevy dealership worked with GM corporate engineers and were unable to duplicate the problem after several days. The returned the car and blamed it on the floor mat. This is not likely since the mat is a oem heavy rubber mat and the accelerator pedal does not rest on the floor board. Since the car was returned and driving for weeks, I noticed the battery range will not charge more than 49 miles of electrical charge when it often charged up into the 50-60 mile range prior to the incident. I've been driving the car in slower heavy traffic lately and this driving style often increases electric mileage range after a full nights charge. It will not do so anymore even though the economy management screen indicate maximum range economy of over 250 mpg. I'm a retired gas turbine mechanic and I know a problem when I experience one. I suspect that a battery cell may have had an uncontrolled discharge and is no longer able to accept a recharge. I have relayed this information to the dealer. No response yet.
Un-commanded vehicle acceleration under full electric drive mode (twice). While driving steady around 65 mph on the freeway (no cruise control used), a slight step on the accelerator, caused the car immediately accelerated up to 88 mph (dash show large electrical draw of battery power). Stepping on the brake, using the regen paddle on the steering wheel and repeated pressing the cruise control power didn't disengage the power surge. Car would accelerate when brake pressure was lifted. After repeated hard pressing of the brake pedal, there was a "clack" sound from below the driver console and the car returned to normal. Being on the freeway, I was not able to pull over and restart/reboot the car. I continued to drive cautiously, monitoring the car and left the freeway for surface streets. Everything seemed to be okay until I came to a complete stop behind traffic. When traffic started moving again, I lightly depressed the accelerator pedal and the car began accelerating quickly on it's own. Several hard presses of the brake pedal and the car returned to normal. This second incident was not as violent and the first and there was no "clack" sound from below the driver dash as with the first. This is worrisome and cannot be related to the cruise control since is was at a stop and cc isn't supposed to engage under 25 mph. The rest of the several miles to my work was uneventful. I've contacted the dealer about the safety of driving it or having it towed. Waiting for their response. I imagine the on-board computer would've stored today's driving data.
When parking the car after having stopped, ant error message 'shift to park' appears on the display even though the shifter was in park. This problem prevents car from being turned off.
Unable to turn off power to car with error on dashboard saying shift to park. Have to power on and off several times while moving the shifter in and out of park to get the car to turn off.
This vehicle has a shift to park message that been seen on many GM vehicles. Some of the owner sites I have been to say that this is covered under warranty. I have not been so lucky with GM. The dealer did cover 1 repair of this problem but now says I have to pay. The problem has returned and persists. A shift to park message is displayed on the dash after the car is in park and will not shutdown. I have attached all the documentation that I have.
Sensor does not recognize when car is in park. Continues to run and will not turn off when in park. Error message displayed is "shift to park" even when in park. This is a safety issue because car will not disengage or turn off. This occurs frequently.
All vehicle systems are not registering that the vehicle is in park when the shifter is in the park position. The instrument cluster gear indicator registers the vehicle as in park, but when attempting to power down the vehicle an error message occurs directing the driver to shift the vehicle into park. When exiting the vehicle the doors will not lock.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Grand Blanc, MI, USA