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.
My experience is proof for the investigation on -??loss of motive power, including a stall, reduced power state, and/or a no-start condition due to the Battery Energy Control Module (BECM).-?? My safety and the safety of others were affected because the reduced engine propulsion caused me to drive at a max speed of around 50 mph, and eventually the car left my stranded a few weeks later when it would not start at all in a parking lot. The gas engine would run at an extremely high RPM to make up for the failure of battery propulsion. The dealer covered the work under warranty. The work was performed during the pandemic chip shortage in 2022 and my car was at the dealership for two months from about August to October. The check engine light would come on sporadically before the problem started, and when the failure would occur, I would get a -??Propulsion reduced-?? message in the driver screen and the gas engine would kick on to an extremely high RPM even when the car should have been running on battery. Accelerating from a stop to a normal speed would sound like you are flooring down the accelerator to get on a highway on-ramp. I no longer have the paperwork to confirm this, but it was performed at the Fort Collins (Colorado) Dellenbach Chevrolet dealer, it may be possible for me to get the paperwork, but I no longer live in Colorado. The process went all the way up to corporate Chevrolet before the warranty was honored, and I was compensated with company points.
With PHEV battery at 0%, it's normal for the gas engine to kick in. What's not normal is when the infamous BCEM propulsion system failure happened. First, it shut off the ICE engine and reverted to EV mode when I have 0% charges left. The system also reduced power to the car. Luckily, I wasn't on the freeway, or this could end up really badly. I was at the point where I could no longer accelerate and was coming to a stop really quick. Because I was still on local street, was able to safely pull over to the side of the road and turned off the system completely. I waited a minute or 2, turn the car back on and the engine kicked on immediately. Please have GM issue a recall for this problem TSB 18-NA-261 because if this happens to someone on the freeway when their battery is at 0% and BCEM shuts off the gas engine with loss propulsion failure, it can result in serious accidents and deaths.
Shift to park message & audible alarm. Display while in motion pulling into home driveway. Vehicle stalled midway while in motion. Halfway in the street & half driveway. Displaying propulsion power reduced & Engine not available service soon. After 30 minutes of starting & restarting was able to move out of the street. However vehicle will NOT move. Transmission will shift, however will not move. Shift to park keeps popping up.
Faulty micro-switch from factory, causes power surge. Flawed microswitch in transaxle shift cable. Incomplete connection of microswitch resulting higher voltage to PCM.(power control module) This irregularity, shows a DTC code reducing power propulsion during movement. The car will loose power & ability to shift. During driving movement. Quite a safety concern. A "shift to park" error displays on driver display screen. An OBD2 scanner will clear code & after a few attempts remain operational. However intermittent & unpredictable when to expect the loss of traction power.
My 2016 Chevrolet Volt loses power while driving and the "propulsion power reduced" warning message appears. This has happened multiple times in the past few weeks and it is very dangerous losing power while traveling. After taking it to a Chevy dealer for service, they advised that it was an internal failure of the BECM (battery energy control module) and that it would need replaced. After searching online it appears that this is a common issue with the Chevy Volt models from 2016 - 2019. So much so that GM extended a special warranty to cover this failure up to 15yrs and 150,000 miles. Unfortunately for reasons I still don't understand, I was informed that my vehicle is not covered under this special warranty despite it specifically being the year and model that is affected. My vehicle currently has 93k miles and was purchased in 2016. So I am just outside the original 8 year 100k mile warranty but thought I was covered under this new special coverage given that this is an issue that GM is clearly aware of. I was also shocked to find out that there apparently was never a recall for this issue. My wife and child normally take this vehicle across town at highway speeds and I'm lucky the issue only happened to me. I fear for those who brought their vehicles and are not aware of the issue and will be told that theirs isn't covered as well.
- Pickerington, OH, USA
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The vehicle loses power when trying to accelerate when driving in electric mode, and the gas engine kicks on after a second at which point acceleration returns. It occurs when the battery power is high or low. Sometimes a warning pops up on the dash saying speed is limited to a specific MPH.
Our BECM failed while we were driving. It went into limp mode, not allowing the car over 35mph and with no AC in 109 temps. It was a very scary experience. This is a known issue, but the dealer said it isn-??t covered under special warranty.
Took the car in for service to Simi Valley Chevrolet on 8/16/2023 due to the check engine light illuminated on dashboard. They determined that the EGR valve had internally shorted so they unplugged it so as not to take down the rest of the system and placed a special order for the valve. It has now been over one year and they still don't have the replacement part. The car runs rough and occasionally stalls and sputters. I'm concerned that the car could stall while driving and is unsafe.
Check engine light came on. Moran Chevrolet dealership says the code is related to the EGR cooler and EGR valve. They want me to pay $3,175.23 for these two parts - however, they can't guarantee that I will get the parts as they are on backorder, and no idea when they will get parts. This is outrageous. I asked, "What if the part doesn't come in"" The dealer's response, "Then we will refund your money, but, we will keep $250 for inspecting the car." "And what if I don't fix it?" Their response: "Eventually, your car will stop working." "What if the car is on the freeway and just stops"" Their response is unsettling for me and hopefully every driver on the road: "We haven't seen that type of failure, yet."
Driving to work one morning, I noticed an engine light with a "Propulsion Power Reduced" on my 2016 Chevy Volt. Upon closer arrival to work, the car was behaving quite erratically with constant "Propulsion Power Reduced" errors on the dash. The A/C stopped blowing cold and immediately fogged up the front window, making me unable to see the road. After arriving at work, I could smell what could be described as a burning electrical smell coming from the vehicle, although no fires were seen. Upon checking diagnostic codes, the car had a list of codes pointing to the failure of the Battery Energy Control Module (BECM.) I researched the issue and discovered "N232432680 - Special Coverage Battery Energy Control Module Malfunction" listed by GM and the NHTSA. My Chevy Volt is within the model years (2016-18) and mileage (<150,000) for the special coverage warranty from March 2024. Upon checking with the local GM dealer, they said that my VIN is not included in the special coverage and I must pay out of pocket, even though I have the exact problem described in the warranty and my Volt satisfies other conditions (model year and mileage). I am scheduling a service appointment this week with the local dealer to formally diagnose and repair the issue.
Vehicle has been to dealership numerous times starting in 2021 to address issue with loss of power between ev and gas. No results were found, but I believe the BECM was failing for awhile. Vehicle has continued to lose power until this year check engine light came on. 12V battery was changed and no change. Dealership said vehicle was fixed. It barely made it home and light came back on. Loss of propulsion message. Vehicle loses all ev charge, will not go over 35 miles per hour, barely makes it up a hill. Brakes and steering are hard to control. Vehicle is not included by VIN for the BECM replacement. Dealership is now saying that is the problem. Dealership is quoting $2500 for the fix. This is very dangerous to drive this vehicle. You have no warning of when car is going to stop or lose power. This is a vehicle that was supposed to be for my teenagers to drive and it is not safe at all. This has been discussed numerous times at the dealership with no solution.
While on the freeway, the instrument screen displayed a message about reduced propulsion power, then the check engine lit up. I pressed the gas pedal, but nothing happened. I took precautions and let it rolled over to the side of the road. I turned off the car and turned it back on, and I was able to put it in drive mode, but it still wouldn't move. I also tried reverse, but nothing happened there either. The car was completely disabled, so I had to call a tow truck to take it home.
The car has experienced a -??BECM-?? failure, which is very common on the Chevy volt. When it fails the car becomes undrivable and will slow down into reduced propulsion mode. It will not start and required us to have it towed to the dealer. The 2016-2019 Chevy volt BECM issue has been investigated by the nhtsa and gm. It is a common enough issue that gm has voluntarily issued -??special coverage N232432680-??. This covers the becm failure on 2016-2019 volts for free for up to 150k miles 10 years. We have a 2016 volt with 144k miles so we assumed it would be covered. The dealer said it wasn-??t covered based on my vin but they didn-??t know why our vin was left out of the coverage. Obviously if they thought our car didn-??t have a suspect becm, they were wrong because it failed during the special coverage time. The repair is $2600 and gm will not assist us with this repair. I have attached a copy of gm special coverage and the bill. This seems to be a clerical error that our vin and maybe others were missed despite the fact our car falls right in the special coverage criteria. I believe this should be a full recall or 2016-2019 volts, especially if the becm has failed.
I'm driving a 2016 Chevy Volt in California that I bought in 2022 from Carmax. In the middle of driving on the highway, the error "Propulsion Power is reduced" alongside the check engine light. In the middle of driving on a highway at 65mi/h, I could not accelerate even though I floored the gas pedal and the car quickly decelerated. This is extremely dangerous especially in the middle of the highway. I had an auto shop look at it and they replaced a fuse and told me it was good to go. When I got it back, I though the problem was fixed but the issue came up again after only 1 week and had to take it to a different shop where I originally bought the car used at ~49k miles (CarMax). It took ~3 weeks before they were able to get it diagnosed at another auto shop. I received this email from them after diagnosis (attached file). A quick search on the internet and it seems a lot of people with this car is having the same issue. Everyone is also having issue with the EGR valve being backordered that is taking a couple months to over a year to get the parts in. Those people are resorting to unplugging the valve and driving as is. I don't want to have to do this either. Please see attached file for inspection report.
EGR valve failed. When switched from Battery to gas car stalled and we were stuck. Dealer said it needs a new EGR valve. But it was on back order. This was a year ago and Chevy still claims the part is on back order! Now the car is ready to renew registration. But it cannot pass inspection because it must have been driven on gas for many miles for the inspection to work! The part is obviously no longer available and Chevy has not offered a solution.
The BECM has failed and causes a reduction in engine power. There is a Special Coverage N232432680 for this issue. Dealership Service Center is saying my car doesn-??t qualify based on the VIN, even though it matches the year, make, and model on the Special Coverage. GM is failing to cover the issue despite it matching everything on the Special Coverage.
2016 Chevrolet Volt with 126,500 miles had a sudden loss of power while driving. Towed to Chevy dealership for diagnostics and was told it needed a Battery Energy Control Module. Doing my own research, I see that NHTSA issued a notification regarding GM coverage for this issue (see below). However, my VIN is not covered. Very conveniently, GM covering only one third of the Volts made in this time frame and this is unacceptable. There should have been a recall but at least they should cover the cost to replace under this special coverage. Losing all power on the road while driving is really scary and very dangerous. Please advise if there is any course of action that NHTSA can take on this matter before I go and spend $3000 to have this repaired. GLOBAL SAFETY FIELD INVESTIGATIONS DCS6812 URGENT - DISTRIBUTE IMMEDIATELY Date: March 6, 2024 Subject: N232432680 - Special Coverage Battery Energy Control Module Malfunction Models: 2016-2018 Chevrolet Volt To: All General Motors Dealers General Motors is releasing Special Coverage N232432680 today. The total number of U.S. vehicles involved is approximately 19,000. Please see the attached bulletin for details.
I was driving at normal speed full tank of gas and electricity, when I got an error message "propulsion power is reduced". I was in the middle of the highway and the car would no longer let me accelerate. I was able to pull of on a small street. Car's check engine light turned on, my steering wheel became hard, and everytime I try putting it on reverse or drive, I get a message to put the car on park. It no longer works. I had this happened once about 3 years ago, and after an hour, it started working normally (this time the engine light stayed on though and car no longer works). I have had the message "propulsion power is reduced" pop up on my screen multiple times, car reduces power, but continues to work. This time it no longer wants to run and I lost all speed in the middle of the road.
I bought the car new in 2015 and after about only 40,000 miles I began getting a Propulsion Reduced error and the car would have very slow acceleration. I took it to the dealer and they replaced the accelerator for $500. It drove fine for a month, but then the acceleration was reduced again. I took it back to the dealer and they were stumped. They wanted to charge me $1300 just to replace some wires, but they weren't confident that would fix the problem. I declined. As it stands now I can toggle the F08 fuse and that temporarily fixes it for about an hour or so, but the error always comes back and the car has a hard time accelerating. Not safe. I called GM and they suggest I take it to another Chevrolet dealer, so I'm going to do that. I'm also going to reference NHSTA Special Coverage N232432680 Battery Energy Control Module Malfunction to see if they can replace the BECM. This is a common problem with 2016 Chevy Volts. If they can't fix it, I'll look into the California Lemon Law to see if I can get my money back on the car. I appreciate your support on this.
On [XXX], this Volt was towed to the Dealer because the Volt would not start, would not charge, and the engine light was on. The Dealer claimed that the problem was the Chevrolet Volt Battery Energy Control Module (BECM), GM Part # 24296900, which was covered under the GM hybrid VOLTEC warranty (8 years, 100,000 miles). On [XXX], 2024, this Volt (VIN [XXX] ) was towed to the Dealer again because the Volt would not start, would not charge, and the engine light was on. The Dealer claimed that the hybrid battery connectors were corroded, the disconnect relay should be replaced, and the BECM should be replaced again at a total cost of $5,005.58. On [XXX], GM issued special coverage warranty N232432680 (15 year, 150,000 miles) to cover BECM replacements for a malfunction involving the BECM. Plaintiff checked the VIN at the GM Recall and Warranty Center website. The Volt at issue is covered under special coverage warranty N232432680, according to the GM website. Plaintiff asked the Dealer and GM again after [XXX] about warranty coverage for the BECM at issue. GM responded that the bumper-to-bumper warranty expired and that they would provide no assistance. On [XXX], Plaintiff filed a complaint with the local Better Business Bureau (BBB) regarding the BECM at issue. GM responded in writing that the bumper-to-bumper warranty expired and that they would provide no assistance. Plaintiff sought arbitration, but both the local BBB and the BBB Auto Line found that Plaintiff was not eligible to arbitrate with GM due to GM-??s program summary guidelines with the BBB. GM breached multiple warranties and failed to provide sufficient repairs, and this Volt has been out of service for more than 80 days. Based on GM-??s warranty breaches, insufficient repairs and inconsistent statements, this Volt poses serious safety concerns. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Edgewater, MD, USA