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.
I will get a "shift to park" message on the dash when parking the car and trying to turn it off. When it happens, the car will not turn off and claims it is not in park. The shifter is physically in the park position, but the car does not recognize it. I have to shift it in and out of park multiple times to get it to recognize that it is in park. On a few occasions, I have had to leave it on and lock the doors because it just would not recognize that the car was in park.
The vehicle stopped on its own without obstacles. The vehicle fails to stop under adaptive cruse control and you have to disengage to stop or it will hit the car in front. When stepping on break during adaptive cruse it lurching forward before breaking takes over causing a hazzard. When you shif to park it doesn't register and will kill battery. Adaptive cruse does not keep it centered in clearly marked lanes.
from all my reading and my own knowledge and what I have read on forums from others who have had the same issue, this problem is due to the cars BECM (battery energy control module) going bad unexpectedly. apparently this has happened to many other people driving the generation 2 Chevy volt at varying mileages. On the highway on her way home from work, my wife experienced a large loss of power and the car started shuddering and switching between the electric and gas powertrain as well as slowing down quite a bit. the dash showed a notification of "propulsion power reduced". the car also lost power to many of its accessories. she ended up having to pull over on the side of a busy highway and turn the car on and off again till it would finally work and managed to limp it home along back roads. if she had not had a shoulder to pull on to she would have been stuck in the middle of the highway. the car had absolutely zero issues before this, but since the incident has had a check engine light illuminated and is unable to charge unless the codes are reset. it is drivable again after getting some codes cleared but as it poses a serious hazard we are trying to find a temporary car till we can get this fixed. our car has about 100900 miles on it, but these failures happen as soon as 25k-50k on a lot of vehicles. it has not been inspected by anyone yet as it happened yesterday.
2016-2018 Volts are have a hung issues with the Battery Engine Control Module (BECM). When it fails, the car stops driving and will shift itself to park. Mine lucky failed when I was stopped but the car is unable to move when it fails. It will not drive on the motor or the battery.
When parking and turning off the vehicle, I get a message saying "shift to park" even though the vehicle is in park already. This keeps all the electronics and the car still partially "on."
- Longville, LA, USA
Search CarComplaints.com for these popular complaint phrases...
My car, like many other 2nd Gen Volts, experienced a BECM failure that resulted in two events where the car unexpectedly lost all propulsion power and came to an uncontrolled stop. I believe the electric power steering was also disabled in both events. Luckily these events both occurred at low speeds, not on a crowded highway, as I do not believe this failure would allow the driver to get to the shoulder. The car was immobilized after both events and needed to be reset to drive home in a 'reduced propulsion' limp mode. There were not, to my knowledge, any warnings, CELs, etc. before the first event. The car has been with the local Chevy dealership for over two months waiting on part availability, as this is a common failure. It appears from online discussion that this is extremely common on this year and make.
Shift to park alert comes on when car is already in park. Vehicle does not recognize that it is in park. This happens almost every time I put the car in park then hit the power button to turn the car off. That-??s when the message -?? Shift to park-?? appears. GM has a service bulletin about this problem which is apparently well known. This is supposed to be covered under my Voltec warranty but dealership was going to charge me until we pointed out the service bulletin to them.
Check engine light came on during highway driving and dash showed "Propulsion Power Is Reduced". Dealer said bad EGR valve and/or EGR cooler caused fuse to blow. Replacing fuse did not resolve the issue as it occurred again. EGR failure is a common issue with this vehicle and there is a GM service bulletin 18-NA-089 issues in March 2018. Driving with this condition can cause the engine to overheat as well as cause increased emissions due to the EGR being non-functional. This condition can be dangerous if the engine overheats and shuts down during highway driving. Emissions control systems such as EGR should be covered by the manufacturer but I had to pay out of pocket for this repair.
After a little over 3 years and 16017 miles, my Volt would not recognize it had been shifted into park and would not shut off. This started occasionally doing this, and reshifting out of and back into park solved it. Finally, I could no longer get the car to recognize it was in park and could not shut off the car (still running on electricity). I drove it to the dealer, and they kept it a week. They replaced the transmission shift controller and cable. The repair total was $452.85, and my Ally extended warranty covered all but the $100 deductable. GM has a technical bulletin out on this issue: #19-NA-206.
I bought the car in 2020. It had intermittent problems with the car registering -??shift to park-?? when the car was in park. This would not allow the car to be started, leaving me stranded. The intermittent problem has become much more frequent now. Yesterday and today 16 Dec 2021, the car is not ever registering that the vehicle is in park. The transmission display shows I am in -??P-?? (park), but the display keeps saying -??shift to park-?? and the car won-??t start.
When placing my car into Park and then powering it off I get an error message telling me to shift to park to shut vehicle off even though it is in park. Problem is two fold: I cant turn the car off and the result is a battery that runs dead. Very frustrating and if the car isnt off it could accidentally be put into gear by a child.
The vehicle often will not turn off after pressing the power button, even though it is in the Park position the vehicle stays on with the console message -??Shift to Park-?? displayed. Normally releasing and the re-engaging the foot brake and toggling the shifter lock resolves the problem, but today (Nov 22, 2021) the vehicle did not recognize that the vehicle was in Park when in a city parking lot after approximately 10 minutes of attempting to turn off the vehicle. If the vehicle does not recognize that the shifter is in park and does not turn off, the battery may drain, and if one needs to leave the vehicle, the operator cannot be sure the vehicle will remain in position. No warning lights appear for the vehicle on turning on the vehicle.
shift-to-park problem. This is a noted problem with these Volt's. The Dealer is charging around $450 to fix this problem. With more than a couple of service bulletins on this, it is a troublesome issue.
My Chevy Volt has the "Shift to Park" error. It intermittently will not turn off, which means you also cannot start it. This left me stranded at night in a county park, which closed before the tow truck could arrive. The car has 40,205 miles and the dealer says this problem is not under warranty because it is a "bumper to bumper" issue covered only under the 36,000 mile warranty. As categorized by NHTSA, this is an electrical and power train issue and is a glaring defect that is essential to the car even functioning and should not happen on a car with 40,000 miles.
For approximately 4 months, after shifting the vehicle to park and attempting to shut the vehicle off, I get a warning message to -??Shift to Park-?? even though the vehicle is already in park. The vehicle will not shut off unless I shift the vehicle into reverse and then back into park.
Car started giving message -??Place car in park-??, even though car is in Park. Thus not allowing me to turn my car off. I have to move it from Park to Drive multiple times before it registers and I can turn my car off. This happens at least once a day, but seems to be getting worse and worse-?? looking online many others are having same issue across many Chevy models.
After parking the car and moving the shifter to the "park" position, I tried to turn off the vehicle. The message "Action Required: Shift to Park" appeared, and the vehicle would not turn off. After the problem began, it happened more and more frequently, sometimes requiring 3-5 attempts to shut off the car before it successfully turned off and I could leave it parked. After this happened almost every time I drove for two months, I took the car to a Chevrolet dealer, where they confirmed the issue and replaced the shifter. The problem has since ceased, but it was a very expensive repair for a problem that seems to be very common in Volts.
Car exhibits "shift to park" message when attempting to turn off car. This issue is still occurring after the completion of the technical service bulletin and jumper wire installed. Bulletin No.: 19-NA-206
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Highland, IN, USA