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.
When attempting to turn off the vehicle a warning and alarm periodically comes up that the vehicle can not be turned off because it needs to be shifted into park even though it is already in park it somehow does not recognize this and prevents the vehicle from being turned off. Restarting and shutting back down will eventually clear the issue or sometimes just "tapping" the shifter in the direction of park seems to clear the alarm
On my 2nd day of ownership when the vehicle had 50 miles on it the vehicle stopped without warning in the middle of the highway. While driving 65 mph on interstate 5 (4 lane highway) the vehicle began smoking and lost all propulsion and forward power. The vehicle had just changed from electric power to gas power. The warning message displayed was "action required - shift to park". the orange engine symbol was displayed. Then the steering wheel locked up, all displays and controls were turned off. Luckily I was able to move from the 2nd to far right lane of 4 and get just off the highway. There was just enough space to glide the vehicle to a stop off the highway. However, the I5 is the primary trucking route and in this uphill location all semi trucks are required to drive in the far right lane. My vehicle was swayed continuously by the large high profile vehicles for over 2 hours. A chp stayed with me with flashing lights to attempt to move vehicles to the left. The vehicle was towed to the nearest dealership. The vehicle was replaced by the dealership with another vehicle after 9 hours. However, I am now in arbitration with GM over the same issue "action required - shift to park" with the 2nd vehicle. The vehicle has been in service for 95 days over an 8 month period and I am seeking a vehicle buyback under the California lemon law with the BBB for impairment of value, use, and safely.
While entering the highway the vehicle experienced significant loss of propulsion and the warning displayed "propulsion power reduced".this loss of power occurred when the vehicle switched from electric to gas power. I have experienced issues with the vehicle switching from electric to gas regularly and it sputters and bucks. After a few miles the sputtering and rough change to gas will dissipate. On this occasion the power loss was significant and dangerous. I would not have had the power or propulsion to enter the highway. I was able to divert to city streets and get home at speeds under 40 mph. The vehicle would not go any faster. The vehicle was serviced by my local Chevy dealer and out of service for 18 days with approximately 250 miles of road testing while in service. I no longer believe this vehicle to be safe or reliable and am engaged in arbitration under the California lemon law and the BBB.
My Volt had a sudden loss of propulsion and warning "action required - shift to park" and was in service at my local Chevy dealership for 41 days to solve this dangerous issue. When the vehicle was returned to me it would no longer charge to 53 miles electric. On my level 1 charger it has charged to 52 or 53 miles since the first day of ownership on 1/24/17. The vehicle will change to 36 - 40 miles now which is greater than a 30% loss of electric charge. I am not referring to driving range which varies with conditions. The problem has been serviced by the dealership 3 times for a total of 53 days. The problem seems to have been resolved on the last service visit where the shifter assembly and the transmission control were replaced. I am now in arbitration with GM under the California lemon law and the BBB. I am requesting a buyback of the vehicle for impairment of use, value, and safety.
While driving on a busy surface street the vehicle lost all propulsion and stalled. Steering locked up, was disabled, and electric power stopped. The warning light read "action required - shift to park'. this stall is immediate and highly dangerous. I was able to glide to the side of the road without being in or causing an accident. The orange engine symbol was illuminated. All systems shut down on the vehicle. The car was towed to the nearest Chevy dealership but we were unable to turn off the vehicle or shift it in neutral. The car start button would not turn off the vehicle and had to be towed running and the battery disabled at the dealership.
- Paso Robles, CA, USA
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When driving on the highway, I accelerated to pass a vehicle, but the engine slowed down significantly instead. A warning about reduced power showed on the dash. We barely made it to an exit and a gas station, and the engine would not restart, with another warning of "service high voltage charging system". we had to have the vehicle towed to the dealer.. if we had been in heavy traffic when we went to pass the other vehicle, we could have had an accident.
On multiple occasions (including after alleged repair), the vehicle requested to be placed in park while moving. On two occasions when placed in park the vehicle shift lock engaged and could not be shifted out of park. On one occasion the vehicle surged while driving prior to requesting to be placed in park. On all occurrences, the vehicle would not shut down and entered a continuous reboot cycle when the start/stop button was pressed, including when towed.
Driving up the freeway at a normal speed, my Volt began to accelerate without warning and after applying the brakes again began to accelerate involuntarily. After I managed to pull to the side of the road by applying the brakes hard, smoke came out of the hood. I called a tow truck and he had to jump the car to start it again.
I leased this car in September 2017. On November 30, 2018, I got onto the freeway while running on gas and the vehicle began smoking within about 5 minutes. I pulled over and got out and the vehicle caught fire and was destroyed. There were no previous mechanical or electrical issues or any warning signs. I have driven the vehicle countless times on gas rather than electric charge. The fire started under the hood on the passenger side. The entire interior, all windows, the front tires, and the front of the car were completely destroyed. I have seen 2 other reviews on this website about spontaneous vehicle fires.
When pulling into my garage, the car suddenly accelerated unexpectedly and collided with the front wall of the garage (photo 08); when I shifted to reverse, the car careened out of the garage, across the driveway, and collided with my neighbor's home (photo 09), leaving skid marks (photos 06 & 07) on the garage floor. The car was in normal electric mode at the time. I purchased the car as a certified used car on May 3rd from dave gill Chevrolet in columbus, oh. There were 12,490 miles on the car at purchase and a little less than 14,000 miles as the time of the accident. I am uploading nine (9) photos.
When vehicle runs out of gas and only has battery power (no matter the charge) the car goes into reduced power mode which is dangerous in any traffic especially interstate highways!!! this happens every time you run of gas!! also the adaptive cruise not working all the time and disengages by its self for no reason(like nothing in front of you)!!
The contact owns a 2017 Chevrolet Volt. While the vehicle was stationary, a hole formed in the emissions pipe. The contact stated that the check engine indicator illuminated. Also, the emissions controls stopped working and fuel was vaporized. Heritage Chevrolet Buick owings mills (11234 reisterstown rd, owings mills, md 21117) diagnosed that there was a hole in the evaporative emissions pipe. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was 25,600.
While driving to the dealership to get my car serviced for nearly stalling at a stop light my car engine kept turning on and off and revving up and down randomly. I was in electric mode and the engine should not have been coming on. The car's speed randomly fluctuated as the engine randomly revved up and down. I pulled in to a grocery store parking lot where my car died. Before dying the gas range indicator changed from 87 miles to 'low fuel'. I called the dealership to have my car towed. After 16 days I got my car back. The dealership replaced the engine control module twice. The first replacement failed within a 1 mile test drive by the mechanic.
The car literally just stopped working as I was turning on a busy road, so I was stuck right in the middle of the road with cars nearly smashing into the back of me. The steering wheel locked up. The accelerator stopped working. I couldn't turn it off or on- it was kind on just stuck in an alternate mode. There was an orange engine symbol that was lit up and it kept saying "shift to park" but I would shift and nothing would happen. I couldn't put it in neutral so I could push it to a safer location. Nothing. The technician on the phone didn't know what was wrong with it, but someone who stopped to help said he used to work on these cars and said it happens quite often and it there was absolutely nothing I could have done to fix it (I thought I remember him saying something about an engine switch problem, but I was so frazzled I wasn't really listening to him). If this had happened on a highway I could have been killed. I don't know how these cars have no been recalled.
We bought a new 2017 Chevy Volt at the end of December 2016 and had our first issue in early February 2017. What happened that first time was on (2/3/2017) while driving through traffic the car without warning turned off the electric wheel motors and would not allow us to power the car properly to get the car to the berm. We were nearly were hit twice while trying to steer the car off of the interstate highway as it decelerated. The car was completely disabled an needed towed back to the dealership. After the dealership had the car for a week they returned it with the explanation that the car needed to do software updates and they were too large to do over the car's satellite system ' but they never gave us any indication of how we would have been informed of the need for such an update. We then had another near accident today (4/6/2017) on the same highway and we were nearly pushed up under a semi while trying to maneuver off of the highway at 75 miles an hour. Again, the car without warning shut off the electric wheel motors and warned us to 'put the car in park'. it happened in exactly the same way as in February but no warnings had been issued for our car and we almost had a horrible accident. My concern is for my family and colleagues safety at this point and I don't want anyone driving in this car. I hate to think of what would have happened today if my daughter, who is a brand new driver, would have had to deal with the same situation sandwiched in by two semi-trucks and with a car trying to pass on the shoulder around her ' it could have been far worse. I am in several Chevy Volt groups on facebook and people who loved the generation 1 of these cars are having major issues from battery packs dying, to drive train issues, to speed control problems and more where people are having major system pieces replaced 2-3 times in the first few months they own the cars.
Strong burning and/or fuel smell filled the passenger cabin. This has happened on several occasions most notably when the car was operating in 'engine running due to temperature' mode. The odor was strong enough to cause dizziness and required to the windows to be opened to vent the cabin. The smell and order now is persistent even when driving in all-electric mode. My intension is to replace the cabin air filter with a carbon air filter per 16-na-127.
We are writing to voice a very disconcerting and dangerous incident with our 2017 Chevy Volt. On a return trip at dark from cleveland, Ohio to rochester, NY on 12-26-16, our engine suddenly gave warning beeps which prompted my husband to pull over to the shoulder on interstate 90 in erie, pa. We had all of 15-20 seconds to get off this heavily trafficked highway when the car literally shut down.. nothing worked not even the warning flashers. We could not open the trunk, and had we not kept one door open we would not have been able to enter the car. In summary, the total failure we encountered shows the serious safety issue related to this car. We are now reluctant to take it on trips this incident could have resulted in a serious accident had we not been able to pull off onto the shoulder.
I was driving my 2 month old car with ~2300 miles on a busy highway at ~ 65 mph when suddenly the car loses power and the panel reads "shift to park". luckily, I was able to maneuver the car (steering was still in tact) with the remaining speed to the side of the highway. However, had the highway been busier or if I had been on the far left lane, I don't think I would have been able to make it and would have created a dangerous situation on the highway. On the Volt forum, others have also complained about this. The repair, though covered, took 3+ weeks at the dealership. From dealer printout "internal transmission prime notor(sic) internal failure P03af drive motor remove and replace with srta srta unit".
2017 Chevrolet Volt extreme engine hazard: On 22-Mar-2016 I purchased a 2017 Chevrolet Volt premier, all safety options. Driving on freeway at 65 mph, straight driving, relatively light traffic, the engine light came on yellow and steady (emissions system service warning) but the car uncontrollably decelerated. The freeway had no shoulder due to construction. The car smelled of burning electrical insulation confirmed by the tow truck driver. The car, with less than 150 total miles, in clear weather, at twilight, 76 degrees, California at sea level, straightaway, had a sudden and near total loss of all propulsion. This caused a lack of control (obviously) in the forward direction, causing an extreme hazard on the freeway. I am an experienced driver: Make no mistake, this was a serious manufacture's error. I checked, no parking brake, the car was in drive gear, I had both electric range and over 7/8 tank of gas showing a gas range of 360 miles - and I had just driven 60 miles. There was no brake smell, as I did not need to apply the brake because the engine gave no propulsion. My hand was off the regen switch. The car had a major malfunction causing an extreme hazard, and based on the smell, possible fire hazard.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Arroyo Grande, CA, USA