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 2017 Chevrolet Volt experienced a failure of the Battery Energy Control Module (BECM) in the powertrain system. This failure prevented my vehicle from being driven. The BECM and related battery pack components were replaced under warranty by a Chevrolet dealership. Those parts, to my knowledge, are not available for inspection. -- From a safety perspective, my vehicle was luckily parked when the failure occurred. Many Volt owners have reported -- via online Volt forums and on Reddit at r/volt -- that the failure has occurred while the vehicle is in motion, resulting in a safety issue when the vehicle loses power and stops in the middle of a street or highway. -- A Chevrolet dealership confirmed my vehicle's BECM failure through diagnosis and code reading (see attached documentation). In my case, the BECM initially failed and I lost the ability to drive my vehicle when it was stopped in a parking lot (while I was on vacation, 225 miles from my home). I left the dead vehicle in the parking lot overnight. The next day I was able to start the vehicle and drive it to the nearest EV-certified Chevrolet dealership, where the BECM permanently failed in the dealership's service entrance. I watched the dealership service staff push the dead vehicle into the service bay. It should be noted that I was lucky -- the replacement BECM part was available from GM to the dealership in two days. NHTSA will receive complaints from other Volt owners who waited weeks and MONTHS for a replacement part and repair, all the while their vehicle could not be driven. -- My vehicle's BECM was inspected, the failure diagnosed, and the part replaced by a Chevrolet technician at a Chevrolet dealership (see attached documentation). -- The BECM failure on my vehicle happened immediately with no warning. When I could not drive my vehicle, I saw cryptic "propulsion lost" and "shift transmission to park" error messages on the instrument panel.
Any time the car switches from battery to gasoline the 12v battery comes on, I get the message to shift into park, and the car shuts off. This happens multiple times a day, making it difficult to drive long distance. It also makes it difficult to work more than a couple of hours at a time as an Uber driver. It has happened on the highway, very dangerous.
BECM failure, covered by warranty but required towing that I had to pay out of pocket. Have been waiting a week for the repair to be completed and the dealer is refusing to provide a loaner vehicle.
I was driving home from a client meeting on the highway and received a check engline light with the message "Propulsion Power is Reduced." After a trip to the dealership, I learned that the car's Exhaust Gas Recirculation (EGR) valve malfunctioned and needs to be replaced. Some online research shows that this is a very common issue with Chevrolet Volts. What's worse, the part is back ordered indefinitely because they're not manufacturing enough of them. I know NHTSA is looking into the Battery Energy Control Module (BECM) issue as well. I'm very worried about when happens when/if this fails too and if it happens out of warranty. There should be recalls on both of these common failures and GM should make sure there they're a) all replaced and b) people don't have to wait months to get parts needed for their cars.
- West Hartford , CT, USA
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During a drive the car began warning of loss of propulsion. The vehicle is at a dealer waiting for repair since Oct 16, 2023. There is no ETA on back ordered EGR valve that the technician anticipates a fix.
As reported by the dealer the Battery Energy Control Module (BECM) has failed. Car initially did not start but then did start with a check engine light and a "Propulsion Power is Reduced" warning. Vehicle has approximately 56,500 miles. Car could have abruptly stopped or slowed considerably while driving. Chevrolet dealer is blaming the current UAW strike for complete lack of replacement parts. They also state there is no way to forecast a delivery date of the part. I am out a vehicle for an unknown amount of time with no promise that GM will reimburse me for out of pocket expenses for a rental vehicle.
While driving after the electric battery is used and switches over to gas, I have been getting the check engine, ABS, steering, parking, and brake lights. I have lost power steering, lost the speedometer, lost fuel range, lost stabilitrak, it has randomly turned on the emergency brake while all these other things are happening, It also has said -??shift to park-??, propulsion power reduced. I have taken it to the dealer and they read some of the codes but say they can-??t find anything wrong and they need to be able to reproduce the problem to find it. I lost all propulsion and pulled over and turned it off and it stopped with a -??clunk.-?? Then I turn it back on and just the check engine light is on. I-??m very afraid to drive it but with the lack of vehicles available to buy and the dealer not knowing how to fix it I don-??t know what to do.
Random no starts, engine turns on at random, won-??t charge, car jerks, hesitation while driving, hard to climb mountain roads, Battery Energy Control Module Lost Communication With Hybrid/EV Battery Interface Control Module 1-12
The vehicle suddenly, and unexpectedly lost propulsion while driving. The vehicle is no longer able to turn on or drive. I contacted several Chevy official dealers and took the car in for repair. They said it is a problem with the hybrid battery system. But the car is no longer manufactured and parts are no longer available. So I am now stuck with a car that is non-operational and not repairable.
When I first purchased the car (used around 30,000 miles), I began to have electrical and propulsion issues where the engine would turn off. After Chevy refused to warranty or lemon the car, eventually the electrical/hybrid issue repeated and caused cooling issues with the car and then water pump went bad. while chevy still refused to fix the hybrid and battery issues, that continued issue and then the water pump failing from it then caused overheating that then broke the head gasket
After the battery runs out, the engine loses propulsion and fails to run on gas. The car completely stalls in the middle of traffic. The speed drops from 70+ mph to 0. Extremely dangerous to myself and others. The issue suddenly appeared at the end of December 2022 during a long drive. The engine check light remains on and a warning re: reduced propulsion power is displayed every time the car is turned on. Dealer is unable to fix the issue because they already have multiple cars with the same issue waiting for weeks to be repaired. Recently filed class action law suit suggests that this problem is caused by defective BCEM unit.
The Battery Energy Control Module (BECM) has failed. On two occasions this put me at risk of collision because when the BECM lost communication my car stalled as I was accelerating away from a stop sign. On one occasion, cross traffic had to come to a stop so I could push my car out of the intersection. The car is currently at the dealer for repair. The problem has been confirmed to be the BECM. There was no advance warning when this occurred. A message came up during the incident that said, "Propulsion Power Is Reduced" and following the incident, the check engine light illuminated. The warnings appeared at the time of the incident. There was no advance warning.
BECM failure. Initially, it caused the vehicle to operate in a low propulsion state. However, it now prevents the vehicle from starting. Likewise, I have heard it has stopped the engines from working/shut down the engines while people are driving on the highway.
About 3 minutes after I started driving the 2017 Chevy Volt, an error message showed saying "propulsion power is reduced" and I was unable to drive the vehicle as typical. While driving on base at fairly low speed (~15-20mph) in the battery area of the display, the EV range was reading 12mi, and it started going up. When it read 20mi, the "Propulsion power reduced" showed on the display and the check engine light came on. I pulled over to a different building, went inside for a few minutes, came back out and restarted the car, and I got a message the Volt wouldn't initialize. After multiple on/off button pushes to start the car, the car finally initialized to where I was able to drive home in the "Propulsion Power Reduced mode", and I was not able to accelerate as expected - the vehicle was very sluggish. I drove home at about 45-50mph. My drive home is about 38 mi one way.
On Sunday night, I was driving around 65 mph on the 405 freeway to take my friend to the airport. I noticed that the car started to give a weird feedback sensation on the pedals and had started to jerk us forward. As I merged onto the two-lane on ramp to the 10 freeway, the car started to rapidly lose power and then completely died and went dark. I was unable to use the hazard lights as the car had just gone dark but then it turned back on but would not let me shift it into drive. As I was on a two-lane on-ramp with no shoulder in the dark, we just had to pray that no one would hit us. In doing research, I suspect that this was yet another BECM failure that has been repeatedly happening with this year of Chevrolet Volts. There was most recently a class-action lawsuit filed for this very issue. The car is currently at the dealership awaiting inspection but I am terrified to drive that car again if it even becomes drivable. Especially since there were no warning lights or signs on the vehicle to indicate that this could be an issue and to have it die on the freeway in the way that it did, putting my life and many other lives at risk, I am shocked that there hasn't been a recall for this issue.
Battery Energy Control Module failed. Car stopped unexpectedly while driving which was a huge safety issue. Car has been broken for 3 months waiting for parts which seem to be unavailable.
I have owned my 2017 Volt since November of 2016. I drive about 200 miles a week and currently my mileage is at 109,000 (9,000 miles PAST the warranty period). My car did not start one morning and had to have it towed to my local GM dealership. They diagnosed it with a bad BECM and a repair bill of $1,400. They have no estimated time on when the part will be shipped. It is unacceptable to not have an ETA for a critical part or the vehicle. I have read on many forums that the BECM is a known failure for the 2017 Volt.
Vehicle started to lose power. Showed error messages "reduced power" after a series of "shift to park" messages when first starting. Had no propulsion power until several attempts to start vehicle. Once started engine would run but all electric propulsion was inoperable. Vehicle has become totally unreliable at approx 22,000 miles, sometimes starting and sometimes not. Power loss occurs while driving which is definitely a safety hazard if on the Interstate and minimum speed can't be maintained. Have taken vehicle to dealer where it was diagnosed as a defective "BECM" (I believe a master control module attached to the main propulsion battery). The dealer has ordered a replacement module but it's been four months with no sign of a replacement. Essentially I now have an unreliable and potentially unsafe vehicle with no sign of the manufacturer trying to facilitate repairs.
Emergency warning messages appeared on 24 Aug 2022 and a day later vehicle was taken to Chevrolet dealer who first replaced a "section of the battery" and eventually verified a problem with the BECM (Battery Energy Control Module). Now (end Nov 2022) 3 months later no repair part has become available. Because we immediately took the vehicle to a dealer, we had no safety issues.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Bemidji, MN, USA