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.
Vehicle went to low propulsion mode and would not move at a stop light during rush hour traffic. After many trial and errors restarting the car it finally moved under low propulsion mode. We were almost hit from behind many times because of people at the last minute turning around a stalled car... GM diagnosed the issue as a bad BECM (battery energy control module). Our service rep said it is a very common issue with this car and that they have a few others waiting for a replacement part. I am at month 2 waiting for my vehicle to get fixed.
A problem occurred on approx Sept 25 where the vehicle dash suddenly displays "shift to park" and no longer has any propulsion. This is dangerous, as in this case the car was stuck in the middle of traffic unable to move to the shoulder. Luckily someone helped push my wife out of the road. This is the 2nd time this summer (2022) that this has occurred. It has also occurred in the more distant past. The car goes into a mode where it cannot fully shut down or started. Shifting out of Park simply bring back the message of "Shift to Partk". I have found the only way to get the car moving was to disconnect and reconnect the battery to reset the computer. Vehicle was brought to dealership for service. Tech could find no issue associated with this problem. Shifter was replaced just to rule that out.
Vehicle Make and Model 2017 Chevrolet Volt LT -??Miles Currently 28,000 -??(Car is recalled) Energy Hybrid -?? The vehicle will not turn off, Motor Light Constantly on -?? I never received a recall letter, email not mail notification -??The whole car smells like smoke and gasoline when AAA gives me jumps -?? I-??ve had two not at fault accidents since I-??ve had the vehicle -?? CarMax sold me the vehicle in February of 2021 -?? I spoke with GM yesterday who stated and confirmed that my vehicle is defective and recalled -?? The recall states that any 2017 & other Models can-??t be sold due to a multitude of reasons -?? The recall was put in place before it was sold to me -?? At this point, I want another vehicle (Brand New, That is recalled and damaged) I-??m having panic attacks when trying and attempting to drive this car -?? I was badly injured and I still
Traveling from Mexico, we just got into yuma Arizona heading towards the 8 freeway when my volt displayed reduced propulsion and the engine light came on and the car lost power while driving on the road we had to let the car drift into a parking lot. We let the cat sit for a several minutes and the engine started up but was running hard. After that it ran a little so we decided to rent a uhaul and car hauler to get the car home. Before this happened We were about to head back to California and we were stranded there until we got an Uber to the uhaul place and rented a truck and car hauler, the car would stay on long enough for us to drive it up on the ramp so we had to push the car to get it up there. We finally did and 24 hours later we made it home hauling the cars a 3 hour ride home was turned into a nightmare. Apparently this is serious problem if the car would have stopped a while we were driving through Joshua Tree we would have been stranded on the side of the narrow road in the dark, Or on a major free way, This problem is a safety hazard to all Volt owners and it has been known and reported to happen countless of times so why is there no recall of these vehicles for this problem, people's lives are in danger, this could have turned out way worst, thank God He saved us from what could have happened. My dealer says that they are not sure what caused it and that we may have to pay for repairs. This is unacceptable because there is an obvious problem with this vehicle
At approximately 61,500 miles my Chevy Volt would not start. I had it towed to a repair facility who determined the problem was a faulty BECM (Battery Energy Control Module), but that it would still be covered by the manufacturer's warranty. So I had the vehicle towed to a dealership. The vehicle has been at the dealership for six weeks as of the time I write this, but report they have yet to diagnose the problem or offer a solution. Doing research online I have found that BECM failure is a common problem among the Chevy Volt, of all model years. And due to "supply chain disruptions" people are having to wait weeks to months for their vehicle to be repaired. Fortunately my vehicle did not fail in a dangerous location, however the BECM failure could happen randomly at any time at any mileage and appears to be a design flaw. Fortunately my vehicle is still covered by the manufacturer's warranty, but in my opinion, repair should be extended to all Chevy Volts.
- Albuquerque, NM, USA
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BECM failure caused vehicle to lose propulsion. Could have stopped working in a dangerous situation such as an intersection, steep hill, or railroad tracks.
This is related to a long-standing issue with the failure of the Battery Energy Control Module (BECM) (part #242969-00) for the 2017 Chevrolet Volt, as well as a lack of availability of the replacement part. This is a documented problem in the NTSA database since 2016. The vehicle error messages on the dashboard include -??unable to charge-??, -??shift to park to start-??, -??reduced propulsion acceleration may be limited-??. The internal combustion engine engages even with a full battery charge on an intermittent basis. Only after turning the car off and on several times or later the next day, would the problems resolve. In several instances, there was a lack of power transfer to the wheels when in drive mode and traveling on roadways, and the car had to be turned off and on to resolve this problem. The car has been inspected by a Chevrolet dealer to confirm the BECM is failing and needs to be replaced. The replacement BECM was ordered by the dealer 7 June, 2022, and neither GM or the dealer will provide a delivery date for the part. A number of postings on www.gm-volt.com reported 2017 Volts would no longer turn on or would lose power when being driven, could not be driven, and had to be towed. The NTSA database indicates approximately 250 complaints have been filed for 2017 Volts that include vehicle error messages on the dashboard for -??unable to charge-??, -??shift to park to start-??, -??reduced propulsion acceleration may be limited-?? and loss of power while driving. Although no accidents or deaths were reported, this is clearly a serious safety issue that NTSA should address immediately with a mandatory safety recall.
When attempting to engage the vehicles drive system, it would occasionally fail to recognize the propulsion system battery. This could potentially leave someone stranded in dangerously high or low temperature environments without food or water. Powering off the vehicle and then powering the vehicle back on would sometimes fix the issue. The issue occurred very randomly and was unable to be reproduced once working again. It would continue to happen more frequently and require more tinkering to get it working until almost complete failure. This appears to be a common issue and found to be the result of a failed BECM (battery energy control module). It triggers the check engine light and a series of trouble codes. It is estimated that the replacement of this module takes roughly five hours. Unfortunately, supply chain issues have recently resulted in owners being without their vehicle for multiple months with no loaner vehicles available and no additional compensation. See discussion https://www.gm-volt.com/threads/becm.343297/
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.
I was driving and put my car in -??hold-?? mode and received an error message -??propulsion power reduced, engine not available-??. I was preparing for a ~300 mile drive and so I pulled over after a few miles to see if turning it on and off again would do anything. My car kept saying -??shift to park-?? and wouldn-??t turn back on. Finally got it to turn in and tried the gas mode again and got the same error. Dealership not open due to holiday and am now missing out in plans because I can-??t drive in gas mode
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.
On 2 difference occasions over the past 3 weeks, my car has malfunctioned while I was driving. There were no warning lamps, messages or other symptoms prior to this. All of the lights on the dash came on, the power steering went out, the brakes would not work properly and I could not accelerate. I had my child in the car and we narrowly avoided being hit by other cars both times since I couldn't control the vehicle. I couldn't even power the car down initially but was finally able to turn it off and back on and function resumed after several cycles. I was driving on electric battery that time. The first time, the dealership stated that the following codes were present: P1e00 and P16BA. They replaced the g1 a/c compressor. The incident occurred again a week later when I was driving on gas. At that time, there were history U codes present for every module, per the technician but no current codes to identify the problem. The problem has not been able to be reproduced since. The 2nd incident occurred out of state and my car was towed back to Texas where I live. The dealership there refused to investigate the incidents since they couldn't reproduce them and there were no current codes showing. It has subsequently been towed to a different dealership where they are still trying to identify the issue. I contacted General Motors and was contacted by a rep who escalated the issue. The next rep escalated it again greater than 48 hours ago and I have received no further contact from GM. The 2nd rep informed me that since the dealership that it was originally at says that it's safe to drive that they can't do anything. This car is NOT safe to drive.
While driving in the EV-mode in a traffic the car suddenely lost its ability to accelerate. The ICE started, the CHECK ENGINE icon appeared. I managed to park in the right lane with hazard lights flashing, but my car caused a traffic jam. The battery showed its present capacity, but the drive mile estimation showed only 1 mile. After some shutoffs/starts I managed to get home. This happened one more time after a day or two. It could cause a collision from behind as again the car lost its propulsion ability unexpectedly.
I was driving 65 miles per hour on the freeway and suddenly my car lost propulsion. A light came on that said the car had lost propulsion and I had no power to keep driving on the freeway. Luckily, I was able to get to the side of the road without getting hit by other cars, but it was a close call and very scary. I had it towed to the dealership and they could not find any problem with it after investigating for an entire week. They gave it back without any repairs because it was apparently working fine for the dealership. This same problem happened again about 6 months later as I was driving up a long hill. Again, it was a scary close call to get to the side of the road safely. This time I just turned the car off and let it sit for awhile. Then I turned it back on and everything seemed to be running just fine. This is a major safety problem. I-??m now afraid to drive this car and no one seems to know how to fix the problem!
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.
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.
The car suddenly started starting problem, then the electrical charging component to refuel the power from an electrical charging outlet was unable to charge. Now it does not start at all. I brought the 2017 Chevy Volt to a dealer, it has been more than a week and they said that the part to fix the problem is not available yet and I have to wait. They do not have any idea when they will get the part.
While driving on the interstate at 75 mph I had to accelerate briefly to allow another vehicle to merge safely onto the road. Immediately my dashboard gave me a warning message saying -??reduced propulsion acceleration may be limited-?? and the engine warning light came on. The temperature of my coolant began to rise over 230 F & then 240. Miles from my destination, I reduced speed & took the next exit to stop for fuel and read my owners manual. I discovered that the same message could appear if the car was not put into -??mountain mode-?? thereby failing to reserve a certain amount of energy in the battery. I had hoped we starting the engine & resetting the computer with the car in -??Mountain mode-?? would resolve the matter, but that was not the case. I let the engine cool down for a bit & restarted my trip as I was just 20 miles away from my destination. Later on, I got another message as my engine began frequently skipping and sputtering that told me my -??engine as not available-?? despite having a bear full tank of gas. I pulled over to read the manual & discovered that this message indicated once my car ran out of electric energy it would just stop working! As I had been on the road for 6.5 hours prior, I knew there was no electric reserve to pull from & said a prayer that my 4-yr-old daughter and I could get safely and get a tow to the dealership. The -??reduced propulsion-?? message is part of a recall on the gen2 Volt, tho that recall relates to a software glitch & the remedy just provides -??additional warning time-?? for this serious issue. My car just turned 5 years with 33,000 miles on it. I have followed all maintenance recommendations. Seems like an electrical emissions issue, & with a lithium battery on board, fire from overheating scares me as much as than engine failure on the interstate. But I had a full tank of gasoline! Dealer says it is a -??short in my EGR Valve-?? & that part needs replacing.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Plymouth, MN, USA