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 purchased my used 17 Chevy Volt 2 months ago. Suddenly my car started having intermediate issues of showing "shift to park" when the vehicle is clearly in park mode. When this occurs the vehicle cannot be shut off. I have attempted to contact GM but they claim there are no recall or service bulletins for my VIN/vehicle. There are countless online complaints from 17 Volt owners showing the same issue (this is also occurring with other GM models & I am also seeing similar complaints on this site). GM is fully aware of this defect & has only issued service bulletins on some VIN # - while they should have cause - based on numerous complaints - that this impact is occurring with the majority of 17 Volts. This is a safety issue when a 3,794 lbs vehicle cannot be shut off. I am asking that NHTSA issue a recall in regards to 2017 Chevy Volts & the "sh*t to park" issue. While this is an intermediate issue and some days my car shuts of fine while others it takes moving the shifter back between gears in order for the electrical component to recognize it's parked - I will try to contact my local dealer for help but I am filing this complaint to put GM & NHTSA on notice regarding this well known defect that is not being addressed and could be a serious safety issue. GM should do the right thing and address this issue which is well documented - by providing a recall. Please see these similar complaints for GM on various models showing "shift to park": https://www.carcomplaints.com/news/2018/GMC-acadia-shift-to-park-issues-lawsuit.shtml https://www.reddit.com/R/Volt/comments/8et2nw/action_required_shift_to_park/ https://abc6onyourside.com/on-your-side/westerville-family-in-limbo-as-GM-leaves-them-in-dark-over-shift-to-park-issue https://www.cruzetalk.com/threads/shift-to-park-lock-problem.51401/ https://repairpal.com/cannot-turn-off-2016-Volt-action-required-shift-to-park-522
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.
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.
The battery energy control module failed at ~34K miles. This happened when the vehicle was parked and prevented the car from using the batteries for driving. The failure made the car unusable.
- Brooklet, GA, USA
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Takata recall Chevy Volt's defective HM1 module and failed needs to be replaced after 2 years on 2017 Volt not covered by owners warranty 3 yrs or 36 K miles. Vehicle warranty expired with 42 K miles. Replacement coat is $600+ and installation cost $660. Total $1,260. Safety issues as this is the main module to control all other modules as back up camera, gps, electrical settings and electrical charging settings as rate can not be viewed as info screen is totally blank. In addition all other functions to other items displayed are blank on screen. Replacement module is back ordered.
The trouble began on March 16th, I came to a stop at a light, ready to take a U turn.driving in ev mode. All lights in the console turned on and I got three errors "information : propulsion power is reduced" "service : stabilitrak" "service : power steering. Drive with care" the power steering gave up.restarted the car after 5mins, everything was normal. On March 24th, on a highway, in hold mode. After a few miles in, I got an error "action required: Engine overheating reduce speed" took the next exit out and saw that the coolant tank is empty. Turned on ev mode, drove back home. On March 25th morning, took the car in to service center (drive-in). They identified a valve leaking in the coolant loop. Replaced the part. Multi-point inspection done. 2 pending recalls done. Got the car back on 26th. On March 28th, at a light, about take a left turn, driving in ev mode. Again, all lights in the console turned on and I got the same 3 errors.I took it home. On March 29th morning, took the car in to the service center again. They found another leak in the coolant, a hose this time and replaced it. They found passenger side front axle is spilling geese and replaced it. Got the car back on April 3rd. On April 4th evening, the car gave me a check engine light again. Got an appointment for 5th morning, the light was off on the morning. I spoke to the service adviser and he mentioned that we can read the codes but wont be of much help if the lights are off and bring it back in if the lights on again. On April 5th afternoon, just got on the highway, turned on hold mode. Again, all lights in the console turned on and I got same three errors. I took it to the service center. With all the lights on. I got it back on tusday 9th. On April 12th evening, it happened again on the freeway, I almost crashed into another car. I gave the car in again.
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)!!
Like others, including the incident in rancho cucomonga, ca on the same day, April 25th, I was driving on the highway at high speed. I was in the carpool lane on the 210 freeway. I think I also was told to put the car in park. I lost the ability to accelerate on at a very dangerous time, while I was the furthest to the left in the late afternoon. Miraculously, there was only 1 car quite far behind me. So, after deceleration was forced upon my car, I began to steer the car to the right through 5 lanes - one of the widest parts of the highway at that point. Here is what I now think. I have been through loss of power in my 2014 Volt. I had accidentally turned it off while being on the highway. They fixed that design flaw in this 2017 model. I have shared my theory with GM. GM/Chevy has 3-way called me with the "stolen vehicles dept". they aggressively describe how they won't issue a slow-down through the on-star unless they have a request through police, the police are behind, the lights blink, etc. But, they're reluctant to share what happens next. They've been reluctant to share how they track your vehicle through the VIN and gps tracking. They're reluctant to share that this system can be hacked. It is evident that much can go wrong once the ability to control your car is placed in other's hands -- who aren't in the car driving it. The dealership could see the code of the slow-down. Of course they were surprised. This wasn't just a "failure". this is a "feature" in the car...but someone else used it without our permission. I want the on-star control disabled in my car!!! it could have killed my daughter and me. It could have killed the others who reported a similar situation.
Urgent urgent. This is something wrong with the 2017 Volt. My vehicle caught on fire while driving down the interstate at higher speeds. I have found two others that this has happened too. GM didn't even investigate before denying liability, they made a determination over photos. All 3 vehicles had over 20K miles on it. Others lives may be in danger. Please investigate.
I was driving on freeway at 65 mph then all the sudden I got check engine light one and message "action required, shift to park", I noticed the door unlocked by itself and the car starting to lose propulsion, I glided off the freeway and stopped at the end of off ramp due to red traffic light, then the car can not start again. After tow truck came, the car started again and I was able to drive to dealer for repair. Dealer found two error codes in the history P0ac4 and P0604. Although the car is working fine at this moment and seems like it was just some sort of computer crash, however it was very dangerous to lose propulsion on the freeway and stuck on a heavy traffic off ramp.
We've had a total of three Chevy Volts. Two have been great, but the 2017 Volt we got in February 2017 has been awful -- the car completely loses power without warning. It happens while driving, both on the freeway and surface streets. And just to clarify, I don't mean the car was out of electricity or out of gas (each time this happened, the car had both). We will be driving along when, out of the blue, the car simply just stops running, leaving us to do our best to get it out of the roadway without getting hit. The car (which only has about 1,000 miles on it) has been in the shop off and on for about a month now. We have been very disappointed by how both GM and the dealer have been handling the situation.
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.
My 2017 Chevy Volt suddenly lost all power while I was driving about 35 mph in electric mode. The car has been driven about 4500 miles. A "shift to park" message was displayed on the dashboard. I could not restart the car and had it towed to a dealer for service. The dealer replaced the power inverter module and updated the software. After the repairs, the electric motor has stalled on two occasions and the car shakes violently then switches into the gasoline engine mode.
On 3 separate occasion my car has died on the highway and lost acceleration, GM issued a recall between my first and second incidents and the recall fix did not fix the issue as this happened a third time. Nov 14th was the first time but it has happened multiple times. This is very dangerous and people will probably die because of this. The error message on the screen is propulsion power is reduced
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.
The vehicle center display does not work reliably. Most concerning to safety is the fact that this renders the reverse camera inoperable. Other things that don't work include bluetooth, radio, on star, controls for the vehicle setup and charging parameters, air conditioning, energy usage display, and so on. After several service visits and calls to GM, they determined that if you leave a phone plugged into the usb cord for the audio system, and power the car off without first unplugging the phone from the charger and even the charger cord from the usb port (with no phone plugged in) or else the next time you start the car the screen and functions on it will be inoperable until the car is powered off for several minutes. Whether or not I unplug my phone when I turn off the car should prevent the backup camera from functioning nor the details about electric car charge usage. GM has told me there is nothing more they can do, that's just how it works.
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".
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Minneapolis, MN, USA