10.0
really awful- Crashes / Fires:
- 3 / 7
- Injuries / Deaths:
- 3 / 0
- Average Mileage:
- 12,588 miles
About These NHTSA Complaints:
The NHTSA is the US gov't agency tasked with vehicle safety. Complaints can be spread across multiple & redundant categories, & are not organized by problem. See the Back button — blue bar at the very top of the page — to explore more.
« Read the previous 20 complaints
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.
- Sherman Oaks, CA, USA
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.
- Castro Valley, CA, USA
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.
- Oakland, CA, USA
The contact owns a 2017 Chevrolet Volt. Whether the contact was driving or just physically present inside the vehicle, he began to experience unexplained neurological injuries, hair and memory loss, moles, burns to the left side of the body, shaking, and severe swelling of the head for several months. The contact sought medical attention approximately twelve times and was to the point of almost needing a cane and a wheelchair. The contact stated that approximately 48 hours after being away from the vehicle, his health began to improve significantly. As the failure progressed, the contact downloaded an app that tested for signs of electromagnetic radiation. The app results identified high levels of radiation in the vehicle. The following day, the contact took the vehicle to medved Chevrolet (11001 w interstate 70 frontage rd N, wheat ridge, co 80033, 888-730-2381) to share the app findings. With the help of the manufacturer, the dealer concluded that there were high levels of radiation inside the vehicle. The contact was advised to stay out of the vehicle. The contact shared that the vehicle had some electrical repairs performed previously; however, he was informed that it was unrelated to the radiation failure. The contact also stated that the location of where the vehicle would charge overnight was adjacent to his bedroom, which could have been a contributing factor to his declining health. The contact submitted a claim with the manufacturer, which included a statement of everything he experienced, videos, and photo evidence; however, his claim was denied. The failure mileage was approximately 47,000.
- Lakewood, CO, USA
2017 Chevrolet Volt lt. Consumer writes in regards to vehicle failure that enables the vehicle to stop randomly. The consumer stated vehicle needed to be jump started. The consumer was advised the devices in the vehicle were not communicating. The dealer was notified, but could not duplicate the failure.
- Patterson, CA, USA
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.
- Austin, TX, USA
My car has had electrical problems since almost the first day of ownership. My car has had constant electrical problems. I contacted GM and even showed them a video that showed what my car was doing as far as not turning off when I pressed the button to shut the vehicle off. I would appear to shut off only to turn back on repeatedly. GM did absolutely nothing to fix my issues except run in circles and claim they couldn't/wouldn't do anything about it cause the dealer couldn't duplicate the problem. Even though I had video proof of what my car was doing to me. It only happened at random and was very sporadic. My car has now caught on fire and burned to almost nothing and I am out a lot of money. Just take a look at my site www.chevyvoltsucks.com to say I am pissed at GM is an extreme understatement. Numerous complaints were made and only proved to be a total waste of time and given lame excuses. I also had repeated problems out of the rims bending causing replacement of these rims on an extended contract I had that covered the rims and tires. I have owned numerous cars over the past 30 years and have never bent a rim in my life until this car and it was over 4 rims bent in total in less than a year of owning this car.
- Tullahoma, TN, USA
My wife has alzheimer's can't stand up or walk so can't put her in the back seat. Door opening is to small. We were on the interstate running 70 mph and she pulls on the door handle twice and the door opens door. Did not know they were having the doors to open when the handle is pulled twice she almost fell but seat belt saved her. They need to put a child lock on this door also.
- Pendleton, IN, USA
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.
- Cedar Park, TX, USA
While driving in my son to school my check engine light turned on. Fearing my car would die with no warning (like had previously occurred) I went back to my house. I used onstar to pull the engine code of U18A2 which after researching online could result in 'loss of propulsion' like previously occurred. I called the dealer and had the car towed for service. After 15 days I received my car back and was told it was a loose electrical connector somewhere.
- Cedar Park, TX, USA
Vehicle's lane departure function and calibration was reprogrammed after a recall service and not function does not work. Function was not only a premium charge option, but originally would monitor the lane lines and adjust the electronic steering system to keep the vehicle well within the road lanes' painted lines. Now, the vehicle will (more times than not) completely cross the tires well over the painted line, traveling several tens of yards before only slightly correcting its direction back towards the lane. In a best case scenario, vehicle system will begin correcting itself approximately just as the front tire makes contact with the lane boundary lines. This has been observed in lanes of varying width and confirmed by the servicing dealership. Further, system is inconsistent in its determination and "correction" lane boundaries, sometimes crossing the left lane line entirely then barely touching the ride side lane, or vice versa. System has also been apparently less sensitive in reading the lines as the instrument panel indicator will not light up indicating that it recognizes lanes, even though lanes are clearly and brightly painted and illuminated by either headlights, street lights or sunlight. As this vehicle is a complete drive-by-wire system (brakes, steering, and throttle have no mechanical connection to driver's inputs), I have serious concerns with regards to the sensors capabilities in accident avoidance and feel that in an emergency situation, the system will fail to operate as promoted and promised by the manufacture. This would be acceptable if this performance was similar or consistent to performance from initial operation, however, the oem has effectively and dramatically changing the vehicle's driving dynamic and safety function that I (and any reasonable driver) have become comfortable with as a driver, without my consent.
- Warminster, PA, USA
I have only had the vehicle for three weeks, but already twice, the vehicle would not recognize the key fob and would not start, lock, or unlock. This happened twice, seemingly randomly, when the vehicle was stationary in a parking lot and turned off. A dealership reprogrammed the receiver in the vehicle yesterday, so we will see if the problem is fixed. But since I saw that I was not the only one who had had this problem, I thought it should be reported.
- Los Angeles, CA, USA
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.
- Herndon, VA, USA
If the car loses power, and the doors have locked (do automatically), there is no way to manually unlock the doors. The plunger is recessed so much it's impossible to raise it to unlock. I contacted Chevrolet, they have no answer on how to overcome this. I have a friend who was locked in another type of vehicle when lost power, but could manually unlock the doors. Tv news this morning showed a person trapped in a car with no power, but was able to manually unlock the doors. The message was to learn how to manually unlock the car in case of emergency. Please see if this can be remedied, it may save lives. Thank you, grateful taxpayer.
- Fair Oaks, CA, USA
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.
- Waynesboro, VA, USA
While driving the vehicle on a freeway a light came on stating all systems would shut down and all systems did shut down immediately. There was hardly time enough to pull over to the side of the road. Even the onstar system was inoperable to call for assistance. The door fob would not work to open the car doors. The car was towed to the nearest dealership. The tow company was unable to place the car in neutral so skates were used to place the vehicle on a flatbed tow truck. The Chevrolet dealership, singh, riverside, ca that received the tow vehicle stated the problem was due to 3 defective fuses that had something to do with the battery system of the vehicle. I was told that the fuses were produced overseas and that there were no parts available for the car and no estimated date when the parts would become available. The service representative at the dealership informed me that GMC had sent out a flyer relating to this problem and that it was a known problem. After 3 weeks I was told the car was repaired and I picked it up. Three days after picking up the car I had the same problem. The car was towed back to the same dealership. A GMC field technician was dispatched to the dealership to run diagnostics on the car. GMC is in the process of re-purchasing the vehicle from me under the California lemon law. The car has been at the dealership for repair of this problem for 7 weeks.
- Riverside, CA, USA
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.
- Castro Valley, CA, USA
- Ellsworth, ME, USA