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/

- Springfield, IL, USA

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.

- Lakeport, CA, USA

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

- Draper, UT, USA

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.

- Corpus Christi, TX, USA

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.

- Garland, TX, USA

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.

- New Castle, DE, USA

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!

- Roseville , CA, USA

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.

- Portland, OR, USA

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.

- South Elgin, IL, USA

EGR Valve in 2017 Volts is faulty/defective 1) Right from the time the car was brand new, smell of exhaust in Cabin when engine warms up 2) When EGR Completely failed a) Loss of Propulsion b) Strong burning smell in cabin - like plastic burning No such problems with new EGR installed Here are lots of other people's similar problems with the EGR Valve https://www.gm-volt.com/threads/2017-interesting-egr-valve-failure.328621/ https://www.gm-volt.com/threads/2017-egr-valve-walk-home-fuse-saga-update.339078/ https://www.gm-volt.com/threads/17-volt-w-68k-miles-p0401.338840/ https://www.gm-volt.com/threads/2017-premier-25k-reduced-propulsion-power-overheated.338864/ https://www.gm-volt.com/threads/2017-fuse-f3-blown-egr-valve-part-12691147-is-out-of-stock.339131/ https://www.gm-volt.com/threads/2017-egr-problem-at-25k-miles.334723/ https://www.gm-volt.com/threads/2017-engine-not-available-yikes.339067/ https://www.gm-volt.com/threads/egr-valve-being-replaced-2017-volt.340639/#post-5063406 https://www.gm-volt.com/threads/replacing-egr-value-yourself.341033/#post-5068080

- Austin, TX, USA

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.

- Park Ridge, IL, USA

Hello my car says shift to park from time to time an I can't move and whenever I turn with my electric mode sometimes it stutters and switches to gas.

- Mcdonough, GA, USA

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.

- Fredericksburg , VA, USA

When I start engine it says action required shift to park and it-??s already in park. Then car won-??t move. This has happened several times. Sometimes it will start but says vehicle propulsion is reduced and I drove it like this once and it was dangerous. This keeps happening and I am scared!

- Fair Oaks, CA, USA

When shift-to-park the vehicle says the cars is not in park and will not turn off.

- Corona, CA, USA

Car intermittently fails to shift from Drive to Park which means car can-??t be turned off. Car intermittently fails to allow the fuel door to be opened which means it can-??t be refueled.

- Berkeley , CA, USA

It is an ongoing issue and that happens intermittently. When arriving to a stop (at times) the car still advances forward about a foot, even when the brake pedal is being used as far as it can. Also the vehicle claims to be losing propulsion, often, and seems strained when operating when the message appears.

- Selma, CA, USA

I exited the vehicle and it rolled backward. I was struck by the door and crushed between the car and an adjacent brick wall.

- Flower Mound, TX, USA

The car does not turn off completely and shows "shift to park" when the transmission is in park mode. It is a common issue but Chevy does not recall and charges consumers for out-of-warranty vehicles.

- Fullerton, CA, USA

My wife and I were taking a 200 mile trip. I was using the "hold" mode, driving at 65 mph, and about 60 miles into the trip a message came up that I was in reduced power mode and the check engine light came on. I pulled over and read the manual and then proceeded another 30 miles using the engine. I reduced my speed to 50 mph. After stopping for an hour at our destination, we started back home, but the same alerts were on the screen. I went to a local Chevrolet dealer, 5 miles. Before getting there the engine shut off. I had 40 miles of battery left so I proceeded the last 2 miles to the dealer on battery power. They could not service the vehicle so I had it towed by aaa 90 miles to tulsa. The day before I left I had received the monthly diagnostic report which stated all systems were fine. The car has 27,000 miles on it. The dealer says it is the egr valve, which are back ordered. I don't know when it will be repaired.

- Owasso, OK, USA