2017 CHEVROLET BOLT EV Complaints

The steering on my 2017 Chevrolet bolt has a weird issue when driving highway speeds the steering feels loose and the steering wheel feels like it shaking back and fourth rapidly and making shuttering noises and the steering constantly veers while driving with any irregularity of a road surface. I have take my car to a repair shop and have good wheels and tires and had a wheel alignment service and they checked all suspension and steering component and the issue still persist. The shop told me the issue seems to be coming from the steering rack and the electric steering assist.

After about 5 years and a warranty replacement battery, I intermittently find the “Propulsion Reduced-Service Soon” light on. It can appear any time after which only a third of the 60kWh battery is on-line, and in any event the battery will not charge over one third. Highway driving on a crowded Interstate 5 becomes very hairs as both acceleration and regeneration braking are markedly reduced. It is now at the service department of Bill Pierre Chevrolet in Seattle. Those guys are great, and are doing everything they can, looking to GM for a promised reprogram that has not been forthcoming for some two weeks and counting. This might seem like a minor consumer gripe, but it turns out that this is not a new condition, and has persisted since shortly after the 2017 Bolt came out. See <https://www.carcomplaints.com/Chevrolet/Bolt/2017/electrical/propulsion_power_reduced-service_immediately.shtml>. The Bolt is a great car, but this has shaken my sense of safety in long distance 80+ miles of highway travel. I no longer consider this to be a safe car.

For some time now the steering wheel doesn’t return to center by itself. Sharp left or right turns , the wheels stay that angle when I let go of the steering wheel . I thought it would work itself out , but over the months it’s getting very noticeable. I feel for my safety .

Steering has to be manually turned back to center on any turns. New tires did not help. New alignment did not help. Reprogramming steering module did not help. This is dangerous as we are taught to let the steering bring itself back to center.

After the second recall replacement of the lithium-ion battery, the car became undriveable because it could not be charged. A message appeared before stating "Propulsion Power is Reduced". This is after the 2nd new battery was installed. The car has been taken to the dealership. The dealership stated that it is a software problem which GM is looking into.

The contact owns a 2017 Chevrolet Bolt EV. The contact stated that the propulsion system warning light illuminated. While the contact was driving approximately 10 MPH, the vehicle stalled and stopped inadvertently. The contact was able to get the vehicle safely to her residence. The vehicle was towed to the dealer. The vehicle was diagnosed with transmission harness failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 51,000.

Since purchased 4/21/2022, the steering doesn’t return to center after turning. Feels like steering wheel is so tight that I have to turn wheel back after turning to be able to then go straight again.

My vehicle for months failed to correct back to straight from right turns. Later on the vehicle started making creaking noises when turning, especially tight turns. The car started to frequently turn itself tighter in right turns, where I would have to force the wheel back to straight or even compensate left to maintain a consistent turn. My local trusted mechanic diagnosed that the steering rack/gear is failing and told me I would lose all steering control should the part fail and that it was unsafe for me to continue to drive my vehicle. I had the vehicle brought to a dealership to do the work. Through discussions with other Bolt owners, this is a common problem for Bolts and particularly the 2017s.

The driver's side blind spot monitor never worked well from new with false positives, and by the end of 2019 it just stayed on 90% of the time. The passenger side monitor generally worked better, but still had false positive signals on occasion. There is a TSB (17-NA-097) for this issue. With Covid, and unhelpful dealerships, it took 4 tries at different dealerships before it was finally fixed recently. The film over the both sensors was non-functional, just as described in the TSB. As there is a TSB, this is a known issue for this vehicle from the factory.

The contact owns a 2017 Chevrolet Bolt EV. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 21V560000 (Electrical System) however, the part to do the recall repair was unavailable. The contact stated that the manufacturer had exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repair. The manufacturer was made aware of the issue. The contact had not experienced a failure. Parts distribution disconnect. Chevrolet is still refusing to do anything. They stated consumer is not eligible for a buyback because a replacement battery is available. They also stated they don't know when it can be replaced or what the battery status is because no battery is available.