2020 CHEVROLET BOLT EV Complaints

The cameras for the 360° view, front to sides and back, keep going out. It's been a repair now five times and it still came back. The dealership is running out of ideas of what to do to fix this. I think it's just a known issue that they can't seem to fix. The main issue is the front camera goes out completely and then on mine, the left side camera goes out and is just black where the front camera will be green and not functioning. I think the module that processes data isn't properly made to handle the amount of video inputs coming in and it bugs out. It seems that it's worse when the temperature swing is too much. Currently it's the temperature of hot above 90° the car gets very warm obviously.

The reverse camera (and all cameras) is no longer working. This is a required safety feature and thousands of Bolt owners have reported this on Chevy forums and Reddit groups.

The steering wheel does not return to the center on its own and keep stuck in which direction it is turned. The steering wheel also produces types of clunking noises when the car is standing or at a slow speed, and if you move the steering wheel left and right, it gives clunk clang clank clunk noise. it is very much a safety issue and can create a big accident. I have not taken it to the dealer, but will make an appointment to see what the dealer says. It’s been like this for over a month but now it’s getting a little louder

The contact owns a 2020 Chevrolet Bolt EV. The contact stated while driving approximately 4 MPH and exiting the driveway, the check engine warning light and the check gear shifter warning light was illuminated. The contact stated that the vehicle stalled. The contact was unable to restart the vehicle. The contact had the vehicle towed to a local dealer, where it was diagnosed, and the dealer was unable to duplicate the failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The contact stated that the failure reoccurred. The contact was able to drive the vehicle to the same dealer who diagnosed the vehicle and determined that the negative 12V battery cable had short circuited and needed to be replaced. The vehicle was repaired. The manufacturer was informed of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 25,000.

I narrowly escaped a home and vehicle fire when my vehicle charging port received extensive damage from a Mustart SAE J1772 Level 2 EVSE Portable Electric Vehicle Charger. The charging plug overheated and experienced meltdown. The Mustart unit became so hot that my vehicle charging port charred and fused to the Mustart charging plug. The charging head became very brittle, cracked exposing seals, and leaked oil down the vehicle charging port. Even though the charging head is now melted and broken, the charger does not register a fault, and still shows a green light if plugged into the wall. My first warning of a problem was the smell of burning plastic, oil leaking and what looked like smoke coming from the charging head. I immediately unplugged the charger from the wall, but could not remove the charging head from the vehicle charging port because it was fused to the car. I tried to shift the vehicle out of Park and into neutral to move the vehicle away from my home, but the vehicle would not shift with the plug still attached. Even though unplugged from the wall, the Bolt kept beeping, indicating an issue with the charger/port. Fearing a physical short in the charging circuitry of the vehicle, the burning smell and potential for fire, I forcefully removed the charger from the vehicle by pulling on the charging handle with full human stregnth until separated. The plastic parts of both the charger and charging port were burnt and broken. My Chevy Bolt was repaired by a licensed technician at the dealer, who blamed me for the charging fault and damages. GM alleged the damage I caused to the charging unit during removal was pre-existing, causing a loose connection and short circuit. GM refused to repair the damaged charging port under warranty, claiming user error and abuse. I sent a request for refund and reimbursement of damages to Mustart on 8/05/2024 and will update this complaint after their official response.

The cameras around the car collectively stop working intermittently. When I try to access the cameras or put the car into reverse, I get a black screen with a camera with a line through it. It happens right after it has rained and remains that way for several days. There are not any warning lamps that come on during this time. This situation makes me feel extremely uncomfortable as I have difficulty backing the car up and ensuring that there is not any incoming traffic that I may run into. This can be reproduced, but a dealer has not inspected it yet. Looking at online forums, it would appear this is a common issue that cost several thousand dollars to repair.

Putting car into reverse, rear camera starts to glitch sporadically. Very dangerous when this happens in a busy parking lot. This car also features a 360 overhead view and this also glitches at the same time as reverse camera mode.

The engine compartment wiring harness Part Number: 42765196 wiring shorted out due to the chaffing of wires in the harness. The dealer is replacing the harness but there is no known changes that will prevent this in the future. $3,000 repair bill. I have asked for the defective harness to be returned to me for examination. This is a major safety concern as in my case, the Chevrolet Bolt would not move either in forward or reverse (Note: the other electrical systems and battery continue to work. This failure happen in rush hour traffic and the vehicle was nearly hit by passing cars. There was no warning that the propulsion would entirely shut down. The dealer reported that they had seen this problem before. No one from the manufacturer are interested in this. A check engine light had come on the night before and I had set up an appointment with the dealer for the next day and add reported the vehicles' issues that I had observed. There is no warning to indicate that the problem would result in the complete loss of propulsion.  

In all models before 2022, the brake lights shut off while at a stop in one-pedal driving mode. This is a major safety concern that can be fixed entirely in software.

The car has only 20k miles and the gear steering box failed and had to be replaced. This is apparently a very common defect where if the part fails the dealer said the steering will lock up and potentially cause a crash. $2500 to replace it is a huge hit and kicked in just out of warranty. Chevy should admit to either bad design if this key part goes bad with minimal use/mileage or defective manufacturing by its part provider since the issue apparently stems from the grease within the gear box separating or breaking down. In short, Chevy is well aware of a dangerous defect in its Bolt product line that could lock up steering but will not fix it. It is only a matter of time before someone gets killed, if it hasn’t happened already. NHTSA should investigate reported Bolt accidents where vehicles go off the road.