2018 CHEVROLET VOLT Complaints

Component: Battery Energy Control Module, available from dealership ATM Daughter's safety compromised when vehicle power decreased quickly to 5mph in the middle of fast heavy city traffic. The problem has been confirmed by Chevrolet dealership service department The vehicle has not been inspected by other than dealership service center. I contacted GM, and was told that the component was replaced once already in 2021, so they will not replace it a second time on special coverage N232432680 released March 6, 2024. Warnings:Propulsion 11/3/25 Power Reduced and check engine light on 11/3/25. GM dealer service center cleared codes, did a software update 11/7/25: Propulsion Power Reduced and check engine light again. Vehicle is at GM dealer service center.

My wife and I were on a 200 mile trip and the engine failed about 150 miles into the trip. Was driving and the instrument panel indicated that the engine was in reduced power mode. I switched over to battery power but had only approximately 10 miles of range left so after a couple of miles I switched back to engine power and was almost immediately informed by the instrument panel that the engine was in failure mode. Was fortunate that there was an exit nearby and was able to use the remaining battery power to exit the highway and pack the car before there was no power.the car was towed to a dealer and we were told that the egr valve and cooler had failed.they were replaced and I was told that they were not covered by the federal emissions warranty so the cost would be $4000.the car was driven with the vast majority being electric power.

The EGR valve clogged, causing a a servo to blow the F3 fuse, disabling the engine while driving. This occured suddenly while driving on a busy road with no shoulders. I managed to coast into a parking lot not too far away but I had no charge left in my battery. I could only get the engine to start back up for less than a minute at a time. I got my car inspected by Chevrolet and they confirmed they issue. Very shortly before the engine cut off, the car started jolting. There weren't any warning lights or error codes before this.

Chevy had done an update for the Propulsion Power being reduced. In 2024, I had to do another update when the check engine light came on. After that the electric battery power decreased, I am only getting 17 miles per charge. August 2025, the check engine light came on again. I had it check and no codes came up. While driving home on the freeway, the Propulsion Power being reduced warning came up. I had to pull off the freeway. Once I turned my vehicle off, I was unable to drive my car. There was not any acceleration. I had to have my car towed 50 miles home. A mechanic was able to repair it at that time. On 10/7/2025 the check engine light came on again and once again no codes appeared, on 10/14/25 the Propulsion Power being reduced warning came on again. I was able to get home safely, but I got off the freeway and took side streets home. At this time, the vehicle will not accelerate.

The car can't decide if it wants to use the battery or the engine. It shows zero charge even though it is full. It lurches at stop lights as it tries to decide whether to use battery or engine. It says "propulsion power reduced". "Not able to charge". "Shift to park". Check engine light is on.

Dashboard displays “Shift to Park” message even when the shifter is in the park position for the past month. I am unable to turn off the vehicle completely until I Shift to drive then back to park multiple times.

The dealer reported having repaired an emissions recall for a fuel vapor leak, however the repair was ineffective and the vehicle still reports the leak as a fault code "slow" and "fast" emissions leak. The dealer refused to recheck their work without payment. Recently I came into possesion of a borescope camera and was able to photograph the dealer's "repair". The photos clearly show the parts for the emissions repair are located in the wrong place as compared with GM's own service bulletin. Therefore the dealer did not do the repair, or failed to do the repair, and refused to check there own work without compensation when informed of the continuing problems and left me to do their recheck of their work at my own expense. I have provided photos of the GM prescribed parts placement and the incorrectly placed parts in my car as well as the resulting damage. We never experienced the relief intended to be provided by the repair service. They claim to have performed the necessary recall service, but THAT IS A FALSE CLAIM. See Chevrolet TSB N192273600. NOT PERFORMED CORRECTLY SO FAILED. The dealer, Haselwood Chevrolet, Bremerton Washington, was contacted by phone and email but offers no response. They have the pictures of the botched repair job. Additionally the car needs warranty service for a bad park switch which service they refuse to perform without my agreeing in advance to pay for that in warranty repair.

In 2020, GM issued a recall (#N192273600) for emissions pipes on the Chevy Volt that could be compromised by rubbing against the A/C hose connector. I took my vehicle to my local dealership (Chesrown Chevrolet) to have this issue remedied, that same year. This year, my check engine light came on and this same dealership informed me that the cause was this same issue (i.e. a compromised emissions pipe due to rubbing against the A/C/ hose connector). Assuming the fix was conducted per GM's specs, GM did not provide an adequate fix for their faulty design.

Electrically actuated EGR valve fails, it draws too much current and blows the F03 fuse (Labeled “No Walk Home”) which has 4 other components on it, this causes “Reduced propulsion” message, soon after the engine overheats due to one or more of the 3 other components that lost power, and the “Engine not available” message appears and the vehicle loses all motive power. This syndrome is well documented in the GM-Volt online forum. Additionally this vehicle has portions of the EV battery that failed, I am still waiting for battery parts to arrive and its been 4 months, many owners have waited between 1 and 2 years for the battery to be fixed, this contributed to this issue as the electric propulsion would have possibly been available if the warrantied battery was repaired within a reasonable timeframe. I was refused a service loaner. My recent contact with Chevrolet customer service suggested I rent a car, and they will reimburse $45 per day, however they insist I pay for it and when the repair is complete, they will reimburse me. There is a gentleman on the Volt forum who has laid out about $5,000 on rental cars for well over a year, and is finally reluctantly getting a buyback, but they depreciated the car but did separately make good on the rental reimbursement. Neither he nor I really want that result, we want the car repaired in a good faith effort, instead both battery parts and EGR valves are in short supply. Currently the GM part is between $1400 and $2500 when in 2024 the same part was widely available for $240. I understand this is a bit rambling, but the context matters, and GM is dragging their feet on servicing the warranty liability they have. My TZEV warranty is good until 2034 and they are actively trying to kill my car off to save the ongoing cost of servicing this warranty. They are also putting owners at risk. Please consider a battery recall and an EGR valve recall. Regards, [XXX] INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

When shift lever is moved to Park, the car often does not recognize it is in Park and can't be shut down. It takes a lot of time of moving the selector in and out of Park to finally get the car to recognize it is in Park. During an occasion when the car would not go into Park, the car ran for hours while the driver was at work. This seems to be a known issue (micro switch) with this model. This is available for inspection upon request. Safety is at risk because this condition leads to not being able to shut the car down, which leads to the potential for a dead battery and getting stranded. While I have not yet had my car's problem reproduced or confirmed by a dealer or independent service center, there is a lot of evidence in online forums of the prevalence of this problem. The vehicle/component has not yet been inspected by the manufacturer, police, insurance representatives or others. There weren't any warning lamps, messages or other symptoms of the problem prior to the failure as long as we've owned the vehicle. We purchased this vehicle less than a week ago, on August 2, 2025. The issue presented itself once on our test drive and again intermittently in the six days we've owned the vehicle.