2017 CHEVROLET VOLT Complaints

This is apparently a very well-known “shift to park“ problem. Once the car is shifted to park in the emergency brake is on, you press the button to turn the car off, but it won’t turn off. A shift to park notice comes up on the dashboard and the car will not turn off. It can take up to 15 times so far to turn the car off. I entered today’s date as the date of the problem, but it’s been ongoing for about six or seven months. I’ve taken it into the Chevrolet dealer about this before, and they said it was part of a recall. They fix the recall, but the problem is persisting. They claim that since it didn’t happen at the dealership they can’t fix it.

Intermittent Shift to Park Message - which on my car is permanent. My car will not shut off as it does not think it is in park. This is a very common problem with a number GM vehicles especially the Chevy Volt and should be subject to a recall. GM has a newly designed transmission control assembly to correct this problem.

When turning off the car, after shifting to park, I get a message indicating "Shift to Park". As it is already in Park, there is nothing that can be done. I have sometimes been able to get it to go away by continually starting, shifting to drive, shifting back to park and then trying to shut the car down again. Sometimes I just don't have time to do it and have to leave the car in this state and leave the car. I doubt it could be driven as I have the key fob, but it is on and when I get back, the car is powered up. I am not sure if there are safety implications to this as I don't know the cause of this problem. I have researched on line and this is not unique to my 2017 Volt.

The charger that was supplied with the new car caught fire in the J Connector handle and melted (pictures attached). this happened in my garage and I discovered it within 3 hours after it happened due to a chemical smelling smoke haze in the garage, and a pile of ash on the floor under the J Connector. There was no other damage other than the connector and it took a few hours to air out the garage. I had plugged it in to be charged at 12 amps with the dash indicating "7 miles" of charge left. The dash indicated "9 miles" of charge available after the fire (full charge this time of year is approximately 58 miles). The fire went out on its own. The charger has been plugged in the same outlet for the last 3 years and there is almost no load on that circuit other than the car (exterior lighting that has 4 led bulbs of low lumens). After the fire my wife recalled that she thought the charger handle felt hot once the previous week when she unplugged it. This is a serious safety issue because it could have started a house fire and risked the health, lives, and safety of my family--5 of us and a dog, nevermind the damage to property and risk to first responders. I reported this to the dealer I bought the 2017 Volt from new, which is Fitzgerald Auto in Frederick, Maryland. They asked me to bring the charger and car out same day which I did. It took them 3 days to call me and inform me solely that the charger is not covered under warranty anymore because it has been more than 3 years and 36 thousand miles since I purchased the car, and they told me technically it is "an accessory" and not part of the car. They asked me to purchase another charger from them at more than $600 which I declined to do. I do not know if they informed Chevrolet/General Motors of the issue or sent the damaged charger in for analysis. They did not comment at all on the safety part of it.

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

When attempting to turn off the vehicle, the vehicle does not recognize that the shift lever has been moved to the park position and thus stopping the vehicle shut down sequence. The vehicle provides a warning message to the driver that in order to shut the vehicle off, the vehicle needs to be shifter to park. The shift lever at this point is stuck in the park position and unable to be moved but the vehicle will not recognize the lever position. and you are unable to to move it. In order to get the vehicle to recognize the lever is in park, you must press the starter button, which discontinues the shut down process and commences the start up sequence. You must then press the shutdown button again to get the vehicle to shut down. Quick search of the internet indicates many other owners are experiencing the same issue but no safety recall that I can find.

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.

In increasing recurrence, when I try to turn the vehicle off, after having shifted to park and the dashboard is displaying that the vehicle is indeed in park, a notification alert appears saying "action required, shift to park" and the vehicle will not power off unless the shifter is jammed forward sometimes registering that it is in park. Often I will have to turn the car back on, and shift into drive and back into park and sometimes that will work and the car will shut off properly after that.

Car would not shut off. Message appeared "Shift to park" on driver display, but car was in park. Had to cycle the gear shifter several times in order to get it to shut off.

When I park the car, it will not turn off. Gives the message "Action Required Shift to Park" But it gives that message while the car is in park. Originally, when it first started happening two years ago, it could not be reproduced. As such, while it was under warranty the problem could not be reproduced. Now it happens over 80% of the time I stop the vehicle. I mentioned the problem to the dealer but they could not replicate the issue. Eventually, if you move the transmission linkage around enough the error clears and you can turn the car off. But this puts excessive wear on the transmission linkage. And now, its out of its basic warranty. Its clear the problem has happened to many others out there, with far fewer miles than me (51,300 miles). Why isn't the manufacturer being held accountable for this issue?