2017 Chevrolet Volt driver assist problems

BACK OVER PREVENTION: WARNINGS

Currently, two two issues are ongoing with my 2017 Chevrolet Volt Premier. I took my Volt to Epic Chevrolet in Sacramento, CA, on August 9, 2024, because the "Propulsion Power Is Reduced" warning and the "Service Park Assist System" warning came on with the "Check Engine" light. After diagnosis I was informed that the "EGR Valve" has failed; however, Chevrolet cannot procure the EGR Valve to repair my Volt and it is now October 14. I have been coordinating with Chevrolet Customer Assistance who continue to inform me that they are looking for the part but cannot provide it - apparently this part has been redesigned. This is the third time in 12 months that the Volt has been in for repair, all under warranty, for charging and propulsion related issues. On August 23, 2023, the Volt was in the shop for 15 days getting the "Battery Energy Control Module" replaced under warranty. On [XXX], one week after being repaired, my car would not start and had to be towed. That time the "Hybrid Battery Disconnect Relay Assembly" failed and was in the shop for 14 days, again repaired under warranty. This time, my car has been in the shop for 66 days waiting for an EGR Valve that, per Epic Chevrolet, is covered under warranty. It is unacceptable for Chevrolet to warranty its cars but not have the parts to perform the repair and let owners continue to pay loans on a car, insure a car, and have financial hardships for not having a car. I am not confident that, once fixed, something else will not go wrong. Plus, I was quoted $1,160 to fix the safety issue of the Parking Collision Warning. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

NHTSA complaint #11619651 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.

FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: WARNINGS

Consistent BCEM failure with volt. Power Reduced even if battery has full charge and gas is in tank. Forward Collision made unavailable without reason whilst driving. I rely on the forward collision system while driving at night in my area because of drivers cutting each other off constantly, so losing this feature without knowing why it failed feels unsafe to me. Forward collision would also activate when no vehicle is infront of me causing the car to suddenly stop and jerk on the road. Propulsion power is reduced is an extremely common occurrence in my volt. It happens randomly while driving and even while charging. When I'm on the highway the car would slow down when the warning came on; even with cars right behind me. I'm scared one day the car's system will cause an accident because of it's unpredictability. Regular maintenance has been performed and no issues have been found. The problem continues to persist.

NHTSA complaint #11560582 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.

FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: ADAPTIVE CRUISE CONTROL

On 2 separate time periods, "propulsion power reduced" message appears on dash: - 1st incident in November 2022, car would not move after powering off the vehicle. After sitting idle for a week, decided to retry, and car seemed to work normally. Took it in to Chevy service, they replaced the BECM. Car worked fine after this - 2nd incident in November 2023, again 'propulsion power reduced' message appeared. This time, however, car would suddenly cut off gas engine (even at highway speed), switching to 100% battery mode, and displaying 'Engine not available' on dashboard. Fuel level indicator would immediately display 'LOW' (even though gas tank was full). Reduced acceleration on battery mode. Car is now in same service center awaiting fix for the past month. Was quite an unsafe situation, especially at highway speeds, and especially given the fact that the battery also may have been at a low state of charge, risking complete vehicle breakdown. Coupled with both of these incidents, the cruise control intermittently shuts off, displaying 'Cruise control unavailable'. Car is lightly utilized, with just over 30k miles on the odometer to date. Additionally, the car is kept in a mild climate (coastal southern california) and parked in a covered spot shielded from sun and temperature extremes.

NHTSA complaint #11559140 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.

FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: ADAPTIVE CRUISE CONTROL

Several times since I purchased the car in Jan 2022, the left and/or right front brakes have dragged without brake pedal actuation while I was driving in surface street traffic, typically with speed limits of 25 to 35 mph. This has resulted in overheating of the brake caliper, rotor, and wheel. Typically the car can be driven again without issue after two hours of cool-off time. This phenomenon has occurred during both battery/electric and gasoline engine operation of the plug-in hybrid car. There are no instrument indications of a brake malfunction when it happens. It first becomes perceptible as a pulsation through the steering wheel and requires increased throttle pedal pressure to maintain speed. I brought the car to my local Chevrolet dealer after the first two of these incidents. Their first recommendation was a new set of tires to remove the influence of one mismatched tire. The new tires did not resolve the issue, and the dealer has not performed any other corrective action beyond a recommendation to replace calipers and rotors. Due to the intermittent nature of the failure and the fact that it affects both of the front brakes, I believe this is an ABS system issue and not a caliper/rotor issue, and I have not replaced those parts yet. The car's adaptive cruise control does not work properly. It almost always fails to set and shows "Adaptive Cruise Temporarily Unavailable" regardless of road conditions. This condition is intermittent and is not reproducible on demand. This condition is dangerous because it overheats the brake, wheel, and steering components. The heat may have damaged the wheel bearing, steering components, and CV joints. The heat also creates a risk of sudden wheel and/or tire failure while driving. The unexpected application of the brakes affects vehicle response to throttle and steering inputs, and has the potential to reduce driver control of the vehicle.

NHTSA complaint #11516497 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.

FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: AUTOMATIC EMERGENCY BRAKING

Late 2021 I noticed a strange noise and a slight stutter in my breaks that would only happen at the end of the breaking motion just before the car would completely stop. The sound and stutter, felt as though a clutch was trying to engaged. I scheduled a service appointment in January to have my tire replaced and car checked. The stabilitrack light came on while I was on vacation and also asked the dealership to check the stabilitrack. The dealership replaced my tires and inspected my car, but found nothing wrong with it. The tested the car and it appeared to be working just fine. I drove around another couple months with no incident. And then the notice and stutter came back, however it was intermittent. The stutter and noise slowly got worse and worse, but stilled continued to be an intermittent issue. On August 1st, while driving to work, my breaks completely failed and I almost got into an accident. I was pulling away from a red that just turned green. There was a red light ahead, I barely got up to 30-35mph before I started cruising towards the light. Started to press down on the breaks to stop and the pedal went straight to the floorboard with resistance and the breaks did not engage. I pumped the breaks frantically several times, with no change and quickly swerved and made a last minute right turn to avoid traffic. I continued to pump the breaks until it eventually did engage. I took the car to the dealership to have it serviced and inspected again, and was told it was the master cylinder that had failed. After it got replaced it was about another 2 weeks before I started to experience a similar issue again.

NHTSA complaint #11480635 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.

FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: ADAPTIVE CRUISE CONTROL

The vehicle stopped on its own without obstacles. The vehicle fails to stop under adaptive cruse control and you have to disengage to stop or it will hit the car in front. When stepping on break during adaptive cruse it lurching forward before breaking takes over causing a hazzard. When you shif to park it doesn't register and will kill battery. Adaptive cruse does not keep it centered in clearly marked lanes.

NHTSA complaint #11479102 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.

FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: AUTOMATIC EMERGENCY BRAKING

The vehicle stopped on its own without obstacles. The vehicle fails to stop under adaptive cruse control and you have to disengage to stop or it will hit the car in front. When stepping on break during adaptive cruse it lurching forward before breaking takes over causing a hazzard. When you shif to park it doesn't register and will kill battery. Adaptive cruse does not keep it centered in clearly marked lanes.

NHTSA complaint #11479102 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.

BACK OVER PREVENTION: SENSING SYSTEM: CAMERA

My car had the Shift to Park and Battery Control Module go out while on a family trip with the family in the car, on the highway. The car was in the left lane of 2 lanes on the highway with no propulsion or way to move it except to push push the car off the side of the highway. Thankfully some people stopped to help. My car had stopped with no way of moving on a 55 mph 2 lane highway. We were at risk of cars not seeing my hazards and hitting us from behind. We had to push the car across the right lane to get it off the road. We had two cars stop to help direct traffic away from us while we pushed it to safety. But when we were on the side of the road, we were stranded in 100 degree heat along side a busy highway and the car was not able to use the HVAC because of the issue. This is a known issue and has been for years. A google search of VOLT Shift to Park Battery Control Module will result in THOUSANDS of complaints. It has become general knowledge that if you own this model, you WILL have this issue. They ALL will, it's just a matter of WHEN. It can happen at 30,000 miles or in my case, 111,000 miles. Chevrolet knows this as well as the dealerships. I have read many other stories of people being left stranded because of this. Chevy covers it under warranty. But my car was 11,000 mile past warranty. So I had to pay full price. Every dealership I called to see if they had the part to fix my car said that they didn't have the part AND they had 1 or more of my type of car in their dealership currently with this issue at any given time FOR YEARS. Thankfully since my car wasn't in a wreck, there was no police or insurance paperwork filed. Once the shift to park issue happened while I was driving and we were stranded, the check engine light came on. It was not on when I started the trip up until the car died. Then the check engine light came on.

NHTSA complaint #11474168 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.

FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: WARNINGS

Control module battery energy control failure part is unavailable for more then 3 months or more Check engine light on Car can be disabled At any time traveling down Highway Dealer confirmed part needs to be replaced

NHTSA complaint #11472671 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.

FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: ADAPTIVE CRUISE CONTROL

I'm having a shift to park issue with this chevy volt, it won't register with the system I'm in park mode. I'm also having an adaptive cruise control issue as it's telling me adaptive cruise control is unavailable at this time. The adaptive cruise control is a hit or miss.

NHTSA complaint #11440079 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.

BACK OVER PREVENTION: WARNINGS

This vehicle has a “Shift to Park” issue which is well established all over the internet. I’m afraid to walk away from the vehicle when that message pops up. Seems to be something that could injure/kill someone if the car cannot be left in park safely. This has been an ongoing/intermittent issue for months. The date stated below only represents today’s date of report.

NHTSA complaint #11429064 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.

FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: AUTOMATIC EMERGENCY BRAKING

Parking sensors malfunction often and error "service park assist". Sometimes when someone is less than 500 feet away and turning the car slams on the brakes which points to a radar issue. Also sometimes the adaptive cruise doesn't work (Windshield is clean) so we are without cruise control. Happened twice on a cross country trip.

NHTSA complaint #11421521 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.

BACK OVER PREVENTION: WARNINGS

Parking sensors malfunction often and error "service park assist". Sometimes when someone is less than 500 feet away and turning the car slams on the brakes which points to a radar issue. Also sometimes the adaptive cruise doesn't work (Windshield is clean) so we are without cruise control. Happened twice on a cross country trip.

NHTSA complaint #11421521 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.

FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: WARNINGS

Parking sensors malfunction often and error "service park assist". Sometimes when someone is less than 500 feet away and turning the car slams on the brakes which points to a radar issue. Also sometimes the adaptive cruise doesn't work (Windshield is clean) so we are without cruise control. Happened twice on a cross country trip.

NHTSA complaint #11421521 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.

FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: ADAPTIVE CRUISE CONTROL

SHIFT TO PARK WARNING ON DASH

NHTSA complaint #11397669 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.

LANE DEPARTURE: ASSIST

CAN NOT TURN ENGINE OFF AFTER PARKING THE CAR. THE MESSAGE "ACTION REQUIRED" 'SHIFT TO PARK' SHOWS UP EVEN THOUGH THE CAR IS IN P AND PARKING BREAK IS ALSO APPLIED AND THE VEHICLE IS STATIONARY. HAS BEEN HAPPENING EVERYDAY THE PAST WEEK. HAVE TO LEAVE THE CAR UNTIL IT TURNS ITSELF OFF!

NHTSA complaint #11394887 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.