2018 Chevrolet Bolt EV Powertrain & Transmission Problems

Driving 65mph in middle lane the vehicle suddenly dropped in speed to 45mph and on the dash a warning came up that said “Propulsion power is reduced” this almost caused a semi truck to rear end me.

INTERMITTENT EXTREME VIBRATIONS OF THE VEHICLE WHEN DRIVING. THIS ISSUE COME AND GOES WITH OUT ANY WARNING LIGHTS DISPLAYING. THE VIBRATIONS ARE SO EXTREME THAT I MUST SLOW DOWN TO 30 MILES PER HOUR OUR LESS TO MAINTAIN CONTROLL. I TOOK THE VEHICLE TO THE LOCAL DEALERSHIP AND LEFT IT FOR A EWEEK AND THEY COULD NEVER REPRODUCE THE PROBLEM. THE PROBLEM HAS OCCURED SEVERAL TIMES SINCE TAKING THE VEHICLE TO THE DEALERSHIP EARLY 2022. IF YOU DRIVE THE VEHICLE LONG ENOUGH IT WILL USUALLY STOP THE VIBRATIONS AND IF YOU TURN OFF THE VEHICLE AND LET SIT OVERNIGHT; THE VIBRATIONS ARE NOT PRESENT WHEN YOU DRIVE THE VEHICLE THE NEXT MORNING. IF YOU TURN OFF THE VEHICLE FOR JUST A FEW MINUTES THE VIBRATIONS ARE STILL THERE, BUT MNAY STOP IF YOU CAN DRIVE IT LOGER. I CAN NOT TELL IF THE PROBLEM IS THE BRAKES OR THE DRIVE TRAIN. I DO NOT KNOW IF THE VEHICLE MAY JUST LOCK UP IN THE MIDDLE OF TRAFFIC.

The remedy proposed by GM for the risk of catastrophic fire is inadequate. I live in an area with frequent hail storms and leaving the car outside at night would subject it to severe damage. More importantly, I live in a high-wildfire-risk area with almost daily high winds (30-50 mph) especially at night and morning. Even if the car were parked outside, it is likely to ignite the foliage and create an uncontrollable wildfire that would consume this entire valley with approximately 1500 homes with an average value of over $1.5 million dollars. That works out to over $2 billion in structural risk from a fire from this single vehicle. Two days ago, my Bolt starting honking its horn at 9pm - one of the fire warnings programmed by Chevy. Although it proved to be a false alarm of unknown cause, the fire department responded with two engines. The responding fire captain told me that due to the wildfire risk, the only safe place to park the car would be a Safeway parking lot 4.5 miles away. That makes the car unusable. The proposed remedy could take more than a year to implement, especially since GM has known about this risk for more than a year and has made no contingency plans to replace defective batteries in that time. I have contacted GM twice explaining the extraordinary risk that this defect causes to my community and asked for a buyback. So far, other than asking for a copy of the title, purchase order and odometer reading, I've had no response.

I own a 2018 Chevy Bolt that is part of the battery recall for possible fires started in the powertrain battery. I have been through both GM recommended appointments at my local Chevy dealer to have the software patches installed and the battery inspected for nominal voltage. While my car's battery passed the voltage inspection this week, there were 2 new fires reported to GM resulting in new recommendations on July 14 to park outside and not charge over night. The real issue here is GM not providing enough information to the owners of Bolts in this recall. Questions such as: What kind of charger was used (110, 220, CCS)? If after market chargers were used before a fire, what brands, what commonality amongst the group of Bolts that have caught fire? What is the minimum battery remaining on the cars that charged before a fire? What is the maximum charge the owners of Bolts that burned charged their cars to? What operational steps can the rest of Bolt owners take to minimize future fire risk? Why isn't GM simply replacing all of the batteries in recalled Bolts rather than pursuing a very poorly run "buyback" process? Why doesn't my EV Battery warranty that is still in effect allow for replacement of the battery with this serious safety situation? Why is NHTSA allowing GM to be so non-communicative about what they are learning of the commonalities of all Bolts that have caught fire? This is a serious safety issue for existing 2017-2019 Bolt owners. We need NHTSA's help getting GM to provide more information about the cars that have caught fire.

ON FRIDAY, DEC 27, 2019, AS I WAS PARKING IN FRONT OF MY HOUSE, USING "L" MODE, THE CAR SUDDENLY ACCELERATED. IF I HADN'T SLAMMED ON THE BRAKES, THE BOLT WOULD HAVE HIT THE CAR PARKED ABOUT 15 FT AHEAD OF ME. TWO OTHER PEOPLE WERE IN THE CAR AT THE TIME, AND WE ALL SHARED THE PERCEPTION THAT THE CAR HAD SUDDENLY ACCELERATED ON ITS OWN. WE WERE ALL SCARED, AND WE ALL BELIEVE THIS CAR IS UNSAFE. DETAILS: THE CAR WAS CHARGED TO ABOUT 50% CAPACITY, THE OUTSIDE TEMPERATURE WAS 50F, HUMIDITY AT 65%, THE WEATHER WAS CLEAR, AND THE PAVEMENT WAS DRY. AFTER A 10 MINUTE DRIVE, I PULLED UP ALONG THE CURB IN FRONT MY HOME, AS USUAL, AND HAD NEARLY STOPPED, WHEN SUDDENLY THE CAR LURCHED FORWARD ON ITS OWN. FORTUNATELY, I WAS ABLE TO SLAM ON THE BRAKES AND STOP THE CAR BEFORE IT PLOWED INTO ANOTHER CAR PARKED ABOUT 15 FEET IN FRONT OF WHERE I WAS. I HAD BEEN DRIVING OUR BOLT IN "L" MODE (AUTOMATIC REGENERATIVE-BRAKING), WHICH IS MY HABIT, SO I AM ACCUSTOMED TO THE CHARACTERISTICS OF STOPPING THE CAR IN "L" MODE. I HAVE TRIED TO REPLICATE THIS BEHAVIOR BY THE CAR SINCE, BUT SO FAR HAVE BEEN UNABLE. THIS WAS NOT A CASE OF MISTAKENLY PRESSING THE ACCELERATOR, BECAUSE IN "L" MODE (WHERE I PARKED), THE CAR WILL STOP BY ITSELF, JUST BY EASING MY FOOT OFF OF THE ACCELERATOR. AND NOTE THAT I QUICKLY STEPPED ON THE BRAKE. I TOOK THE CAR TO A GM DEALERSHIP, AND THEY DIDN'T FIND A PROBLEM IN THE OBD CODES. THEY SAID THEY WOULD SEND DETAILED LOGS TO GM. BUT IT HAS BEEN OVER A WEEK, AND GM HAS YET TO CONTACT ME. THIS CAR FREQUENTLY HAS OTHER PROBLEMS THAT APPEAR TO BE DUE TO COMPUTER SYSTEMS, INCLUDING: - PROBLEMS STARTING - PROBLEMS CHARGING - THE CENTER CONSOLE DISPLAY FREEZING, LEADING TO: CAMERAS REMAINING ON WHILE I DRIVE, OR LOSS OF HVAC CONTROLS SEE A SIMILAR REPORT AT: HTTPS://WWW.NHTSA.GOV/VEHICLE/2018/CHEVROLET/BOLT#COMPLAINTS ISSUE # 11270898