Chevrolet Bolt EV Complaints (2020)

176 consumer complaints on file.

#11623986November 7, 2024
STEERING
The steering gear has failed at only 43,000 miles and yes the car is available for inspection if needed. The steering binding is a safety issue, and if left along long enough, might fully bind up causing an accident. My local GM dealership has reproduced the issue and diagnosed the failure. There have been no warning lamps, messages, or other visual indications of the failure.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11622766October 30, 2024
STEERING
steering wheel gear malfunction, will not return to center after turning left or right. will pull and stay in left or right turn position, forcing driver to turn steering wheel back to center intentionally
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11621023October 21, 2024
BACK OVER PREVENTION: REARVIEW SYSTEM BRAKING, BACK OVER PREVENTION: WARNINGS
HD surround camera system is faulty. Upon placing vehicle in drive mode, front view image disappears and is replaced by a pink colored screen. This fault occurs intermittently, and is an important safety issue.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11620359October 17, 2024
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM, UNKNOWN OR OTHER
My backup camera started working intermittently for about a year and now has just stopped working completely. Searching online, this is a very widespread issue with Bolt EV and EUV owners, happening as early as immediately after the car was purchased.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11617858October 3, 2024
UNKNOWN OR OTHER
The rear/front camera sometimes stop working or froze and have to turn off the car, to reset, usually happens when it rains
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11615726September 21, 2024
UNKNOWN OR OTHER
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.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11615728September 21, 2024
STEERING
Pulls to the right when accelerating too much. Even after alignment.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11615685September 20, 2024
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM, BACK OVER PREVENTION: REARVIEW SYSTEM BRAKING, BACK OVER PREVENTION: WARNINGS
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.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11613225September 7, 2024
STEERING
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
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11611119August 27, 2024
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM:12V/24V/48V BATTERY:CABLES
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.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11609307August 19, 2024
VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL:ACCELERATOR PEDAL, VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
See attached document for complaint
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11606594August 5, 2024
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM:PROPULSION SYSTEM:CHARGING:CABLE/CORD:ACCESSORY
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.
Crash:
No
Fire:
Yes
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11599343July 5, 2024
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM
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.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11596479June 25, 2024
BACK OVER PREVENTION: WARNINGS
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.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11587057May 5, 2024
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM, FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM, POWER TRAIN
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.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11586836May 3, 2024
EXTERIOR LIGHTING, UNKNOWN OR OTHER
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.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11585254April 25, 2024
STEERING
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.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11581264April 5, 2024
AIR BAGS
I have a defective airbag--it stopped working out of nowhere in December 2023. I reported it to my Chevy dealership and they looked at it and said my whole safety restraint system is down. They said they have no airbags and can't fix it yet. Now it's April 2024 it's still not fixed and the dealership has not been actively working to get me a loaner or fix it.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11579963March 28, 2024
POWER TRAIN, FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM
While approaching a stop light, the car experienced a loss of propulsion and gave me an error message about it. The car told me to pull over as soon as possible, however, in busy morning traffic, this was impossible. Even if I'd had space to pull over, the car came to a stop and locked up with the error message "Conditions Not Right For Shift." It had to be rebooted several times before it could be shifted into neutral long enough to be pushed to safety. From there, it then had to undergo a hard reboot to return to a state where it could be shifted into Drive. A dealership service center confirmed the problem under as described under service bulletin 19-NA-220. There were no warning lamps or other symptoms of the problem. The car is available for inspection upon request.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11579634March 26, 2024
STEERING
The steering wheel does not return to center. When turning and then releasing the steering wheel to come out of the turn, the wheel stays where it is, causing the car to continue to turn. You must manually steer the wheel back to center position. This always happens when steering. It is not a one-time or intermittent. This is not safe as it makes the car go off the road. There is no warning light or alert from the car itself that something is wrong. I purchased the car used from a used car dealership and it is doing this when I bought it. They confirmed it. To my knowledge, no one else has inspected the vehicle's steering. Looking online, there seems to be many other Chevrolet Bolt owners complaining/experiencing the same steering problem.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0

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