Chevrolet Bolt EV Complaints (2017)

350 consumer complaints on file.

#11541978August 31, 2023
STEERING
About five weeks ago my car started not wanting to auto correct after a turn or curve. The steering seemed to be resistive to turning the steering wheel in either direction except for a small part in the center. The not correcting is worse when turning right. It does occur to a lesser extent turning left. On right turns I sometimes have to really push the steering wheel to get the car to go straight. I have taken it to the Chevy dealer twice regarding this issue but they seem to not know how to correct it. This issue occurs at most any speed. Sometimes the steering seems to stick, i.e. I drove two thirds the way around a clover leaf with no hands on the steering wheel.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11533765July 22, 2023
STEERING
My car has been showing signs of faulty steering wheel for some time, particularly at sweeping corners while on low speed. The wheel will not return to its center any more. It turns out that this could be caused by a faulty gear. Is there any recall about that problem, please? NB: The color of the car is red, and not blue as it appears in the report.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11528339June 22, 2023
STEERING
The steering wheel will intermittently fail to return to center. It's entirely possible to take a sweeping corner at speeds of 50mph and the vehicle will require no additional steering input beyond the initial turn in. This makes it hard to judge the behavior of the vehicle especially when trying to judge road feel when there is no feedback through the wheel that is stuck.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11523771May 25, 2023
STEERING
Out 2017 Bolt Premiere since purchase has had steering that does not return to center on it's own and requires more steering effort than expected for a modern power steering car. Research indicates this is a common problem with the Steering Gear failing, but many drivers likely don't realize how serious it is. In our case we didn't fully appreciate it until we bought a second 2017 Bolt EV that did not exhibit this problem and we could directly compare their steering behavior. This raises a concern that there may be more failing steering units but without a "good" car to compare against, it may go unnoticed by drivers until there is a catastrophic failure, potentially causing an accident and/or injury. Issue has been present since used purchase, date of incident is approximate purchase date.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11519893May 1, 2023
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM, STRUCTURE, SEAT BELTS
The contact owns a 2017 Chevrolet Bolt EV. The contact received notifications of NHTSA Campaign Numbers: 21V560000 (Electrical System) and 22V930000 (Structure, Seat Belts) and would like to be removed from the recall distribution list as he no longer owns the vehicle. The local dealer and manufacturer were contacted.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11517245April 15, 2023
STEERING
The steering wheel doesn’t return to center and makes clunking noises. It is a safety hazard while driving. Scares the crap out of me. The problem has been reproduced and diagnosed as a faulty steering rack assembly. There are no warning lights . My car is parked in my driveway available for inspection by anyone.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11514989April 2, 2023
STEERING
When traveling at moderate speeds the steering wheel does not return to straight when steering input is not provided. The car will maintain the steering direction, requiring additional input to return to straight. This is not how a car is supposed to behave. It is not an alignment issue.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11513261March 22, 2023
STEERING
The contact owns a 2017 Chevrolet Bolt EV. The contact stated while driving approximately 40 MPH and making either a left or right turn, the steering wheel failed to return to the center position. The contact stated that he manually steered the steering wheel to the center position. There was no warning light illuminated. The vehicle was taken to the local dealer, where the failure could not be duplicated. The contact consulted with an independent mechanic who had previously repaired a vehicle of the same year, make and model. The mechanic informed the contact that the steering rack was likely failing and needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not diagnosed nor repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 70,000.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11509761March 1, 2023
VISIBILITY/WIPER
Front window cracked all the way across after using the defrost selection on the heating control. Saw a couple articles about it happening to others. Dealership said they know nothing about the issue.?
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11509398February 27, 2023
STEERING
Steering would not return to the center position after turning.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11506696February 10, 2023
STEERING
Steering failing to return to center - Steering gear (rack and pinion) operating at greatly increased effort. Self- inspection performed, results are consistent with other drivers on a specialty internet forum reporting similar problems with replacement of the steering gear being the remedy. Inspection of failed part shows likely chemical degradation and failure of the factory installed lubricant.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11504850February 1, 2023
STEERING
Steering wheel fails to return to center and gets stuck in a curve position requiring manual effort to return the wheels straight causing the potential for an accident. It is periodically becoming harder to straighten.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11504392January 30, 2023
SEAT BELTS
My driver's side seatbelt buckle will not latch onto the tongue. Sometimes I can get the buckle to latch onto the tongue by aggressively and repeatedly jamming the tongue into the buckle. Most of the time the tongue will not latch into the buckle. In the event of an accident, I'm concerned that the buckle will not hold due to this intermittent latching issue.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11504525January 30, 2023
STEERING
The steering does not return to center after turning left or right. The steering sticks and you have to apply force to bring it back to center. This is very dangerous.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11503678January 25, 2023
SERVICE BRAKES
In Sept 2020, GM issued Service Bulletin 20-NA-170 regarding rapid popping or clicking noises coming from the I-Booster hardware under the hood in the BOLT braking system. Earlier fixes for this issue involved replacing the I-Booster hardware, but that didn't solve the problem. The new fix called for a software update to the Brake Booster Control Module. The Bulletin states: "Correction -- DO NOT replace the I-booster assembly. Update the Brake Booster Control Module with the latest software." What happens to the brake system if the software update is not applied? Does the I-Booster hardware eventually fail because of the 1000's of unnecessary use cycles, and then what happens? Why hasn't a recall been issued for this possible safety issue caused by a software defect?
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11501346January 11, 2023
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM
The contact owns a 2017 Chevrolet Bolt EV. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 21V560000 (Electrical System) however, the part to do the recall repair was not yet available. The contact stated that the manufacturer had exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repair. The dealer was made aware of the issue. The manufacturer was made aware of the issue. The contact had not experienced a failure. Parts distribution disconnect. The contact stated that they were on a waitlist with the dealership but then suddenly taken off. The contact has been suggested to pay the shipping cost to send the vehicle outside of Alaska for repairs. The contact stated that they are still waiting for the recall repairs to be made and they have not heard back from GMC.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11500382January 5, 2023
STEERING
The steering wheel started feeling gritty and not returning to its central position. I was told this was an internal steering gear failure.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11499549December 30, 2022
STEERING
My steering wheel does not return to center after turning the wheel . It has almost caused several accidents. This is a safety issue and should be recalled . I can’t afford to replace the steering system. This should never happen on such a new car with 50k miles on it.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11498333December 20, 2022
STEERING
Steering wheel no longer returns to center. When I make a turn the steering wheel feels like it is binding and does not return to center without the drivers correction.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11497690December 16, 2022
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM:12V/24V/48V BATTERY
2017 CHEVROLET BOLT. CONSUMER WRITES IN REGARD TO NHTSA SAFETY RECALLS 20V-701 AND 21V-560.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0

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