2021 Chevrolet Bolt EV complaints

GM has rendered my vehicle useless. I drive hundreds of miles a day. I bought the 2021 Bolt in July with an estimated 259 mile range which was fine. That has now been slashed by 40% which isn’t adequate and is NOT the car I purchased. And parking it outside full time will likely result in rodent damage as they apparently like the soy plastic wrapping on the wires. Lastly, the GM Spokesman on Twitter stated that Bolt owners need to park 50’ away from other cars. This is all quite impossible. I bought this car brand new just 2 months ago and it’s now ruined for my use. I contacted GM on 8/24/21 and they stated that I could rent a car and submit the rental receipts and gas receipts to them for reimbursement. But, they would not commit to a timeframe for reimbursement. Anecdotally, people online who have gone this route have waited 6 months for reimbursement of their first month rental and gas. Which would mean that I would have to spend $12,000 before I would receive my first reimbursement check for the first months rental and gas. This I’m addition to the payments for the lemon I purchased. This is absurd. For a company that grossed $222 billion last year to expect their customers to spend that kind of money out of pocket. I bought the Bolt because it was the cheapest EV and I don’t have $12,000 to front GM. I recall in the not-too-distant past GM received a bailout with taxpayer dollars. The NHTSA should have the authority to force GM to pay for our rentals until they can fix

At random times even while driving: First and most importantly, speed will read 0 MPH while driving. Second the following errors will appear on the dash: "Steering Assist Reduced Drive with Care" "Pedestrian Friendly Alert System" Also, the following lights in the dash light up: Brake System Warning Light Service Vehicle Soon Light Antilock Brake System (ABS) Warning Light Service Electric Parking Brake Light Traction Control System (TCS)/StabiliTrak Light If this happens while driving I have experienced the following: If turning, the steering wheel will jerk because the vehicle loses power steering. If vehicle is in cruise control, the cruise control will disengage and the Regenerative Braking will quickly slow down the vehicle. I have taken the Vehicle to the GM dealership. They had the vehicle in their shop for a month and could not resolve the issue. The last thing they did to the vehicle was a complete reset. This has not resolved the issue and it is happening more frequently now.

I have been advised, my vehicle, (2021 Chevrolet Bolt with less than 2,000 miles) may spontaniously burst into flame because a faulty battery. I'm supposed to park thr car outside, away from other vehicles for an indefinate time. No repair is being offered by the dealer or General Motors. I am 81 years old, unable to safely acces my vehicle if is parked on the street in snowy weather. As a result, I am in danger due the weather conditions, let alone due to fires started in my garage while the Chevrolet Bolt is being charged. I demand immediate return of the money I paid for this worthless Chevrolet so I can buy another car.

How was your safety or the safety of others put at risk? Drivers have to follow unfair guidelines that cripple the car. I am not able to follow the GM guidelines without affecting my livelihood and how I use the car to commute and charging procedures overnight to achieve the needed range for daily commute. 1. Set your vehicle to a 90 percent state of charge limitation using Hilltop Reserve mode (for 2017-2018 model years) or Target Charge Level (for 2019-2022 model years) mode. Instructions on how to do this are available in the videos below. If you unable to successfully make these changes, or do not feel comfortable making these changes, GM is asking you to visit your dealer to have these adjustments completed. 2. Charge your vehicle more frequently and avoid depleting their battery below approximately 70 miles (113 kilometers) of remaining range, where possible. 3.Park your vehicle outside immediately after charging and do not leave your vehicle charging indoors overnight. Has the problem been reproduced or confirmed by a dealer or independent service center? Nationwide recall confirmed by NHTSA Has the vehicle or component been inspected by the manufacturer, police, insurance representatives or others? No Were there any warning lamps, messages or other symptoms of the problem prior to the failure, and when did they first appear? No, Appeared 8/20/21 according to NHTSA recall

It was recently brought to my attention that the Bolt EV vehicles have a very serious battery issue. I have not received any written or emailed information regarding this issue from Chevrolet and instead happened upon this issue in my social feeds. It is my understanding that the batteries pose a very serious risk of fire to the point that I must charge my vehicle below maximum capacity/range, I must not drive the vehicle to it's maximum listed range, and park it outside while charging so that the potential of my house catching on fire might be averted. As mentioned Chevrolet has not reached out to me to warn me of this issue, rather I've had to look up my VIN on their website for open recalls of which there is one regarding this specific issue. Outlining exactly what I've listed above, with no time frame or foreseeable fix available.

GM CHEVY has sold me a vehicle that has an explosive lithium LG battery. on 09/07/2021 GM called me and offered me a choice of having the battery replaced in my vehicle at a future unknown date or having the vehicle sold back to GM via the buy back program. GM refused to go into detail about either option and instead wanted me to make a decision without knowing the details on either option. I personally believe that GM does not give a [XXX] about the Bolt or the customer. GM has instructed me to park my vehicle out side my home and I stated "I live in a rural area and if the vehicle were to explode it would reduce the forest area around my home to ash. The vehicle is probably better off in my garage. I will install a fire detector in the garage, since GM doesn't give a [XXX] about the customers or the people that can be hurt. INFORMATION Redacted PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6).

GM CHEVY has sold me a vehicle that has an explosive lithium LG battery. on 09/07/2021 GM called me and offered me a choice of having the battery replaced in my vehicle at a future unknown date or having the vehicle sold back to GM via the buy back program. GM refused to go into detail about either option and instead wanted me to make a decision without knowing the details on either option. I personally believe that GM does not give a [XXX] about the Bolt or the customer. GM has instructed me to park my vehicle out side my home and I stated "I live in a rural area and if the vehicle were to explode it would reduce the forest area around my home to ash. The vehicle is probably better off in my garage. I will install a fire detector in the garage, since GM doesn't give a [XXX] about the customers or the people that can be hurt. INFORMATION Redacted PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6).

Driver had pulled up and stopped at red light with vehicle in D mode (normal drive). Driver had placed hand on gear shift lever and went to shift into L mode (one pedal driving) by using normally accepted procedure of pulling gear shift lever one click back to engage L mode or switch back to D mode. Hand or finger was apparently resting too far on top of gear shift lever push button and without knowing, vehicle shifted into R (reverse) instead of L mode (one pedal driving). When driver pushed accelerator pedal, vehicle lurched backward. Driver immediately applied braking to stop car and narrowly avoid collision with vehicle behind driver. Driver was able to duplicate this issue a second time.

The contact owns a 2021 Chevrolet Bolt EV. The contact stated while parking the vehicle and placing it into park, the vehicle lunged forward which resulted in the contact hitting the vehicle in front of them. The contact stated no warning light was illuminated. The vehicle was towed to an unknown dealer but was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was informed of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 2,700.

The blind spot warning system fails to work adequately. It triggers both false negative and false positives on both sides of the vehicle. It is available for inspection upon request. Even when there are no cars within a quarter mile of me, the lights may come on, alerting me to a non-existent car in my blind spot. If the light turns on properly, it doesn't always turn off when the car leaves my blind spot, just staying on indefinitely. It fails to detect approximately 50% of cars accurately when they enter or leave my blind spot. This defect puts others at risk, increasing the possibility of a side collision when the blind spot warning system fails to adequately inform the driver of an accurate blind spot status. The vehicle was taken to a dealership with an appointment, they refused to inspect or diagnose the problem, stating that myself, the driver, should read the manual and tinker with the vehicle settings. I informed them that I had already read the manual, it stated it may take some time to calibrate and it didn't mention any user accessible settings menu, but I had over 100 miles on the new vehicle at this point and was unable to locate any user settings. The dealership still refused to inspect the vehicle. The vehicle has only been inspected by myself. Besides the false negatives and false positives of the blind spot warning system, no other error messages have occurred. This issue propped up the day I was driving the new vehicle home from the dealership after purchas

I am reporting an issue that may affect every Chevy Bolt EV owner and possess a serious safety issue for children. I discovered this issue while being an owner of two 2021 Chevy Bolts. I discovered that if a key is locked in the vehicles back storage area while the vehicle is running no door will open. If children are in car seats and the child lock is enabled the children will be trapped until a window is broken. This could be fatal if the vehicle was set in motion some how, which is not hard. Below I am giving a step by step on how to replicate this issue for the safety of other owners and the general public. 1. Engage Children Locks on door 2. Start Vehicle 3. Lock doors with remote 4. Open trunk 5. Place keys in trunk/hatch closest to the plastic locking wall 6. Close trunk 7. Attempt to open trunk/hatch

Groan, Squeak or Rubbing Type Noise When Turning Steering Wheel. Vehicle turning sluggish, is a safety hazard. Sounds like premature failure of steering parts on vehicle at 3500 miles. Others are having the same problem on the Internet forums.

Backup camera on while driving at freeway speeds: While driving on the highway, the infotainment system started having trouble. First my Carplay disconnected and I couldn't reconnect. When trying to fix it, I hit the 'home' button. Then the backup camera displayed on the display covering all other functions (battery info, temperature, etc). I was driving at freeway speeds with the backup camera stuck on. When I was able to stop, putting it in park, briefly turning off the car with the door open did not correct the problem. Only when the car sat (infotainment fully powered off?) did the problem correct. I have not seen the issue on a few drives since then. I have a video of the problem but it's too big (16MB) to upload on this website.

As I started to leave the driveway in a forward driving position, my brand new Chevy bolt with only 2430 miles on it put itself into park. It made a terrible metal grinding noise and jolted us forward. My foot was still on the accelerator because I thought it was going to drive but it stopped then I looked around trying to figure out why. The “e” break was not on and I realized that the car was in park. Nothing was around the drive stick. Nothing touched it and I believe it put it’s self into park when I was driving. This was very scary to us and I did not know what to do so I called the Chevy dealer where I bought the car and they said to bring it into get checked. On my way the accelerator pedal started to wiggle and shake slightly.

I recently purchased a 2021 Chevrolet Bolt EV (VIN [XXX]) with current mileage about 1800 on odometer. Two days ago my wife was driving on the 91 freeway going at normal highway speed when all of a sudden the car just decelerated ABRUPTLY to 20 mph with an error “propulsion power is reduced”. Two Ford F-150 trucks immediately behind her had to veer quickly around her (but this could’ve easily caused other accidents as well). She had to cross three lanes of traffic to get on to the shoulder while only able to drive at 20 mph. There was still 131 miles of battery charge left so it wasn’t because of low battery. Overall it was an EXTREMELY dangerous situation whenever a car decelerates abruptly without any warning especially while driving on freeway. I don’t know how she escaped unscathed and was not rear-ended, but she is traumatized by the entire incident. I want to report this so that you are aware of the situation since this poses a serious public safety concern that could have fatal ramifications. Yours truly [XXX] INFORMATION Redacted PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6).

My bolt 2021 had break locking issue within 20 days had to get it to dealer n after 12 days they return the car without fixing this particular issue but fixed some 25 other faults..and after two days again same issue happened and now after more than 2 weeks they asked me to take car back but not giving assurance that same issue reproduced n fixed.. fortunately both times issue happened in parking lot but i am afraid about it that while on freeway if that happens so dont want to take chance i requested dealer for replacement vehicle which is thoroughly inspected but they asked to deal that with GM directly and i opened case with GM but there is little to no communication from them

I PURCHASED THE VEHICLE NEW FROM DIAMOND CHEVROLET ON APRIL 17 THE 2021 CHEVY BOLT HAD 3 MILES ON THE ODO I DROVE THE BOLT 3 MORE MILES AND THE VEHICLE LOST POWER AND REDUCED SPEED ON THE FREEWAY ALMOST CAUSING AN ACCIDENT. THE DISPLAY FLASHED A WARNING OF REDUCED POWER AND THE BOLT WOULD NOT ACCELERATE REQUIRING THE VEHICLE TO BE TOWED. AFTER TEN DAYS AT DEALERSHIP PROBLEM WAS A BAD TRANSMISSION OIL COOLER PUMP. I THINK A DEFECTIVE PUMP LASTING ONLY 6 MILES IS A SAFETY CONCERN