2014 Chevrolet Volt

Routine

Owners filed 93 complaints about this vehicle with federal regulators, most often about the air bags. No safety recall has been issued.

When it fails
020k40k60k90k120k200k

59 complaints record an odometer reading. Failures cluster around 010,000 miles; the median is 50,900 miles.

What fails
ComponentReportsCrashesFiresInjuries
Air Bags32
000
Electrical System19
310
Fuel/Propulsion System13
000
Service Brakes6
000
Engine5
100
Steering4
000
Visibility/Wiper2
000
Unknown or Other2
000
Structure › Body2
001
Power Train2
000

What owners reported

Newest filings
Unknown or Other
Filed May 8, 2026AZ

Rear view camera display experiences intermittent failures. The display only occasionally works when the car is placed in reverse. This has led to nearly impacting one or more pedestrians when the car is driven in reverse.

Fuel/Propulsion System
Filed Aug 4, 2025FL

While driving 50mph on a 4 lane highway, propulsion reduced speed and engine unavailable message came on and the car immediately shut down, a car almost hit me because of it. I had to hurry up jump out and try and push it off the road out of oncoming traffic! After about 15 minutes of turning car off and then back on. It finally started again, I then drove 1/4 mile and it did it again this time as turning left across a 2 lane highway with traffic oncoming, once again had to hurry up and jump out and push it out of the road! This was such an extremely scary situation for me and I thank god my wife wasn’t driving with our daughter and grand kids! This is the 2nd time because on 8/1/2025 it did the same thing while driving on a major 4 lane toll road, was able to pull off to side of the highway BUT had to be towed home!

Electrical SystemCrash
Filed Jul 30, 2025CA

I was slowly maneuvering my car into my garage when the vehicle suddenly and unexpectedly surged forward, despite only lightly tapping the brake and not touching the accelerator. The car had been displaying the warning, “Propulsion Power is Reduced” and was not holding an electric charge in the days before the incident. No malfunction indicator lamp ever turned on. Per the owner’s manual, the vehicle did not need to be serviced because the malfunction indicator light never came on at the same time as the propulsion power reduced message. This led me to believe the vehicle was safe to drive. The unexpected surge caused the car to strike and cause considerable damage to the garage wall. Fortunately there was no one in the garage at the time and I, myself, was not injured. My car was deemed a total loss by the insurance company.

Fuel/Propulsion System
Filed Mar 4, 2025MA

Propulsion power is reduced

Electrical System › 12v/24v/48v Battery
Filed Jan 10, 2025CA

The contact son owns a 2014 Chevrolet Volt. The contact's daughter stated that while driving 40 MPH, the vehicle loss motive power without warning and the vehicle stalled. The contact was able to pull over to the side of the road. The vehicle was towed to an independent mechanic and was diagnosed with battery failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure and the contact was informed that the time frame for a free battery replacement had expired. The vehicle was towed to the residence and had not been driven since the failure. The failure mileage was unknown.

Fuel/Propulsion System
Filed Dec 30, 2024ID

Loss of propulsion. Vehicle will not start/move. If vehicle does turn on , it will not turn off. Vehicle has been having reduced propulsion issues for multiple years (taken to dealer many times) that dealership has refused to do a HV battery capacity test while under warranty, even after leaving with them for multiple months they claimed they could not replicate error. On day of pickup error presented itself and I showed service advisor and left vehicle for additional testing. Dealer provided explanation of reduced propulsion when in mountain mode as cause even though vehicle was not in mountain mode when error occurred. Dealer performed customer satisfaction GM Program # N172130462 update 11/2021 on HV system that stopped propulsion issues (mainly battery capacity concerns) until vehicle was out of warranty. Now vehicle will not turn on/move even though HV battery completely charged. Vehicle is essentially bricked at this point. Will be taking back to dealer 12/30/2024

Electrical System › 12v/24v/48v Battery
Filed Sep 13, 2024136,000 milesCA

The contact owns a 2014 Chevrolet Volt. The contact stated while driving 55 MPH, the contact stated that while attempting to merge in the right lane, the vehicle hesitated and shut off while in the roadway. The vehicle was towed to the local dealer where it was diagnosed and determined that the battery had failed. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 136,000.

Fuel/Propulsion System
Filed May 5, 2024CA

I'm losing power as I am driving and car is moving slower than usual.

Electrical System
Filed May 3, 2024FL

Battery pack died with no warning while I was highway driving

Hybrid Propulsion System
Filed Mar 27, 2024GA

The contact owns a 2014 Chevrolet Volt. The contact stated that while driving at approximately 35 MPH, the vehicle started to sound as if the engine was revving while the accelerator pedal was being depressed. The vehicle failed to respond as needed while the accelerator pedal was depressed, and the vehicle slowly decelerated. The contact stopped the vehicle and waited for the failure to cease before the contact was able to drive normally. The failure recurred over a dozen times at various speeds with the "Propulsion Power Reduced" message displayed. The vehicle was taken to a dealer several times, but the failure could not be duplicated. The vehicle was not repaired. The contact became aware of NHTSA Campaign Number: 18V397000 (Hybrid Propulsion System) however, the vehicle was not included in the recall. The manufacturer was notified of the failure, and a case was opened. The failure mileage is unknown.

EngineCrash
Filed Dec 31, 2023CA

I bought my car and I had no idea about a known issue that this car has. Unsuspecting and trusting, I noticed my car had a reduced propulsion and it would like lose power and just slowly jerk and then really drastically reduce speed without anyway to fix it and on the freeway I got scared as I have never in my life has this happen in any car. So it happen a couple more times and I took a picture of it and took it to the dealership where I purchased it. They told me they couldn’t do l as they can’t repeat the issue. Well that only usually happens when I’m driving but now it’s more. The propulsion thing loses power and I as a driver going up a hill or anywhere now will lose speed and it’s dangerous, I feel like I may not make it home and I took it to the dealership many times and they told me there’s no issue. I took it again recently now that I’m out of warranty because it also had some high voltage issue and a sensor coolant issue that misreads. I like the car but very unhappy about dealership and manu not fixing this issue that every volt owner I talk to has, read about. I lose power, my car randomly heads up when it’s been cold all night and not driven now I have the same issues. I have the same issues and I use 91 gas, I have inspected my car and I had to learn about cars or more than I ever did which was like zero all because of this car. I even took it to the dealership 3-4 times (documented) to get it fixed and they just said there isn’t anything wrong nor did they say

Power Train
Filed Dec 18, 2023MD

My 2014 Chevy Volt suffered a complete failure of the EV power system when the battery reached 0 remaining miles. Unlike normal failover to hybrid mode, the vehicle switched into reduced power mode. I was able to drive home (1/4 mile) in this mode but was unable to charge or drive the car after parking it. At this point the car become completely immobile and had to be towed to the dealer (Jerry's Chevolet in Joppa MD). It was there as of December 18. 2023. This is the same behavior as noted in the complaint about Gen 2 Volts except this is a Gen 1 Volt. In the reduced power mode, the car does not accelerate normally and is subject to power surges. The dealer inspected the car and said that a failed cell in the traction battery caused a fault in the entire traction pack. The resulting repair requires a replacement of the battery for $22,000 not including labor! The car is otherwise in excellent condition. I had the SAME issue repaired under warranty in 2021 with the exact same symptoms. If a reasonable battery replacement was offered, I would happily repair the car. Prior to the fault, the vehicle performed normally and even had 39 miles of range (this is nearly original range). I had not indication that the battery may be failing or degraded.

Fuel/Propulsion System
Filed Dec 3, 2023NC

The car stopped working at a stoplight while I was driving my son to school. There was no warning other than a "Propulsion power is reduced" message seconds before it stopped working. After turning it off and back on, I got the car to limp out of traffic. By the time the tow truck arrived an hour later, we could barely get it to go into neutral to tow it. After towing it to the dealer, they replaced the engine control module. Since then, it has been working fine.

Electrical System
Filed Jul 26, 2023FL

Vehicle stopped when changing from battery power to gasoline. Unable to drive. Not charging the Lithium battery therefore, I experienced 3 similar incidents with this vehicle. The first one on 02/15/22. The vehicle was towed to Bommin Chevrolet in Florida City, FL. This time it was under warranty. The second time 01/02/23 while on the road similar thing happened, again was towed to Tropical Chevrolet in North Miami, FL; a diagnostic was performed the error code was cleared and started charging again. This time same issue when the main battery was depleted the vehicle stalled. I had to towed to my home where is still sitting. Not operational.

Electrical System
Filed Jul 23, 2023GA

Early this year GM disabled the OnStar feature on all Chevrolet Volts that have 2G connectivity. GM offered Canadian owners the option to upgrade their Volt's from 2G to 4G. In September 2019 they issued Service Bulletin 15-08-44-001J that gives the GM service department instructions on how to upgrade the Volt from 2G to 4G connectivity. They should give us the same options here in the states!

Air Bags
Filed Mar 26, 2023CA

Date above is approximate. The airbag sensor in the passenger side of the vehicle is faulty and causes a constantly cycling alarm when there is a passenger present. I believe this means that it is not accurately sensing the passenger and is turning the airbag on and off, making for a safety issue in the event of a crash. This is apparently a frequent issue and customers should not need to pay the $1,000 to fix the faulty sensor that could put a passenger at risk. https://www.gm-volt.com/threads/2013-passenger-presence-sensor-airbag-error.260945/page-2 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gGq_9T6om7g

Air Bags
Filed Feb 27, 2023FL

Passenger airbag sensor is faulty. It is available for inspection upon request. My passenger is at risk if the airbag does not deploy in case of an accident. Yes, I found out that the sensor had been replaced before, which did not resolve the issue. No. I got notifications right away after purchasing the vehicle. This appears to be a very common issue for gen 1 and 2 Chevrolet Volts. 2012-2013 Volts have a recall for this system, but I found online that lots of people with 2014 Volts are having the same issue.

Air Bags
Filed Feb 13, 2023MD

Service Airbag warning light comes on and off. Reading message boards for 2014 Chevy Volt, is seems that this is a defective Passenger Occupancy Sensor that happens on a lot of Volts. A dealer has confirmed that this is the problem and will cost $1,000-$1,200 to fix. Since this is a safety component and is failing regularly on all Volts, I believe the manufacturer should recall this item to be replaces.

Air Bags
Filed Jan 30, 2023OR

With only 80,000 miles on my volt, the dash is intermittently ringing and telling me to service my airbag, and turning off passenger airbags even though the car is clean accident free and damage free. Apparently this is a know issue, and very common. I’m confused why this $1000 repair and safety issue is not being recalled to be serviced by Chevy. It’s very hazardous and costly, as well as incredibly common. I’ve read of at least 100 people having this identical issue.

Air Bags
Filed Oct 16, 2022CA

The Air Bag light comes on every day. The passenger sight presents sensor malfunction. Technician says this can be harmful to a passenger if in an auto accident. My significant other can die.

20 of 93 complaints, reproduced as filed.

Across model years

Worst on record: 2017
YearComplaintsRecallsFiresDeathsAssessment
201934200Routine
2018222200Above average
2017697090Above average
2016169110Routine
201544110Routine
2014 — this page93010Routine
2013308320Above average
2012245220Above average
201149100Routine

Compare every Volt year →

Reading this record

No unusual pattern of severe incidents in the complaint record.

Complaint counts track how many cars were sold and how long they have been on the road as much as they track quality. A common model from 2013 has had a decade to accumulate reports; a rare one from last year has not. The signal worth weighing is in the severity columns, in whether the same component keeps appearing, and in whether the manufacturer eventually opened a recall for it.

Most recent recall on file: none. Source: NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation.