Almost 73,000 Second-Gen Chevrolet Volt PHEVs Probed For Power Loss

The NHTSA received 61 complaints from owners regarding loss of motive power, reduced power state, and failure to restart.

2016 Chevrolet Volt Premier

Dan Mihalascu

By: Dan Mihalascu

Dec 4, 2023 at 4:39pm ET

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The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has opened an investigation on November 29 into 72,926 second-generation Chevrolet Volt plug-in hybrid vehicles over several issues including loss of power, reduced power state, and failure to restart.

The U.S. auto safety regulator said the preliminary evaluation into 2016-2019 model year Chevrolet Volts comes after receiving 61 complaints and multiple TREAD (Transportation Recall Enhancement, Accountability and Documentation) field reports alleging a loss of motive power related to the vehicle's Battery Energy Control Module (BECM), Reuters reported.

According to the NHTSA's Office of Defects Investigation (ODI), the alleged BECM failure "can cause a loss of motive power, including a stall, reduced power state, or a no-start condition." The loss of motive power can occur at various speeds and the "vehicle may not have the ability to restart afterwards."

Some of the complaints allege that the instances where loss of power or reduced power mode occurred came with little to no warning.

Gallery: 2017 Chevrolet Volt

2017 chevrolet volt

According to Reuters, an owner from Los Angeles said their Volt "suddenly, and unexpectedly lost propulsion while driving. The vehicle is no longer able to turn on or drive." Another owner complained the Volt would not exceed 35 miles per hour on the highway "and it stops driving on electricity randomly."

The ODI Resume document posted online counts a total of 61 complaints, but thankfully no crashes, fires, injuries, or fatalities have been reported so far as a result of the alleged defect.

It's worth noting that General Motors previously issued a technical service bulletin (TSB 18-NA-261) stating that a "no-start condition or illumination of a malfunction indicator light (MIL) along with various diagnostic trouble codes (DTCs) is possible." GM said this condition is caused by an internal issue in the BECM, in which case the module might need to be replaced and reprogrammed.

While ODI and GM have discussed internal and external data related to this issue on several occasions, the automaker has not recalled the vehicles.

"ODI is opening this Preliminary Evaluation (PE) to determine the scope and severity of the potential problem and to fully assess the potential safety-related problems," the agency stated in the document.