A recently filed class action lawsuit alleges that the 2016 through 2019 Chevy Volt suffers from an electrical system defect that may result in the vehicle losing propulsion.
According to a recent report from Car Complaints, the lawsuit argues that affected units of the Chevy Volt may stop moving at highway speeds, and may fail to start. The problem allegedly stems from a failure in the Chevy Volt hybrid system, specifically the battery energy control module, which is designed to keep the battery charged and regulate battery temperature to ensure it does not overheat or freeze.
As Car Complaints outlines, the new class action lawsuit asserts that the Chevy Volt will cease to function if the battery energy control module malfunctions. The plaintiff in the lawsuit, Jason Miller, alleges that the fault may be a failure of the module’s internal soldering connections. Miller previously purchased a 2017 Chevy Volt.
Miller states that once the module exhibits a fault, it must be replaced and reprogrammed. What’s more, it’s alleged that GM knew about the fault as early as June of the 2018 calendar year, as the automaker previously issued technical service bulletin 18-NA-261 to dealers in regard to “an internal issue within the Battery Energy Control Module.” However, GM allegedly failed to warn consumers about the issue, and has refused to offer compensation for repairs or replacements. GM has also failed to issue a recall for the issue.
Although GM ended production of the Chevy Volt after the 2019 model year, the lawsuit alleges that GM continues to sell and market the vehicle containing the defective component.
The Chevy Volt battery energy control module class action lawsuit, Jason Miller v. General Motors, LLC, was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan (Southern Division). The plaintiff is represented by Weitz and Luxenberg, P.C., Branstetter Stranch and Jennings, PLLC, and the Indian and Environmental Law Group, PLLC.
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Comments
“My car is getting old and components are starting to wear out. I don’t feel I should have to pay to have it fixed!” Another one of these class-action lawsuits filed by people that think their car should last forever and never have to cost them anything other than registration fees, gas, and insurance.
I have owned 2 volts. A 2017 and a 2018. Both required the BECM replaced under 70k miles, covered under warranty. It’s so bad that used car sales now often list this part as being replaced. The last time I had it replaced, it took over 3 months – and that was after contacting corporate HQ and sending a letter of demands.
This isn’t “my car is getting old.” It’s a “we made an electronic solid state part that takes 6 hours of labor to replace in a way that it must be replaced every 30-60k miles.”
It’s a solid state electronic part. If your computer motherboard died every 1000-200 hours of use (comparable) – I’m sure you’d be up in arms too. Especially if it took 3 months to get it fixed.
We have a 2013 Volt with this problem and was just told it would cost over $29,000 to repair
Please shut up. All these cars were under Voltec powertrain warranty, and GM couldn’t fix them for up to 9 months in some owners cases. This is because they didn’t make enough parts and don’t care about Volt owners. If your car was sitting at the dealer waiting for a warranty part for 6 months, you’d be suing too.
Do you even own a Chevy Volt? It’s sad that such a huge company can’t fix such a dangerous and prevalent issue. My 2018 Volt has barely over 20K miles (because I was deployed to the middle east for 19 months straight, so it was only driven lightly to keep the battery going), and when I returned, the warning showed up. It was protected in a storage unit, kept safely (<10k miles, not a scratch, no cold climate), and I found myself pulled over on the HIGHWAY, because it literally stopped running. Each time it happens and I take it to the dealership (when they finally get to my Volt, one of usually 15+ they’re fixing at a time), they can’t figure out what’s wrong. Everyone knows this is an issue they need to take responsibility for, before one of us finds ourselves in a much more unfortunate highway or intersection situation.
I agree with Arcee above. This world is just getting to be such winey crybabies and nobody wants to take responsibility for anything and when someone goes wrong with a mechanical piece of equipment, they want to run out and get compensated for it. I don’t care what company we are talking about here. People do this to Toyota, GM, Ford, etc. It will be interesting to see how this goes because it’s obvious that this wasn’t pushed up to a recall from NHTSA. Just because a company issues a bulletin should not be grounds for this.
The automotive world is going to get even more interesting when it comes to stuff like this as they keep introducing more features to help save us from our own stupidity. It makes me question what drivers will do when their new Volvo Lidar system malfunctions and the inattentive “Driver” crashes.
You are extremely misinformed. These cars were all under warranty for this issue, and GM could not/would not fix them. Owners cars have been sitting at dealers waiting 9 months or so for a part.
“No one wants to take responsibility for anything.”
Excuse me – what responsibility does the owner of a Chevy Volt have for a manufacturing defect created by the Chevrolet Corporation?
In a way, you’re right if “no one” means corporations. I have a Ford Fusion that has a defective airbag and was forced by our federal government to recall and replace them. Ford knew about the problem in 2014… 8 years later still not fixed. Talk about taking responsibility…
I think the other point being missed here is that it’s extremely dangerous. If your car only has 25k miles and experienced this on the highway it’s not only extremely frightening, it’s extremely dangerous. Not only were we stranded on the side of the offramp, but we also almost ended up getting into an accident with our relatively new car.
If my phone were to get hot enough to ignite a fire intermittently after using it for only a few months you wouldn’t say – “oh your phone is just getting old suck it up”. The manufacturer bears some responsibility in making sure the technology we buy is safe and doesn’t have unexpected and dangerous breakdowns – especially within their warranty period.
Volt owner here, love this car, so far no problems… The BECMs are one of the most common failure on these second generation Volt cars, particularly the 2017s. Just look at any of the owner groups (littered with BECM horrors)… Who knows what the overall-failure rate is though..But, It does seem like a design flaw in the component manufacturing just like the “Shift to Park” issues on other GM models. Maybe GM or supplier (LG Chem?, lol) had bad soldering techniques.. Unfortunately, BECMs have taken anywhere from 2-6 months to replace, and the car is *totally* bricked until then… Usually they are 100% covered for replacements under the 10year/ 100k, (or even 150k in some states) by the Voltec warranties, and problems crop up in that timeframe usually.. Out of pocket repair of a BECM is likely very expensive, and GM should just replace them as they sold what only 200,000 of these cars in its lifetime anyway?
Has anyone gotten Chevrolet to honor the 10yr/150K miles warranty in a CARB state (after GM’s 8yr/100k miles warranty had expired)? I’ve read they are being sued about this too.
Idk, but on Cadillac sales brochure I got clearly states 10/150 for Air Resource Board states for a 2016 ELR
Is it a coincidence that the new Prius looks like a Volt in certain angle?
No, they were both designed in a wind tunnel to minimize drag and are both aerodynamically well known Kammback design (which Prius used first). Not a coincidence at all. As far as the design details that don’t impact aerodynamics so much, I don’t think they’re very similar at all. I like both generations of the Volt (I own a 2014) and I think the 2023 Prius is stunning.
Ahh! The infamous BECM issue. It’s a known problem with 2nd gen Volts. GM could show they still support the Volt and deal with this BECM issue by putting out a service bulletin.
I have a Volt (2017). Great car to drive. Ridiculous number of problems for a newer vehicle. At just 2 years old the heating didn’t work, look online. I regularly get the shift to park message. Have also experienced partial loss of propulsion at highway speeds. Lost 20 miles of battery range after dealer did a recall. Have very premature failure of the EGR valve. All things I come to find are common known design faults Chevy doesn’t give a sh!t about it’s customers over and unreasonably expensive dealer repair items. This class action is long overdue.
I tihkn a pretty good summary. I’ve lived in the US for 2o years, only driven GMs – never again. Absolute disgrace. I’ve been told 3 months with no car. No offer of a rental, or any other kind of relaement. how hard can it be to get more parts??
My car had this issue and it was covered under warranty, however, it took months for them to get the part and I was driving a full gas rental during that time costing hundreds in gas. Then we found out the dealership we took it to couldn’t work on electric cars and had to ship it to another dealer to do the work. They didn’t tell us about the delays in the part shipping or communicate with us about the other dealer doing the work. It was a really big pain.
Your dealer did not give a crap…find another dealer!
Spoiler alert: none of them do. Mine only has ONE hybrid/EV tech. Will be interesting to see how GM’s transition to electric goes with such poor support.
Hi, could you please share which warranty covered the issue? Thank you.
I have had no issues with my 5 year old 2018 volt,I have had a recall for the above mentioned problem that could occur over a year ago and they reprogramed some control module for this.So there was a recall in Canada for me.Has been and is an excellent car.
I own a 2017 Volt with 108,000km on it in Canada. Never received a recall notice about the BECM. Then 3 weeks ago, I had trouble starting and couldn’t go faster than 40mph. I hobbled into the dealership and they knew right away what the problem was
Told me it was covered under the 8 yr electrical/battery/drivetrain warranty. They paid for a rental. Took 3 weeks to get the part. Of course they did not mention the lawsuit. I’m just worried when and if the part fails again when it’s out of warranty. The service advisor said if i had to pay for it, the part was $1050 plus 7 hours of labour
This just happened to me – Vancouver, Canada. 38,000KM -2018 Volt
Driving along the highway – suddenly lost power (propulsion) – pulled over on the shoulder and got a tow-truck to take my car to the dealership. It was Saturday April 1 – no service available .It wouldn’t drive at all.
On Monday I was told it was a “spark plug” issue : not covered by warranty – would cost over $700 – no “loaner” or rental offered.
I would like to know if this class-action suit covers Canadians.
Spark plugs on a Volt are incredibly easy to change by just about anyone who can turn a wrench!
Anything is incredibly easy if you know what you are doing.
Our 2017 just started to act up last night with what seems to be this exact problem. We are in New Brunswick. Thanks for sharing your experience.
I´m owner of an Opel Ampera/Chevrolet Volt with 300.000 kms on the odometer and zero problems.
so 180k miles and what year?
No, they were both designed in a wind tunnel to minimize drag and are both aerodynamically well known Kammback design (which Prius used first). Not a coincidence at all. As far as the design details that don’t impact aerodynamics so much, I don’t think they’re very similar at all. I like both generations of the Volt (I own a 2014) and I think the 2023 Prius is stunning.
I missed the part in the article about catching on fire.
Sean, that’s because that was the Bolt, not the Volt. A completely different car. There’s a saying that applies to you: it is better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak and remove all doubt.
I have the 2017 volt, and the BECM died at about 60K miles. It was replaced under warranty, but the dealer in Van Nuys, Ca said that had they not had the one in stock, I would have had to possibly wait months for it. Has anyone reading this had to have a second BECM replacement? Just wondering if this will continue to be a problem for a car that otherwise has been great.
I have a 2017 volt with 120k miles and a 2019 volt with 75k and I have had absolutely nothing go wrong with either car.
Joe, having worked at GM a lifetime and thankfully long retired, there’s always a distribution of good and bad vehicles. You want all or most to be good.
If you have a bunch in the wrong end of the curve, you have a problem. It certainly doesn’t mean that you never have a good one. Don’t blame the other folks here for complaining. They have a real problem.
2016 Volt owner, no becm problem or any other yet with 55k miles. But GM has known about this issue for years now and instead of doing the right thing, ordering and having them on hand to be replaced as they came in or voluntarily recalled, they did nothing but make owners wait for months to have them replaced under warranty. They also have placed the burden of a loaner car while waiting months for repairs on the customer, some who had to pay out of pocket for rentals and then fight for reimbursements. Don’t place A 8-10 year warranty on something if you’re not willing to honor it responsibly!
was considering a volt… reconsidering now, if I do I want paperwork on the BECM replacement. REALLY glad I stumbled on this article.
I’m a 2017 Volt owner with 82,000 miles on it as it sits at the dealership for the second month. BECU failure that doesn’t allow the car to move. I get a weekly text message from Chevrolet saying sorry no change. After a month I was able to get a crossover SUV loaner. Loaners are incredibly difficult to come by, I thank god I work from home or I would be screwed. I live in a rural community cars are life. At this rate I will finish paying off my car and still be driving a loaner. I didn’t expect my car to last forever but I did think I’d get a few years of no car payments before I had to buy another.
I know this all too well. After I purchased my 2017 Volt, my car stalled on the regular road and also on the freeway. I had no clue what was going on until I took it in for inspection. Same problem that was reported in this class action lawsuit. It took over a month to get my car fixed and prior to that, the service team at Chevrolet had no ETA of when a part would be available since it was on back order. This definitely put a damper on my EV experience because I was looking forward to a positive experience. Instead, I was met with challenges from the gate.
I have a 2014 Volt which has had this recurring problem. Who can be contacted, Chevy ‘can’t find any issue’ is not very reassuring in their service department in my area.
A problem for both the Volt and the Bolt. A good reason to buy the Leaf instead.
Electrical issues in a GM product. Who would have thought. Soon the fleet will be all electric.
I’m a 2019 Volt owner and have had only had the car 1 year and it’s been in the shop 3 times with only 35k miles on it. They had to replace a cable saying that’s what was causing my main display to distort. That didn’t fix the problem so the replaced the whole main display 😕 then about a week later it started again not as bad as it was and not as often but again I just got it fixed again and they had to replace my trim pieces cause the technician damaged my horribly with scuff marks so had ro bring it back in for that. They didn’t even tell me they were giving me my car back like here we are done and I noticed instantly and said something. They also scuffed a rim there was fresh red paint scraped into the rim. But since I didn’t notice it a pick up they aren’t responsible sadly.
I have the 2017 Volt. At 30,000 miles I had the failed electronic EGR issue. No parts available anywhere in the USA. Only one manufacturer, based in China. GM is not/ will not restart manufacturing for this part. I went to the local dealer and asked if this was a covered part, and he looked me STRAIGHT in the eyes and said, “no, this EGR is NOT an emissions device”. I said, “since when in the last 60 years has an EGR NOT BEEN an emissions device??” These b.s. dealers have a lot of audacity and hubris to say that straight to an engineer… Wow, just wow.
I believe the emission coverage on a egr valve is 3/50. So yours would not be covered because of time. Of course depending on the delivery date. I’m a Chevrolet Service Advisor is SoCal
I have 2 2017 Volts… both under 60k miles. Perfect cars for our use case… all electric most of the time for commuting to work, and can still take on trips that require gas. But that also comes with the complexity of two power systems. One of our Volts is in the shop right now with the BECM issue. Going on the second month of waiting for the part. Now just waiting for the other shoe to drop of having the same problem on the other one. People love my car when they drive it… I love it too, but I can’t recommend it as a used vehicle to anyone now looking to go electric. Too few of them made and chevy doesn’t have the stock to fix them or the folks trained to do it. And anyone looking at a 2019 should ask themselves if they want a car made by someone who knew they were going to get laid off when the factory shutdown in a couple of months. I am sure the quality on those is much worse.
Everytime i attempt to get my module fixed as its causing Near Miss Accidents by slowing down I get to the facility and their is a excuse on how they can not help me. LAST TIME I SCHEDULE A week in advance, drove 4 hour to the location and again thier was no way they could service me I called every facility in town they were all to busy to help me. I TOLD THEM this is dangerous to be driving like this I’m I’m dead before they fix it it’s because they keep dismissing my issue. HUMAN life is not that important to them as the repair they dont profit on….can not be charged. for although there was one that said I would need to pay 200.00 to check it diagnose it and then they would confirm, I was bruh confirm what it’s a recall. Done with chevy took my 2013 in to get my radiator repaired they kept it for 6 months did 8k supposedly worth of repair for a hole in radiator and totalled it after 6 mo I tracked it and they sold it for 7k at auction pocketing 15k for the car I paid 13k for after 3 more months of being without a car I finally got a check to use as a dp on another. I UNFORTUNATELY as much as I loved this 2017 model due to their care and disregard for human life will not be returning to the Chevy brand not to mention discontinuing a product at a time its needed most. My car has sat for the last year they never rescheduled my onstar never answers the phone and the chevy app does not work, it says that I’m scheduled I show up and every single time completly clueless to this day the one time I had my car at a dealer was for radiator hole and they totalled me. 9 mo. 14k of money they got from my horrific ordeal Pre Covid and not one apology. YEAH i hope someone kick em in the head they need thier module replaced. IT took creatimg a website and calling around to corporate and over 50 emails. I’m not doing this stresses me out so much I had a heart attack. Wish I was kidding I’m getting upset thinking bout it again lost 9 months of worm. I’m in deliver and now I am worried to go back cause I can’t get my car fixed. No more.
I’ve owned two Volts a 2017 and currently a 2018 and I work as a service advisor at a large GM dealership in Southern California. Not only have both my Volts that I’ve owned ever experienced this condition , I can’t recall ever repairing a volt where we’ve needed to replace said component. Hmm
Thats extremely odd but the not repairing the module surely checks out… Here ya go maybe you can shed some light on why you all are not repairing the problem as stated in the only recall which thier should be another regarding the back brake sensors but refuse to acknowledge tham as well.
GM Program #:
N202307990
Date Issued:
Feb 04, 2021
Program Title:
Increased Customer Notification – Expires 2/28/2023
Program Description:
Certain 2016 – 2018 model year Chevrolet Volt vehicles may have a condition related to the high voltage battery which could gradually lose the ability to maintain voltage. If battery concerns are not addressed, the vehicle could enter a reduced propulsion mode while driving, or lose propulsion, or it may not start.
Repair Description:
Dealers are to update the Hybrid Powertrain Control Module 2 (HPCM2). This software update is intended to increase the amount of warning time provided.
Program Status: INCOMPLETE
I have a great solution. Sell the Volt for whatever you can get and buy a 1994 Buick Park Ave. I have one that gets 27 MPG and is a 3.8 V6 that has lasted 29 years and is still in great condition and
Can go anywhere and is very reliable.
Larry
2016 owner, absolutely love the vehicle, BECM recently went out with 165k miles, only 6 years old and won’t move from where I last parked it.
No replacement parts available, and no ETA of when it would even be available.
I’ve put over 112k miles on it since we purchased it, and has the fewest miles of all the vehicles I own.
I do all maintenance, upkeep and repairs on my own vehicles, and have a couple with more than 300k miles.
I have no problem replacing parts that wear out on a vehicle with typical use, but a solid state computer controller such as this part should not be failing at the rates it is. Clearly a quality control issue, And I view as a breach of commitment to the customer by delivering a subpar component in these vehicles.
I have a 2017 and a 2018 volt. I REALLY hope GM does something about this KNOWN bad from the factory part… they either need to offer a buy back at MSRP of all the remaining volts out there, or they need to extend the voltec warranty to 15 years 200k miles. Absolutely ridiculous!
Well I just purchase a 2017 Chevy Volt for my daughter it was a gift for college purchase it in June by July it was broke so it’s sitting at Chevy dealership this day still at Chevy dealership waiting on for a part to come in have not came in yet saying it’s on backorder saying a module the car will not start the car would not do anything so my daughter is without a car and the crazy part about it I’m paying a car note on a broke car
Contact GM directly, they should of given you a loaner free of charge or at least a rental until car is repaired
As someone that is having this issue right now, I’m appalled by some of the comments here. My wife and I bought this car for the economy and efficiency it provides and when working, it’s great. However, the car has been sitting at a dealer waiting for this part for 2 months now. I’ve been stuck with one garbage rental from enterprise after another – I’m on my third car because of their own problems. All guzzling gas at $4/gal every week. To say that I’m frustrated is an understatement. The dealership and service department never returns my calls for an update and Corporate sends me a notice each week saying there is no update. On top of this the car was not cheap. At nearly $40k after taxes when new I expected more. It was purchased new and is now basically bricked after only 5 years and LESS THAN 30k miles on the clock. Do I want to join this class action? Yes. Yes I do.
It’s unbelievable to see these boobs posting comments about Volt owners “taking responsibility” for these cars bricking. They’re still under warranty and GM is taking MONTHS to fix them!! Tell me what part of that I should be held responsible for?? I am fortunate enough to have basically bought this thing as a toy for entertainment/curiosity purposes. What about all the single mothers out there who needed it for their daily driver? Are you guys saying that it’s HER fault and she should just own up to the failure of GM being her fault? I suspect there are some GM employees hanging out in these comments. If you own one of these junkers, I suggest you immediately contact one of the law firms involved with the class action lawsuit. I did and I’ll have a big huge smile on my face when that check arrives in the mail in a few years after this case is settled.
I have a 2012 Volt with 168,000 miles, which has stalled out twice in the past week, and over 8 times in the past 5 years. The HPCM2 has been reprogrammed twice in the past year, and the BECM programmed at least once. This past year, the car switches seemingly randomly from to gas from electric when there’s plenty of battery charge and temperature outside is anywhere from 40 to 70F. And none of the programming has fixed this early transition to gas on a full charge. And the dealers have no idea how to fix that, they say it is “normal”, when it certainly wasn’t a problem the first 8 years of life. So although I loved the car for many years, I’m extremely frustrated by these programming problems, which are manufacturing/coding defects, not wear and tear from a well-used vehicle, and I would like to know how I can join that class action lawsuit GM.
My 2017 Volt with 33K miles was at the dealership for 4 1/2 months waiting for a BECM. Customer service was non existent (although they did rent a car from Hertz for me – that’s a WHOLE other story!!!) and GM corporate only wasted hours of my time on the phone. The entire situation made me know I’ll never buy another GM.
I just took my 2017 Volt with around 32,000 miles to the Chevy dealer for them to find out what is wrong and if it was me, I would look at the BECM module. But I need them to find it. I left a note on the dash as to what I thought it was. So add my name to this list of folks with bad modules.
I have a 2018 Volt- no major problems and about 50K miles. Anyone know if this BECU issue is detectable by inspection prior to a problem occurring? Thx
Just happened to my 2018 volt with 30k mikes. Was able to limp it to dealer. They told me part is back ordered. Should have by Tue. Today is Friday. 6 hours to repair and covered under Warranty. I am wondering if any improvements have been made to the replacement parts…
Just happened to my 2018 volt with 30k mikes. Was able to limp it to dealer. They told me part is back ordered. Should have by Tue. Today is Friday. 6 hours to repair and covered under Warranty. I am wondering if any improvements have been made to the replacement parts…
Anyone know how to join this class action suit? I’m having this issue with my 2017 Volt. I was told it is the EGR valve and no date in site of when it might be available and I was told it is NOT under warranty. I think it is actually an electrical issue not the EGR valve and they are hiding behind that. If anyone has had any success on how to handle this, Id love to hear. I have a claim open with Chevy where they just tell me next update but have no news each update. I have tried contacting each of the law firms listed but no luck getting info.
Chevy Volt 2012 the engine failed to the ground. The car was under warranty and GM refused to fix it. Went to Court and lost. We as a consumers don’t have any protection. Never again GM that is for sure.
Does anyone know if the class action lawsuit is still active? I feel like GM is being unfair to us who bought our 2016-2019 Volts in a carb state (Maryland) December of 2015 but had to move to a non carb state (Virginia before it came a carb state this year) in September of 2021 when all this went down and it so happened that my dads car (which I drive) becm faulted on December 29, 2023 and had to be towed to the dealership (which the account is under my name). My dad had to pay a bit over $3,000 to replace the becm and GM says that it’s not covered.