2023 Chevrolet Bolt Euv

While driving my 2023 Chevrolet Bolt EUV at approximately 136,594 miles, the vehicle suddenly began making severe mechanical clacking/grinding noises and vibrating heavily. I could no longer safely drive the vehicle at normal road speed and was only able to move it very slowly. Fortunately, this occurred when traffic around me was light. If this failure had occurred in heavy or high-speed traffic, the sudden loss of normal drivability could have created a serious safety risk to me and other motorists. The vehicle was towed to Simpson Chevrolet of Irvine for diagnosis. The Chevrolet dealer found a large hole in the transmission/transaxle case and confirmed that the unit had lost all of its fluid. Diagnostic code P17C8 was also present. The dealer described this as an unusual failure. I specifically asked whether an external impact or road debris caused the damage. The dealer stated that there were no visible signs of impact to the undercarriage other than the hole in the transmission case itself and that they could not determine the exact cause. I did not shift the vehicle into Park while it was moving, and I do not recall striking any road debris or other object that could explain this catastrophic damage. I am reporting this because a sudden catastrophic drive-unit/transaxle failure while a vehicle is in motion may present a significant safety risk. I believe this failure should be documented and reviewed to determine whether similar failures have occurred in other Chevrolet Bolt EV/EUV vehicles.

NHTSA ID

11764449

Incident

Aug 19, 2026

The electric power steering / steering gear assembly exhibits mechanical binding ("sticky steering") and completely fails to return to center. When going around a curve in the road, the steering wheel "memorizes" or holds the turned angle and will not unwind or self-center like it used to and as I would expect it to. I'm having to apply continuous, deliberate manual counter-steering to bring the vehicle back to straight. The steering also has a distinct "notchy" or sticking sensation when making small steering adjustments that make clear audible clicking or knocking sounds at lower speeds. The issue began intermittently from my recollection around early 2026 and has grown progressively worse. It's most certainly progressed to feeling like a serious safety hazard by potentially causing significant driver fatigue, over-correction, and difficulty maintaining lane discipline, increasing the risk of lane departure or an inability to complete emergency evasive maneuvers. I will have a teenage driver soon and would not feel comfortable with her driving this vehicle in its current state. I verified that all "driver assistance" features were disabled and were not the cause of the mechanical resistance. No warning lights or error codes have illuminated. I need to get it fixed, but for the time being, the vehicle and its original steering components are available for inspection if that is useful.

NHTSA ID

11762966

Incident

Feb 1, 2026

The electric power steering (EPS) rack has developed an internal binding at times, causing the steering wheel to sometimes fail to naturally return to the center position after completing both low-speed and highway-rate turns. Instead of self-centering, the wheel holds its turned angle, forcing me to manually pull it back to straight-line navigation. This creates a serious safety hazard, as it requires unnatural steering corrections and can lead to overcorrection or unintended lane departure. No warning lights or diagnostic trouble codes (DTCs) have appeared on the dashboard. This is a well-documented issue across Chevrolet Bolt EV and EUV models. Dozens of owners on public forums and in existing NHTSA complaint filings report identical symptoms—often occurring between 30,000 and 60,000 miles—where internal gear binding or degraded factory lubrication inside the steering rack requires a complete, costly rack-and-pinion replacement to resolve safely.

NHTSA ID

11761717

Incident

Aug 13, 2026

Steering Rack: The internal components of the rack bind up and create heavy resistance, causing the wheel to lock into a turned position rather than gliding back on its own to maintain control. This issue forces you to manually pull the steering wheel back straight after every turn, making high-speed and everyday driving unpredictable and dangerous. Power train: The powertrain is loose when moving forward and backward potentially causing a risk to others when leaving the vehicle in park.

NHTSA ID

11761423

Incident

Aug 28, 2026

Collision warning failed to warn driver and automatic emergency braking failed to engage, causing an accident.

NHTSA ID

11760626

Incident

Aug 29, 2026

Was initially stopped at a red light heading northbound while in the right turn lane. The cross street had two lanes of traffic heading in each direction separated by a median divider to the west and a left turn lane to the east. After cross traffic cleared from the nearest eastbound lane, but cars continuing to travel in the far eastbound lane, I began a ‘right turn on red’ into the nearest eastbound lane. Somewhere near, but short of completing the entire 90° turn, the AEB system violently slammed on the brakes causing strong vibrations like I had hit or been hit by another car. My estimated speed at the time was approx. 15 mph. Not positive, but I believe the collision alert beeped and red dot HUD activated at the same time indicating an impending collision. Believing I had been hit, I think I applied the brake pedal to ensure the vehicle completely stopped rolling. After visually checking my surroundings, I saw no other vehicles, pedestrians, or objects anywhere near or around my vehicle. Concerned I had possibly run over something instead, I slowly proceeded forward to visually check the road surface to see if anything was in the road behind. The vehicle operated normally, I saw no debris, and pulled over to the side of the road to visually check for damage. Seeing none, I continued my travel without further incident. The vehicle has not been inspected or has the problem been reproduced, but it is available upon request. This is the first occurrence of phantom breaking since owning the vehicle for the past 10 months and there have been no prior symptoms or related problems. In this case the lane I entered was free of traffic. If instead I had pulled into a gap in traffic that would otherwise have been sufficient to safely merge into, my sudden and unexpected stop could have easily caused oncoming traffic to hit me from behind.

NHTSA ID

11759774

Incident

Aug 22, 2026

After completing a turn, the car's steering wheel does not fully return to center. It remains at 30 degrees under 10mph, 10-15 degrees at 20mph. Dealer has claimed it is behaving as intended.

NHTSA ID

11758965

Incident

Aug 4, 2026

I was taking a left turn from [XXX] onto [XXX] in the outer (right) lane. As I was exiting the turn, the AEB went off suddenly without warning -- the car came to a sudden and complete stop. There were no cars or obstacles in the road ahead of us in either lane and so it is unclear what would cause the braking event. Due to the sudden stop, a man driving a moped was not able to stop in time--he was able to swerve to avoid a head on collision, but he collided with our rear passenger bumper. While, fortunately, there were no injuries, both vehicles sustained minor damage. This is the second incident of "phantom braking" I have experienced with this car. The first incident was within the first year of owning it driving on a 35 MPH road when it mistakenly thought a car was veering into our lane (oncoming traffic) -- in this case the phantom braking was brief and did not bring the vehicle to a stop. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

NHTSA ID

11757057

Incident

Aug 14, 2026

This preliminary information advises a dealer on how to email GDS2 session logs into Technical Assistance.

This Preliminary information communicates to dealer to perform a MEC reset for wireless projection issues

Certain vehicles may have a condition where a false diagnostic trouble code (DTC) is set. Dealers are to reprogram the Hybrid Powertrain Control Module 2.

PI to help diagnose A/C concern

This Preliminary information communicates an issue with an OTA pending message still displayed after an OTA event and how to reset/clear the message.

This preliminary information is to inform technicians and customers that the voice command will be inoperative when trying to open applications. Engineering is investigating and this PI will be converted to a bulletin when a repair is available.