2017 Chevrolet Bolt EV Driver assistance Problems

Vehicle started to surge while driving (both small acceleration forward and large deceleration) without any change in brake or accelerator position. Eventually a "Propulsion Power Reduced" message was presented on the console followed immediately by no forward propulsion (accelerator completely unresponsive) and forced to coast to a stop on the side of the highway. Car refused to shift out of park or neutral following breakdown. Car taken to dealer to troubleshoot and was told that a P0A3F code was present and that the engine harness needed to be replaced in accordance with NHTSA bulletin 19-NA-220. This bulletin calls out that the harness was likely damaged during initial install at factory and the dealer representative confirmed that the pins were damaged as described. Car was given back to drive home after harness was checked (owner decided to explore options before scheduling repair), but broke down due to surging and complete loss of power within 2 miles of dealer. Troubleshooting to confirm harness damage is suspected to have worsen the condition and made un-commanded accel/deceleration followed by complete loss of power likely. Uncertain why this condition would be exempt from recall if OEM is aware of installation issues at factory. Driving with this condition was as bad or worse than other type model loss of power conditions that have been recalled. Recommend at least clarifying that cars confirmed to fall under this bulletin and associated inspection should not be deemed roadworthy until a repair is made.

NHTSA ID

11706654

Incident

Dec 22, 2025

On August 17th, 2025, my wife was driving our 2017 Chevrolet Bolt EV at low speed, pulling into a parking spot. The vehicle suddenly accelerated forward with enough force to cause significant damage to a fixed barrier. She does not recall pressing the accelerator at that moment. The degree of acceleration was disproportionate for a brief accidental press. Immediately after impact, smoke or dust was visible rising through the center console area. No airbags deployed, but it appeared similar to smoke from pyrotechnic devices. My wife sustained seatbelt-related bruising across the chest and thighs. The vehicle remains drivable. I have included photos detailing damage to the car and the fixed barrier. We are aware of the GM accessory all-weather floor liner recall (21E-089), but are not certain if our vehicle’s liner was part of that campaign. We are reporting this incident to ensure there is a record in case this reflects unintended acceleration or another defect.

NHTSA ID

11681741

Incident

Aug 17, 2025

This tends to only happen below 74 degrees Fahrenheit and happens excessively between 72 and 74 degrees Fahrenheit. While driving with one pedal engaged (labeled as low on the shifter since they re-used another model's shifter for the first several years of the Bolt EV), the cruise control will randomly disengage and force the vehicle to immediately slam on the brakes. Usually its not a big deal, but when it happens at highway speed as you're just passing a semi or large vehicle and merging back into the lane in front of it, it becomes dangerous very quickly, which has happened a couple of times now. I would venture a guess that its not related to the cruise control directly, but some system that its relying on is forcing it to deactivate the cruise control. The only other issue this vehicle is having that might be related is that the blind spot detection system is not working correctly on the left side. I know there's a TSB for the aluminum Butyl tape becoming damaged or missing, but if that's causing my car to slam on its brakes in front of fully loaded semis, Chevy should probably be persuaded into re-coding how their cruise control gets disengaged. Especially since this blind spot detection system issue seems somewhat common. Either way, something is causing my car to randomly slam on its brakes in the middle of the highway and Chevy says there's nothing they can do about it because its not setting a code. This is definitely a dangerous safety issue that they should be forced into actually diagnosing more than just plugging a computer in and saying: "whelp, nothing to see here." and returning it to the customer with a "we can't do anything, sorry."

NHTSA ID

11680241

Incident

Jul 24, 2025

The contact owns a 2017 Chevrolet Bolt EV. The contact stated while driving 30 MPH, the vehicle started to lose motive power, prompting the contact to attempt to pull over to the shoulder of the roadway. The contact stated that the vehicle suddenly accelerated independently. The contact was able to bring the vehicle to a complete stop and the vehicle returned to normal functionality. The traction control and ABS warning lights were illuminated. The vehicle was taken to the dealer, who diagnosed a failure with the front wheel driveshaft speed sensor. The vehicle was repaired. After investigating the failure, the contact related the failure to Technical Service Bulletin No: 22-NA-089. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 84,000.

NHTSA ID

11631776

Incident

Dec 20, 2024

Mileage

84,000 mi

The car was parked and when we went out to it, the stereo was crackling very loud static and popping. This continued when the stereo is off. When we reset the stereo, it stopped momentarily and then resumed. Eventually the speakers stopped and just crackled intermittently. After finding a slew of similar incidents online, I opened the rear to find it totally filled with water (see picture, where it is parked on a hill). This filled the subwoofer and drowned the amp, causing global failure of the stereo system. No liquid has been in the rear of my car, and you can tell it is dirty like rainwater. I believe this to be a design flaw due to the other cases reported here [XXX] This doesn't sound like a safety issue, except everything runs through the stereo. Not just music, but the turn signals audio functions, blind spot indicator and forward collision indicators all run through the stereo. Additionally I have lost all hands free functionality for my phone. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

NHTSA ID

11569379

Incident

Dec 30, 2023

My vehicle, an a whole host of others according to other owners online, have an issue with defective sealing in the rear bumper and underbody of the vehicle which allows water to enter, flooding the trunk which fries the electrical harness and audio system. As a result, all warning systems including the Forward Collision Warning, Lane Departure Warning, Parking Collision Warning, Rear Cross Traffic Warning, turn signals, emergency lights, door ajar warning, and vehicle status warning systems are inaudible. This is not just a nuisance of not having an audio system but posses great danger to the driver, their passengers and others on the road as warning systems cannot be heard. In addition, the wiring harness affects other critical components on the car and considering this is an all electric vehicle, this is of great concern. Chevrolet is well aware of the issue but either instructs dealerships to not cover the issue under warranty or has not sufficiently informed their dealerships that this is a known manufacturing defect that should be covered.

NHTSA ID

11542007

Incident

Nov 8, 2022

When driving down the road with no other vehicles around the blind spot warning light On the passenger side mirror will illuminate and turn off and on several times with no vehicles around. Which inadvertently triggers the forward collision system and locks up the brakes on the car. Once the forward collision system is activated there's no no way to reinitiate Acceleration until it turns off. This has happened several times on the highway causing me to have to force my car off under the shoulder to prevent from getting rear ended. With one time happening causing a semi to veer off the road. This is a very unsafe condition, and it has become more prevalent ever since they change the battery in the car.

NHTSA ID

11485170

Incident

Jun 15, 2022

The driver's side blind spot monitor never worked well from new with false positives, and by the end of 2019 it just stayed on 90% of the time. The passenger side monitor generally worked better, but still had false positive signals on occasion. There is a TSB (17-NA-097) for this issue. With Covid, and unhelpful dealerships, it took 4 tries at different dealerships before it was finally fixed recently. The film over the both sensors was non-functional, just as described in the TSB. As there is a TSB, this is a known issue for this vehicle from the factory.

NHTSA ID

11471618

Incident

Nov 1, 2019

Steering won't return to center; bad steering gear; steering sticking in one direction

NHTSA ID

11466631

Incident

May 27, 2022

On three occasions the Bolt blind spot warning system either did not warn us (three different drivers), or if it did warn by activating a light in the driver side mirror, the warning was not sufficient to avoid all three drivers attempting to change lanes when there was a vehicle in the blind spot. In all three cases the driver put on their turn signal to indicate they were changing lanes, but the Bolt, unlike every other car we’ve driven with a blind spot warning system, does not provide an audio warning when there is a car in the blind spot and the turn signal is activated. In all three cases the driver had to swerve at highway speed to avoid hitting the car in the blind spot. After the first incident we researched whether there was a means of enabling an audio sound for the blind spot warning, but we found there is not. The Bolt appears to have an unusually large driver side blind spot and because of the placement of the driver side mirror the blind spot warning light does not get the driver’s attention when changing lanes.

NHTSA ID

11455770

Incident

Mar 8, 2022

INSTALLED CHEVROLET PREMIUM ALL-WEATHER FLOOR LINERS P/N: 42686568. WHILE PASSING ON THE HIGHWAY, THE ACCELERATOR PEDAL BECAME STUCK AT FULL THROTTLE UNDER THE LINER. UNABLE TO SHIFT TO NEUTRAL AND WITH MINIMAL SLOWING FROM PRESSING THE BRAKES, I HAD TO REACH DOWN AND TUG ON THE MAT UNTIL IT DISLODGED FROM THE PEDAL. I GOT OFF THE HIGHWAY AND EXAMINED THE LINER FINDING THAT ONE OF THE SECURING CLIPS HAD COME UNATTACHED (LIKELY FROM TUGGING ON IT). I REATTACHED AND VERIFIED CORRECT MAT INSTALLATION. LATER WHILE PASSING ANOTHER VEHICLE ON THE HIGHWAY THE ACCELERATOR BECAME STUCK AGAIN CAUSING UNCONTROLLED ACCELERATION. EXAMINING THE MAT AFTERWARDS, THE SECURING CLIPS WERE STILL ATTACHED CORRECTLY. ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: THE CLIPS THAT SECURE THE FLOOR MAT/LINER ARE ONLY ATTACHED TO THE VEHICLE CARPET AND NOT RIGIDLY AFFIXED. WHEN CORRECTLY INSTALLED THE LIP OF THE LINER RISES UP AND ENDS WITH ALMOST NO CLEARANCE TO THE GAS PEDAL, THEN WITH ONLY A SLIGHT MOVEMENT OF THE LINER IT CAN ENTRAP THE ACCELERATOR PEDAL. OVER TIME WITH FORWARD FOOT PRESSURE ON THE LINER, THERE IS JUST ENOUGH MOVEMENT IN THE LINER AND CLIPS TO ALLOW IT TO SHIFT SLIGHTLY FORWARD AND TO THE RIGHT CAUSING AN INTERFERENCE FIT WITH THE ACCELERATOR PEDAL. IT APPEARS THAT WHEN BOTH THE ACCELERATOR AND BRAKE PEDALS ARE PRESSED AT THE SAME TIME, THE POWER TO THE ELECTRIC MOTOR CONTINUES TO BE APPLIED. TESTING THIS AFTERWARD SHOWED THAT WITH A FOOT ON BOTH PEDALS, THE ELECTRIC POWER METER STILL SHOWED POWER BEING APPLIED AND THE VEHICLE BRAKING PERFORMANCE WAS SEVERELY DIMINISHED. DURING AN EMERGENCY, A QUICK FLICK OF THE SHIFTER FROM DRIVE TO NEUTRAL DOES NOT WORK. THE SHIFTER MUST BE HELD FOR A LONGER DURATION, WHICH IS NOT INTUITIVE WHEN THE VEHICLE IS ACCELERATING UNCONTROLLABLY AND BOTH HANDS ARE ON THE WHEEL.

NHTSA ID

11372850

Incident

Nov 1, 2020

Mileage

46,000 mi

WHILE DRIVING THE SPEED LIMIT OF 45 MILES PER HOUR, THE CAR JOLTED AND LIGHTS IN THE CAR WENT ON. TRANSMISSION LIGHT, BRAKE LIGHT, STABILITY TRACK LIGHT, SERVICE PARK ASSIST LIGHT, SERVICE STEERING LIGHT, ETC. THIS CAUSED ME A CHALLENGE IN DRIVING THE CAR ON A TWO LANE ROAD BECAUSE THE STEERING BECAME MORE DIFFICULT AND THERE WAS NOT A BIG ENOUGH SHOULDER TO PULL ONTO THE SIDE OF THE ROAD. BRING CAR INTO DEALER AND FIND THAT THE FRONT WHEEL BEARING AND HUB NEED TO BE REPLACED, THE FIRST TIME THIS OCCURRED WAS WHEN THE BRAND NEW CAR WAS ABOUT A YEAR OLD (WE DID HAVE 18311 MILES ON THE VEHICLE). ABOUT A YEAR LATER (15 MONTHS LATER), THE SAME INCIDENT OCCURRED AND THE SAME PARTS NEEDED TO BE REPLACED AGAIN. HOWEVER, WE WERE OUTSIDE OF THE WARRANTY DUE TO MILEAGE AND THEY NO LONGER WANTED TO REPLACE THE BROKEN PARTS UNDER WARRANTY. THE SAME PARTS SHOULD NOT GO OUT YEAR AFTER YEAR ON A BRAND NEW CAR! WE ASKED IF THERE WAS A RECALL ON PARTS AND WERE TOLD NO. THE PART NUMBERS ON BOTH INVOICES - SL-N-WASHER (04710-C); SL-N- NUT (06056-BC); SL-N-WASHER (06056-C); SL-*-N- BEARING (060311-C)

NHTSA ID

11338172

Incident

Nov 7, 2019

Mileage

40,779 mi

WHILE SLOWING TO MAKE A STOP AT AN INTERSECTION, THE VEHICLE EXPERIENCED SUDDEN ACCELERATION AND WOULD NOT STOP. THE CAR STRUCK THE VEHICLE IN FRONT OF IT A COUPLE OF TIMES AND CONTINUED TO ACCELERATE.

NHTSA ID

11282618

Incident

Nov 25, 2019

WHILE IN MOTION THE CAR BEGAN TO ERRATICALLY SPEED UP & SLOW DOWN WITHOUT THE DRIVER DEPRESSING EITHER THE ACCELERATION PEDAL OR THE BRAKE. THE RESULT WAS THE JUMPING & BUCKING OF THE CAR & PASSENGERS WITHIN. UPON TAKING THE CAR TO CHEVY REPAIR, IT WAS DISCOVERED THAT THE WHEEL SPEED SENSOR WAS DAMAGED BECAUSE OF A FAULTY WASHER IN THE AXLE THAT BROKE. THE BROKEN WASHER PARTS ENTERED THE WHEEL HUB, DAMAGING BOTH THE WHEEL HUB & THE SPEED SENSOR.

NHTSA ID

11219219

Incident

May 19, 2019

Mileage

40,292 mi

WHILE TURNING INTO AN ANGLED PARKING SPOT IN A PARKING LOT, THE CAR ACCELERATED UNEXPECTEDLY. BEFORE I COULD ENGAGE THE BRAKE, THE CAR WENT OVER THE CONCRETE BERM SEPARATING ROWS OF PARKING SPACES AND HIT TWO PARKED CARS. ALL THREE VEHICLES WERE DAMAGED (THE VEHICLE I WAS DRIVING, AND THE TWO PARKED VEHICLES). WEATHER WAS NOT A FACTOR. THE PARKING LOT WAS DRY AND FREE OF SNOW AND ICE. THE TEMPERATURE WAS ~40F. THE CAR WAS NEW (3 MONTHS OLD) WITH ~550 MILES ON THE ODOMETER. THE SAME BEHAVIOR (UNEXPECTED ACCELERATION) HAPPENED ~1 MONTH EARLIER UNDER SIMILAR CONDITIONS, I.E., DRY, SNOW/ICE FREE WHILE TURNING INTO AN ANGLED PARKING PLACE. FORTUNATELY, THAT TIME I WAS ABLE TO ENGAGE THE BRAKE BEFORE DAMAGE WAS DONE. IN BOTH CASES, THE CAUSE OF THE BEHAVIOR IS NOT KNOWN.

NHTSA ID

11082444

Incident

Mar 18, 2018

Mileage

550 mi

DRIVING HOME IN MY 2017 CHEVROLET BOLT EV, WHEN I WAS ABOUT 3 MILES FROM HOME AND THE CHARGE/RANGE DISPLAY SHOWED A "MINIMUM" 15 MILE RANGE REMAINING (SEE DASHBOARD PHOTO), THE MESSAGE "CHARGE VEHICLE SOON" DISPLAYED AND THE BOLT ABRUPTLY CAME TO A COMPLETE STOP. THIS OCCURRED WHILE DRIVING UP A STEEP, SNOW-COVERED STRETCH OF ROAD, AND LEFT MY VEHICLE STATIONARY IN THE MIDDLE OF ITS LANE, AN INCREDIBLY UNSAFE SITUATION. AFTER SOME EXPERIMENTING, I DISCOVERED THAT SIMPLY DISMISSING THE "CHARGE VEHICLE SOON" MESSAGE USING THE "CHECKMARK" BUTTON ON THE STEERING WHEEL RESTORED VEHICLE POWER AND ALLOWED ME TO DRIVE THE REST OF THE WAY HOME. SO APPARENTLY WHAT HAPPENED IS THAT WHEN THE CAR REACHED ABOUT 8% BATTERY POWER (15 MILES REMAINING DIVIDED BY 185 AT A FULL CHARGE), IT AUTOMATICALLY DROPPED INTO SOME SORT OF LOW POWER MODE THAT LEFT IT UNABLE TO CLIMB A HILL. THANKFULLY IN THIS CASE, THE ROADS WERE ALMOST DESERTED AND NO ONE WAS HURT, BUT OBVIOUSLY THE POTENTIAL FOR AN ACCIDENT IS VERY HIGH WHEN A VEHICLE SUDDENLY STOPS IN THE MIDDLE OF A ROAD. THIS VEHICLE BEHAVIOR IS NOT DESCRIBED IN THE OWNER'S MANUAL. ON PAGE 231, IT IS STATED THAT AT SOME POINT WHEN THE BATTERY'S CHARGE IS VERY LOW, A "PROPULSION POWER IS REDUCED" MESSAGE WILL DISPLAY AND THE "ACCELERATOR PEDAL RESPONSE IS REDUCED". HOWEVER, THE FOLLOWING SENTENCE READS, "IN ADDITION, THE REMAINING RANGE VALUE WILL CHANGE TO LOW INDICATING THE VEHICLE SHOULD BE CHARGED IMMEDIATELY." THAT NEVER HAPPENED IN MY CASE. THE "PROPULSION POWER IS REDUCED" MESSAGE NEVER DISPLAYED (THOUGH PROPULSION POWER CLEARLY WAS REDUCED), AND AS CAN BE CLEARLY SEEN IN THE POSTED PHOTO, THE MINIMUM RANGE DISPLAYED AS 15 MILES. THERE WAS NO CONCEIVABLE REASON FOR THE CAR TO SHUT DOWN WITH THAT MILEAGE REMAINING. I ASSUME THIS WAS THE RESULT OF DEFECTIVE VEHICLE SOFTWARE OR ELECTRONICS, AND IT IS A CLEAR SAFETY ISSUE.

NHTSA ID

11058138

Incident

Dec 30, 2017

Mileage

1,113 mi

WHEN THE DRIVE MECHANISM HAS BEEN SHIFTED TO "L" (LOW), THE VEHICLE SHOULD SLOWLY COME TO A STOP WHEN THE ACCELERATOR IS NOT PRESSED. HOWEVER, WHILE THE DISPLAY SHOWED "L", I HAVE EXPERIENCED THE VEHICLE CONTINUING TO ACCELERATE FORWARD FROM A STOP (AS IF IT WERE IN "D" INSTEAD). THIS OCCURRED WHILE PARKING, AND THE VEHICLE (WITHOUT OPERATOR INPUT) WOULD LURCH (AS IF SOMEONE WERE TAPPING THE BREAK WHILE IN "D"). THE VEHICLE WAS IN MOTION WHEN I NOTICED THE ISSUE -- IT DID NOT STOP WHEN I REMOVED MY FOOT FROM THE ACCELERATOR PEDAL. THE ISSUE PERSISTED AFTER STOPPING -- I STOPPED THE VEHICLE WITH THE BREAK, AND IT WOULD CONTINUE MOVING FORWARD AFTER REMOVING MY FOOT FROM THE BREAK. THIS OCCURRED IN A PARKING LOT WHILE PARKING. INITIALLY I WAS TURNING AGGRESSIVELY TO ENTER A PARKING SPOT. BUT THE ISSUE PERSISTED AFTER STRAIGHTENING OUT THE VEHICLE IN THE DESIGNATED SPOT. SINCE THIS ACCELERATION IS UNINTENDED AND UNEXPECTED, IT COULD LEAD TO ACCIDENTS. THINGS WHICH I WOULD GUESS MIGHT CONTRIBUTE TO THE MALFUNCTION: - QUICKLY SHIFTING FROM "P" TO "D" TO "L" AFTER TURNING ON THE VEHICLE. - ACTIVATING THE LOW-SPEED COLLISION AVOIDANCE SYSTEM WHILE IN "L" (IE, GETTING VERY CLOSE TO PARKED CARS WHILE TURNING INTO A PARKING SPOT). I HAVE A VIDEO OF THIS BEHAVIOR AFTER I STRAIGHTENED OUT IN THE PARKING SPOT. BUT I CAN'T ATTACH VIDEOS. PLEASE CONTACT FOR INFORMATION.

NHTSA ID

11051570

Incident

Nov 21, 2017

Mileage

2,500 mi

SERVICE ENGINE LIGHT CAME ON ALONG WITH THE MESSAGE PROPULSION POWER REDUCED WHILE DRIVING ON THE FREEWAY. I PULLED OFF TO THE SIDE AND READ WHAT THE WARNING LIGHT MEANT AND DECIDED TO HEAD HOME. I STOPPED ON THE WAY HOME AT THE GROCERY STORE AND WHEN I CAME BACK OUT AND STARTED THE CAR THE WARNINGS WERE STILL THERE AND THEN IT WOULDN'T SHIFT INTO GEAR. I KEPT GETTING A MESSAGE THAT CONDITIONS WERE NOT RIGHT TO SHIFT AND PLEASE PUT THE CAR IN PARK. (IT WOULD GO INTO NEUTRAL) WHEN I TRIED TO SHUT THE CAR OFF IT WOULDN'T SHUT OFF. I FINALLY GOT IT TO SHUT OFF BY OPENING THE DOOR WHEN I WAS SHUTTING IT OFF. ON STAR TOLD ME I WAS HAVING A "CATASTROPHIC FAILURE AND THE CAR WOULD NEED TO BE TOWED. THE TWO TRUCK DRIVER CALLED ME 15 MINUTES LATER AND ASKED ME TO MAKE SURE I COULD GET THE CAR INTO NEUTRAL. I STARTED THAT CAR AGAIN, ALL THE WARMINGS CAME BACK ON EXCEPT IT DID ALLOW ME TO SHIFT INTO GEAR. I DROVE IT HOME AND BACKED INTO MY DRIVE. THE TWO TRUCK ARRIVED AND WHEN WE STARTED THE CAR AGAIN THE WARNING LIGHTS WERE ALL ON BUT AGAIN IT DID SHIFT INTO GEAR. HE TOWED IT TO THE DEALERSHIP.

NHTSA ID

11023667

Incident

Sep 10, 2017

Mileage

1,281 mi