2018 Chevrolet Bolt EV Powertrain (other) Problems

On 4/5/2025 I was driving at 35mph and the steering wheel began to violently shimmy. The vehicle became difficult to steer putting safety at risk. Slowed to 25mph but shimmy did not stop. ABS warning light came on and Stabilitrak warning light came on and warning that steering was being was being automatically reduced. Driving became very difficult. Stopped and had car towed to Chevrolet. Car was diagnosed with broken left and right front axle anticlick washers and metallic debri found on sensors. Both front axle anticlick washers were replaced, sensors cleaned, and codes cleared, and brake fluid had to be flushed. Cost $850 to repair. Subsequently found out another friend had same thing happen to their 2018 Bolt. This was a safety issue and put us at risk while driving.

NHTSA ID

11667654

Incident

Apr 5, 2025

Driving 65mph in middle lane the vehicle suddenly dropped in speed to 45mph and on the dash a warning came up that said “Propulsion power is reduced” this almost caused a semi truck to rear end me.

NHTSA ID

11512482

Incident

Mar 17, 2023

INTERMITTENT EXTREME VIBRATIONS OF THE VEHICLE WHEN DRIVING. THIS ISSUE COME AND GOES WITH OUT ANY WARNING LIGHTS DISPLAYING. THE VIBRATIONS ARE SO EXTREME THAT I MUST SLOW DOWN TO 30 MILES PER HOUR OUR LESS TO MAINTAIN CONTROLL. I TOOK THE VEHICLE TO THE LOCAL DEALERSHIP AND LEFT IT FOR A EWEEK AND THEY COULD NEVER REPRODUCE THE PROBLEM. THE PROBLEM HAS OCCURED SEVERAL TIMES SINCE TAKING THE VEHICLE TO THE DEALERSHIP EARLY 2022. IF YOU DRIVE THE VEHICLE LONG ENOUGH IT WILL USUALLY STOP THE VIBRATIONS AND IF YOU TURN OFF THE VEHICLE AND LET SIT OVERNIGHT; THE VIBRATIONS ARE NOT PRESENT WHEN YOU DRIVE THE VEHICLE THE NEXT MORNING. IF YOU TURN OFF THE VEHICLE FOR JUST A FEW MINUTES THE VIBRATIONS ARE STILL THERE, BUT MNAY STOP IF YOU CAN DRIVE IT LOGER. I CAN NOT TELL IF THE PROBLEM IS THE BRAKES OR THE DRIVE TRAIN. I DO NOT KNOW IF THE VEHICLE MAY JUST LOCK UP IN THE MIDDLE OF TRAFFIC.

NHTSA ID

11461619

Incident

Apr 15, 2022

My vehicle is being affected by 2 recalls for a battery that might melt or burn. The vehicle is also experiencing issues with the infotainment system that is malfunctioning/restarting/shutting down while driving. This is extremely distracting and dangerous and causes the vehicle speed area to fade out as the system restarts. Our family is severely limited by the charge limit, minimum miles, or by having to park it outside and not charge it overnight. We live in an fire brush area and are very stressed about having the vehicle potentially catch on fire and burn down our neighborhood. I tried to trade in the vehicle so that we could move on and they won't accept the car with an open warranty recall. The carfax information literally states that the remedy is NOT YET AVAILABLE. How can we move on and what do we do with our original investment of over $48k? I have taken the vehicle into the dealership to have the software update installed twice and still don't know if it has been done or whether the cars battery has been tested and the numbers are within the acceptable parameters. The infotainment system still does not work properly and I am worried that the vehicle is malfunctioning. My wife has now issued the ultimate - I cannot park the car or charge the car at our home. She is stressed beyond belief and I will have to leave the car at the local dealership to charge it and wait for whatever remedy they come up with whenever it might happen.

NHTSA ID

11427783

Incident

Nov 30, 2020

The remedy proposed by GM for the risk of catastrophic fire is inadequate. I live in an area with frequent hail storms and leaving the car outside at night would subject it to severe damage. More importantly, I live in a high-wildfire-risk area with almost daily high winds (30-50 mph) especially at night and morning. Even if the car were parked outside, it is likely to ignite the foliage and create an uncontrollable wildfire that would consume this entire valley with approximately 1500 homes with an average value of over $1.5 million dollars. That works out to over $2 billion in structural risk from a fire from this single vehicle. Two days ago, my Bolt starting honking its horn at 9pm - one of the fire warnings programmed by Chevy. Although it proved to be a false alarm of unknown cause, the fire department responded with two engines. The responding fire captain told me that due to the wildfire risk, the only safe place to park the car would be a Safeway parking lot 4.5 miles away. That makes the car unusable. The proposed remedy could take more than a year to implement, especially since GM has known about this risk for more than a year and has made no contingency plans to replace defective batteries in that time. I have contacted GM twice explaining the extraordinary risk that this defect causes to my community and asked for a buyback. So far, other than asking for a copy of the title, purchase order and odometer reading, I've had no response.

NHTSA ID

11427273

Incident

Jul 29, 2021

I own a 2018 Chevy Bolt that is part of the battery recall for possible fires started in the powertrain battery. I have been through both GM recommended appointments at my local Chevy dealer to have the software patches installed and the battery inspected for nominal voltage. While my car's battery passed the voltage inspection this week, there were 2 new fires reported to GM resulting in new recommendations on July 14 to park outside and not charge over night. The real issue here is GM not providing enough information to the owners of Bolts in this recall. Questions such as: What kind of charger was used (110, 220, CCS)? If after market chargers were used before a fire, what brands, what commonality amongst the group of Bolts that have caught fire? What is the minimum battery remaining on the cars that charged before a fire? What is the maximum charge the owners of Bolts that burned charged their cars to? What operational steps can the rest of Bolt owners take to minimize future fire risk? Why isn't GM simply replacing all of the batteries in recalled Bolts rather than pursuing a very poorly run "buyback" process? Why doesn't my EV Battery warranty that is still in effect allow for replacement of the battery with this serious safety situation? Why is NHTSA allowing GM to be so non-communicative about what they are learning of the commonalities of all Bolts that have caught fire? This is a serious safety issue for existing 2017-2019 Bolt owners. We need NHTSA's help getting GM to provide more information about the cars that have caught fire.

NHTSA ID

11425020

Incident

Jul 12, 2021

03/21/2019, 9/05/2019, 1/19/2020, 10/21/2020, 04/14/2021 HAVE HAD 5 WARRANTY REPAIR ORDERS TO FIX REAR VIEW CAMERA STAYS ON WHILE DRIVING FORWARD AT FREEWAY SPEEDS, VERY DISTRACTING AND DANGEROUS IT ALSO LOCKS OUT ALL CLIMATE AND RADIO CONTROLS. ALSO WHILE VEHICLE IS STOPPED CRUNCHES WHEN TRYING TO PUT IN " PARK"

NHTSA ID

11415065

Incident

Apr 14, 2021

Mileage

18,000 mi

BATTERY FIRE RECALL. DEALER LIMITED THE BATTERY FULL CHARGE TO 90% IN NOVEMBER 2020.GM PROMISED A FIX BY FIRST OF 2021. NO FIX AS OF THIS DATE AND MY DRIVING RANGE IS LIMITED AND NOW REQUIRES FREQUENT CHARGING.

NHTSA ID

11395727

Incident

Dec 8, 2020

Mileage

19,874 mi

ON FRIDAY, DEC 27, 2019, AS I WAS PARKING IN FRONT OF MY HOUSE, USING "L" MODE, THE CAR SUDDENLY ACCELERATED. IF I HADN'T SLAMMED ON THE BRAKES, THE BOLT WOULD HAVE HIT THE CAR PARKED ABOUT 15 FT AHEAD OF ME. TWO OTHER PEOPLE WERE IN THE CAR AT THE TIME, AND WE ALL SHARED THE PERCEPTION THAT THE CAR HAD SUDDENLY ACCELERATED ON ITS OWN. WE WERE ALL SCARED, AND WE ALL BELIEVE THIS CAR IS UNSAFE. DETAILS: THE CAR WAS CHARGED TO ABOUT 50% CAPACITY, THE OUTSIDE TEMPERATURE WAS 50F, HUMIDITY AT 65%, THE WEATHER WAS CLEAR, AND THE PAVEMENT WAS DRY. AFTER A 10 MINUTE DRIVE, I PULLED UP ALONG THE CURB IN FRONT MY HOME, AS USUAL, AND HAD NEARLY STOPPED, WHEN SUDDENLY THE CAR LURCHED FORWARD ON ITS OWN. FORTUNATELY, I WAS ABLE TO SLAM ON THE BRAKES AND STOP THE CAR BEFORE IT PLOWED INTO ANOTHER CAR PARKED ABOUT 15 FEET IN FRONT OF WHERE I WAS. I HAD BEEN DRIVING OUR BOLT IN "L" MODE (AUTOMATIC REGENERATIVE-BRAKING), WHICH IS MY HABIT, SO I AM ACCUSTOMED TO THE CHARACTERISTICS OF STOPPING THE CAR IN "L" MODE. I HAVE TRIED TO REPLICATE THIS BEHAVIOR BY THE CAR SINCE, BUT SO FAR HAVE BEEN UNABLE. THIS WAS NOT A CASE OF MISTAKENLY PRESSING THE ACCELERATOR, BECAUSE IN "L" MODE (WHERE I PARKED), THE CAR WILL STOP BY ITSELF, JUST BY EASING MY FOOT OFF OF THE ACCELERATOR. AND NOTE THAT I QUICKLY STEPPED ON THE BRAKE. I TOOK THE CAR TO A GM DEALERSHIP, AND THEY DIDN'T FIND A PROBLEM IN THE OBD CODES. THEY SAID THEY WOULD SEND DETAILED LOGS TO GM. BUT IT HAS BEEN OVER A WEEK, AND GM HAS YET TO CONTACT ME. THIS CAR FREQUENTLY HAS OTHER PROBLEMS THAT APPEAR TO BE DUE TO COMPUTER SYSTEMS, INCLUDING: - PROBLEMS STARTING - PROBLEMS CHARGING - THE CENTER CONSOLE DISPLAY FREEZING, LEADING TO: CAMERAS REMAINING ON WHILE I DRIVE, OR LOSS OF HVAC CONTROLS SEE A SIMILAR REPORT AT: HTTPS://WWW.NHTSA.GOV/VEHICLE/2018/CHEVROLET/BOLT#COMPLAINTS ISSUE # 11270898

NHTSA ID

11298838

Incident

Dec 27, 2019

Mileage

17,000 mi

TL* THE CONTACT OWNS A 2018 CHEVROLET BOLT EV. WHILE DRIVING 20 MPH, "SYSTEM SHUTTING DOWN" APPEARED ON THE INSTRUMENT PANEL AND THE VEHICLE SEIZED IN THE MIDDLE OF THE ROAD. THE CONTACT WAS UNABLE TO POWER OFF THE VEHICLE WITH THE START BUTTON. THE VEHICLE WAS TOWED TO FAULKNER CHEVROLET OF LANCASTER (LOCATED AT 2000 BENNET AVE, LANCASTER, PA 17601, (717) 299-0961) WHERE IT WAS DIAGNOSED THAT THE DRIVE MODULE, INVERTER, AND A POWER CABLE (HARNESS) NEEDED TO BE REPLACED. THE VEHICLE WAS REPAIRED. THE MANUFACTURER WAS NOTIFIED. THE FAILURE MILEAGE WAS 7,403.

NHTSA ID

11240406

Incident

Apr 28, 2019

Mileage

7,403 mi

35% REDUCTION IN RANGE WITH NORMAL DRIVING CONDITIONS, ADDITIONAL 27% REDUCTION IN RANGE AFTER COURTESY RECALL #18125 LOS OF PROPULSION HIGH VOLTAGE BATTERY WITHOUT NOTIFICATION. GM ACKNOWLEDGES RANGE LOSS, THEY INFORMED ME THIS IS NORMAL, UNABLE TO USE VEHICLE FOR WORK COMMUTING

NHTSA ID

11182806

Incident

Jan 27, 2019

Mileage

16,045 mi

WHILE APPROACHING A BUSY INTERSECTION OF A BUSY CITY STREET, AS COMING TO A STOP FIRST USING REGENERATIVE BRAKING, THEN APPLYING THE MECHANICAL BRAKES, THE GAUGE CLUSTER READ "LIMITED DRIVING CAPABILITY" (OR SOMETHING LIKE THAT). AS I CAME TO A STOP THE CAR SHIFTED ITSELF TO PARK AND APPLIED THE PARKING BRAKE. I ATTEMPTED TO SHIFT INTO DRIVE AND TAKE OFF THE PARKING BRAKE, WITH NO SUCCESS. THE VEHICLE INSTRUCTED TO GO BACK INTO PARK, WHICH IT DID WITHOUT MY INTERVENTION. I TRIED REVERSE AND NEUTRAL WITH NO EFFECT. ALL OTHER ELECTRONICS APPEARED TO WORK PROPERLY. I PUT ON THE HAZARD LIGHTS. I TRIED TURNING THE VEHICLE OFF AND BACK ON BY PRESSING THE START BUTTON, BUT THE CAR REBOOTED SHOWING A GLOBE LIKE GRAPHIC WHICH SAID SOMETHING TO THE EFFECT OF "RE-INITIALIZING". POLICE WERE CALLED AT THIS POINT AS I WAS LIMITING SAFE TRAFFIC MOVEMENT BY BLOCKING A LANE. I ATTEMPTED THE RESTARTING PROCEDURE REPETITIVELY, WITH NO SUCCESS TO GET THE VEHICLE MOVING AGAIN. A TOW TRUCK WAS REQUIRED TO MOVE THE VEHICLE FROM THE ROAD AS THE ROAD WAS TOO DANGEROUS TO TRY PUSHING THE VEHICLE, AND THE CAR DID NOT APPEAR TO BE ABLE TO GO INTO NEUTRAL. MY DEALERSHIP STATES THEY ARE GOING TO REPLACE THE "TRANSMISSION" TO RESOLVE THE PROBLEM.

NHTSA ID

11123861

Incident

Aug 25, 2018

Mileage

265 mi