On May 8, 2020, my wife was driving our Volt, when the propulsion power failed completely. We took it to the dealer who sold us the car. The dealer said the fix was to replace the battery energy control module. In early June, my wife smelled a strong fuel smell after driving the car. On that same trip, the car seemed to be jerky to her, and seemed to be switching suddenly from the battery to the gas engine. The dealer said old gas (we had not used much gas since COVID emerged, driving mostly on battery power) was the culprit. They said to fill the tank up and the fuel will not produce such an odor. They did not address the jerkiness, but said they examined the vehicle completely and it was safe to drive. On June 29, the propulsion power again failed completely. My wife, once again, had to glide off the busy road she was driving on, onto a side street. I haven’t received the work order, but I have been told that one of the fuel cells was depleted (or faulty) but that a new battery has been installed and that the vehicle is safe. I am afraid to risk my wife’s or my life driving this car again, given two complete power failures in less than two months. Chevy (manufacturer) and the dealer insist that it is impossible that the two power failures were related. I am concerned that they are missing something which may again cause total power failure. Perhaps it takes a certain condition (speed, EV to gas, for example) or time for an underlying cause to degrade software or hardware for the power failure to occur. Thoughts?
There should be a number for GM corporate in your Owner’s Manual. If you’re not getting satisfaction from the dealer go over their heads.
I agree with Dave, but I will add this: Doesn’t the Volt have a special system that burns its old gas before it is able to be stale and cause problems? Here is some related info from a story I did a while back:"In the case of the Chevy Volt, Jon Stec, Chevrolet fuel system integration engineer, says that if a Volt owner relies on the vehicle to consume the aging fuel it doesn’t add up to very much waste.
Stec says, “For the driver who starts the year with a full tank of 9.3 gallons and runs 15,000 miles on electricity, the maintenance mode will use just enough gas to average a very respectable 1,613 miles per gallon.” And more importantly, will keep the gas fresh by periodically burning up the old stuff in the tank avoids any gas-related mischief. Chrysler employs this same type of system to burn enough gas to keep the fuel stable, and told BestRide, “If needed, the Pacifica Hybrid will automatically shift from electric to hybrid mode to cycle through any fuel that is more than 90 days old, eliminating the need to add a fuel stabilizer – meaning customers have one less thing to think about.” http://bestride.com/news/technology/plug-in-hybrids-and-range-extended-evs-need-to-keep-your-fuel-fresh-heres-how-they-do-it
It does…I know I’ve looked it up in an online owners manual before on here…makes me wonder if it was trying to burn the old gas, but something wasn’t allowing it to do so