[borntoluce]

Just to put another one on the list here, I have a 2017 premier that's been at the dealer (Ron Tonkin, Portland OR) waiting for a BECM since 1/21. On 1/28 they told me a BECM was in transit, but apparently not. No loaner, no rental reimbursement. I can't overstate how much I've loved this car, but when I get the car back, that'll be the end of my Volt ownership or any dealings with GM.

 

[borntoluce]

Replying to my own thread to update on the bold portion above: Check engine light came on yesterday and the diagnostics report on the My Chevrolet app indicates an issue with the lithium ion battery. So far it still starts and charges OK, but I suspect it won't remain that way for long.

Hopefully they get a shipment of these battery control modules in soon!

Per your previous message where they confirmed BECM issues but denied a loaner because it was still drivable, I'd be curious to see if your symptoms progress to what I (and other people) dealt with in terms of BECM failure. My assumption is that the failure is of a binary electrical/software nature (perfect one day, failure state the next) as opposed to a gradual mechanical failure, but maybe not? In any case, if your car gets to the state mine was in, well, technically it could be coaxed into under its own power, but I wouldn't really call it driveable.

 

[borntoluce]

Has anyone waiting this long tried contacting GM corporate offices about this issue rather than just going through the dealer? This is really unacceptable from a customer standpoint.

I thought I read that the part is the same for the Bolt. If that's true, and they're back to building Bolts (which I'm not sure they are), they should pull a bunch from the factory and use them for these repairs.

I've reached out to the apparent program manager for the Volt and Bolt programs (John Ferris on LinkedIn) -not sure if he's the right person or even still in that role. From my point of view, my employer has had to make choices about prioritizing new sales vs focusing our supply chain crisis limited resources on existing customers. Just like new cars, if we can sell a new machine, it will generate years of parts and support revenue, but it doesn't make sense to sell as many new units as possible if it means burning our existing customers... so we don't. GM is huge and complicated but I can't help but feel sure that when I see low-production buzz generators like the Lyriq or Hummer roll off a new line in this supply environment that it intentionally came at the cost of supporting existing customers, especially when we're talking about a critical part that appears to have had a known high failure rate for many years. Given that the Volt/Bolt represent the real world EV customers GM will need to generate the word of mouth EV sales they seem to banking the future of the company on, you'd think they'd prioritize supporting those customers. Or, apparently, not?

 

[borntoluce]

Well, it doesn't seem to be a constant degradation because today the Check Engine light turned off in the in the dash and the My Chevy app show no current issues. It seems I'm certainly on the precipice of a total BECM failure but at this point it comes and goes.

As I'm spending more time searching this forum and Reddit, I'm learning a) this has been an issue forever b) it sounds like it's an issue with the solder in the BECM which is particularly afflicted when it's cold and the solder contracts. This lines up with my experience - the failures were on especially cold days, which initially had me assuming 12V battery issues. To further complicate the issue, pulling the 12V resets everything, giving you the impression that the BECM is fine and the car is driveable... for the moment.

 

[borntoluce]

About five weeks ago, my 2017 Volt refused to start and the check engine light came on. Had to get the car towed to the dealer. The battery energy control module had to be replaced. This took five weeks! The dealer blamed the chip shortage. I had a loaner for nearly the whole time. GM picked up the tab on the loaner. I have my car back and it appears to be none the worse for wear. I noticed one odd thing, however. After a full charge, my total EV range is 36 miles. It used to be 50+ miles.

I'm wondering if the range will come back up as it learns your driving habits again? I'm guessing that was reset in the process?

As for taking five weeks and GM picking up the tab on a loaner, bravo. Only waiting five weeks and and getting a loaner seems to make you an outlier. Did the dealer arrange the loaner, or did you manage to get it from GM themselves?

 

[borntoluce]

The EV range is gone back up to 50.

good to hear

 

[borntoluce]

CEL is back on and while the car starts (so far) after a short drive I get the "Propulsion Power is Reduced" message and the car switches over to the gas engine. Car won't even charge now (solid orange light when plugged in).

Not long before it's dead in the water I'm afraid.

That's exactly what mine would do, fwiw. Other than the whole stopping mid-motion, which happened twice for us.

 

[borntoluce]

I've had some studders while driving with "Propulsion Power is Reduced" but never had it completely stop. How did you get it going again when that happened? Gotta be prepared

For me, holding down the start button (can't remember if foot needs to be on or off brake) for something like 7 seconds triggered a reset that would allow me to proceed in ICE/reduced propulsion mode. Limped it home both times that way.

 

[borntoluce]

What else happy to your ‘17 Volt Premier and how did you convince GM that this car was a lemon? My ‘18 Volt LT with only 23.5K miles has been sitting at a dealership due to a failed BECM for nearly 2 weeks now. At the same visit, the dealership repaired the Shift to Park problem with a new switch. Very concerned that this may be a long wait!

I've mentioned this in some other threads, but just got mine back after 77 days, if that gives any sense of the wait right now.

 

[borntoluce]

I'm a month and counting. As people keep telling me it's due to supply chain shortages can't blame GM, it seems like the majority of them are failing. There could likely be a shortage anyway due to what most certainly appears to be a design flaw, so yes we can most certainly blame GM, supply chain or not. Most honest companies would issue a buyback now , or at least a recall at this point. Take a look at the issue surrounding the Bosch CP4 fuel pumps on the big three's HD diesel trucks. That story shows GMs (and Ford's) true colors. Kudos to Ram on that one.

I know I differ with some folks on the forum, and I don't work in automotive manufacturing (though I do work in industrial manufacturing, and deal with supply chain problems and related customer-affecting business decisions), but it seems to me that GM must have been aware of the high BECM failure rate well before Covid and it's hard not to fault them (pun intended) for not stocking these when they knew they'd need them. Honestly, the failure rate seems high enough, and the failure critical enough, that my feeling is a recall was in order.

My guess is the real problem is much less GM specific and much more the modern trends of lean manufacturing and minimizing inventory conflicting with the supply chain crisis. GM might have known they'd need x thousands of BECM modules and that the demand would be some number per month for some number of years, so they'd only order and stock what they forecasted needing. This avoids the risk of ordering a zillion replacement BECMs only to find out there was a different design issue with the replacement BECM - best to have a minimum commitment to a design so you aren't locked into millions of dollars of dead stock inventory. However... that whole philosophy requires a responsive supply chain, which we no longer have. So is it GM's fault? Well, maybe yes, maybe no.

What definitely is GM's fault is having people without their cars for months with no support (rental car covered when loaners aren't available, compensation like extended warranties, etc.). I can forgive them for getting caught with their pants down by Covid, but I can't forgive them for letting the brunt of the consequences fall on their customers.

 

[borntoluce]

Seeing as how Chevy issued the TSB for the BECM back in 2018 (TSB 18-NA-261), well, seems they knew the failure mode.

On a positive note, damn is it nice to have my Volt back. I wouldn't be grumbling if I didn't love the car so much.

 

[borntoluce]

I would expect it is a latent manufacturing issue. The challenge to make more new BECMs would be chip availability, most likely... Though I did see somebody theorize some BECM vs. 12V battery system (bad 12V battery, low voltage, or 12V battery charger issues interacting with an overly sensitive BECM) as a possible cause of BECM failures which would be interesting.

-Charlie

My BECM failure moments happened on extreme cold days, and I did have slightly low 12V battery voltage, which made me assume the problem was just the 12V getting old. From what I've read, cold brings out the BECM issues because of the solder contracting, but it'd be interesting if it had to do with 12V battery interactions (ex. BECM having to function outside of its parameters in some way to compensate for 12V battery condition).

 

[borntoluce]

Greetings!

My 2017 Volt is dead too due to BECM problem. It's about 42k miles on it.

Does someone know if the Voltec warranty covers vehicles outside US and Canada?

As for 12V battery influence, maybe changing it to LiFePo4 battery will do the thing? Weight reduction as a bonus.

If you're trying to keep under warranty, I'd stick to something close to OEM 12V so that you're not opening a door for a warranty denial.