How far away from the vehicle is your keyfob when in the house? In some of these cases, we have seen that taking the fob(s) well away from the car and then coming back after a while (minutes) some sort of reset will happen. I had this happen once with my ELR. Nothing worked until I took both fobs well away from the car and then returned. (My secondary fob is stored only 15' from where the car is parked.) Once in 18 months. Never happened again. (Some people use their microwave as a Faraday cage to isolate the fob signal.)

'Hold' won't do anything unless the car is moving and using enough juice to call for the engine. You could lift the hood and see if the engine fires up while the car is 'on'.

I doubt that plugging/unplugging the EVSE is anything other than a coincidence. Unless, the 12v is being jolted by being charged. Could be a factory defect in the 12v system.

 

It doesn't seem to be the keyfob issue, since I walk to the car in the driveway from the house. I get it to work without walking away and then coming back.

If the plugging in/unplugging is somehow related, I agree that it could be the 12V system. I guess I'll just have to park by a 110V exterior outlet, bring a 50' extension cord and my charger... as a "what if that's true" thing.

Excuse the dumb question but did you depress the brake while starting? If not it goes into accessory mode and won't move.

Yep, made sure the brake was down as hard as I could go as well. I also made sure the floor mats weren't behind it, or something obstructing the pedal either. I was REALLY hoping this was the issue when I first saw it...

The car does turn on as though it's on, but the READY just doesn't come on. So, the 12V systems are on, the car thinks it's go time... but, it missed a step and the steering wheel stays locked and READY isn't displayed.

That and you do have to press the start button like a stupid amount of time unlike a regular start to engage that mode but yes I could see this happening if the OP had not also pressed his brake pedal...

Sadly, this isn't it I had a GEN1 for 3 years as well. This is definitely not standard operating procedure. LOL

I really REALLY wish it was just a stupid brake pedal issue...

 

Excuse the dumb question but did you depress the brake while starting? If not it goes into accessory mode and won't move.

 

That and you do have to press the start button like a stupid amount of time unlike a regular start to engage that mode but yes I could see this happening if the OP had not also pressed his brake pedal...

 

another dumb question- how long do you hold the start button? more than a few seconds and you put the car into a non-driving diagnostic mode I think...

 

I have seen this one time on a cruze. The most likely cause is the theft module, it will have to be replaced. Try and do a remote start and then get in and try to start the car. If memory serves, this let me drive the car from the tow zone to my stall so I could work on the car.

 

Twice(yesterday) my Volt(2017, 2000 kilometres) lost power steering while driving. First time the car recovered after being pulled over for ten minutes. The 2nd time I drove home without power steering(about 10 minutes). I checked after about 10 minutes and power steering was back. Is something over-heating?
Not easy to drive without power steering.

 

You could have a dud 12V battery. Try starting (or remote starting) the vehicle while the EV charger is plugged in. If that doesn't work, try jump-starting it with another car. I'm not sure what the reliability is of the AGM batteries they put in these things, but I've already seen a number of threads about people with dead 12Vs on their Gen2 Volts.

My old Toyota Highlander Hybrid would do what you're describing whenever it got a dead 12V - everything seems to turn on, but no "READY" light.



I would make a new thread about that one...may need to see the dealer. Did it show any error messages or did the Malfunction Indicator Lamp come on?

 

thats what happened to me while driving! but heres the kicker.. the car was fully charged! pulled off the charger and was driving when the car died. battery read 55 miles range gas is 25%. so is it possible the 12v battery can just say fugg it im dead as you drive causing the car to die and not turn on?