[Myronbg]

Since I got the latest update [#16055], not always, but 2 out of 3 times, when I remove the charge cord the alarm goes off [horn & flashing lights] and I need to use the key fob to shut it off. Obviously I have the key fob with me. I think when it happens the car isn't fully charged, but not sure. Is there a setting/option for this? I can see that might be appropriate if I was charging somewhere other than home, or I didn't have the key fob.
Any suggestions?

 

[SharkVolt]

Were the doors locked?

If so, unlock the doors first.

Or, turn off charge cord alarm in menus.

 

[ItsNotAboutTheMoney]

Since I got the latest update [#16055], not always, but 2 out of 3 times, when I remove the charge cord the alarm goes off [horn & flashing lights] and I need to use the key fob to shut it off. Obviously I have the key fob with me. I think when it happens the car isn't fully charged, but not sure. Is there a setting/option for this? I can see that might be appropriate if I was charging somewhere other than home, or I didn't have the key fob.
Any suggestions?

Yes. It's the Charge Cord Theft Alert.
Settings -> Vehicle -> Energy -> Charge Cord Theft Alert
See "Vehicle Personalization" section in the manual. (Page 139).

 

[Myronbg]

Were the doors locked?

If so, unlock the doors first.

Or, turn off charge cord alarm in menus.

Thanks. Just turned off the theft alarm & in the future I'll unlock the door just to make sure.

 

[Fourdoor]

Yup, the times that the alarm didn't go off before were because your car doors were not locked, the charge cord theft alarm is only active when the car doors are locked. So, if you want to have the anti-charge cord theft alarm on, all you need to do it remember to unlock the car before unplugging.

Keith

 

[llninja]

It's not a big, it's a feature....actually it's working as designed.

 

[Myronbg]

No where did I imply that it was a bug. Just wanted to know how how to disable.

 

[brad112358]

No where did I imply that it was a bug. Just wanted to know how how to disable.

Actually, I *would* claim it is a bug. Or at least a rather poorly implemented feature. The car can easily determine if you have your key fob with you when you unplug at the charge port. The same as it can when you press the button to unlock the doors. When the charge cord alarm is enabled and if the key fob is present then there is absolutely no good reason to require unlocking the door before removing the cord.

I tried to request this simple enhancement along with reporting a couple of other mis-features by explaining it to the dealer, but after waisting an hour of my time to help them write up my suggestions to be sent to chevy, the response I got back two weeks later was "it works as designed. If you want to suggest improvements, start over by calling your volt advisor". So far, I have not found another hour to waste on a company which doesn't seem interested in customer suggestions for easy improvements.

The lack of a pause feature is another example of Chevy refusing to listen to their customers. A simple firmware change could add a pause function using the "select/check" button on the wheel in contexts where that button has no other function. The up and down arrows here already cause track skips when the audio feature is selected on the instrument display so using the button between them for pause would be quite intuitive I think. Another, slightly less flexible approach would be simply to pause media playback when the audio is muted. Or have a double press of mute implement pause.

Having to switch to a specific entertainment or android auto screen and reach over to that screen to pause is more than just annoying, it is actually less safe than it should be.

 

[quirkySquirt]

I never thought about the keyfob proximity when unplugging. That just seems so obvious when you point it out. I'm not so sure about the pause action assigned to the "select/check" button. i think they still need that button for the DIC. What they could do is on the DIC menu, include an item that you can eventually navigate to for "media buttons" and you can select a "play/pause" DIC menu item and whenever you press the select/check button, it will send a media play/pause action to your Apple or Android phone, similar to the play/pause action triggered by bluetooth or wired headsets with a dedicated play/pause button.

 

[whitey1600]

MUTE Button

Actually, I *would* claim it is a bug. Or at least a rather poorly implemented feature. The car can easily determine if you have your key fob with you when you unplug at the charge port. The same as it can when you press the button to unlock the doors. When the charge cord alarm is enabled and if the key fob is present then there is absolutely no good reason to require unlocking the door before removing the cord.

I tried to request this simple enhancement along with reporting a couple of other mis-features by explaining it to the dealer, but after waisting an hour of my time to help them write up my suggestions to be sent to chevy, the response I got back two weeks later was "it works as designed. If you want to suggest improvements, start over by calling your volt advisor". So far, I have not found another hour to waste on a company which doesn't seem interested in customer suggestions for easy improvements.

The lack of a pause feature is another example of Chevy refusing to listen to their customers. A simple firmware change could add a pause function using the "select/check" button on the wheel in contexts where that button has no other function. The up and down arrows here already cause track skips when the audio feature is selected on the instrument display so using the button between them for pause would be quite intuitive I think. Another, slightly less flexible approach would be simply to pause media playback when the audio is muted. Or have a double press of mute implement pause.

Having to switch to a specific entertainment or android auto screen and reach over to that screen to pause is more than just annoying, it is actually less safe than it should be.

One button I miss in my Saturn VUE was a MUTE button. It was so helpful when going through a drive through or just for some peace and quiet without smashing a down volume button or torquing a knob to oblivion. Hitting the power button is annoying as it resets whatever you are listening to. It doesn't need to be on the steering wheel but somewhere close by for sure.

TLDR: A MUTE button would be a cool feature to have IMO.

 

[hellsop]

It's detecting a loss of signal on the pilot pins, I'm pretty sure. So the thief could be unplugging from the far end first. Also, the proximity sensors are pretty picky about where the fob is. I've had the doors not respond to the handle button to unlock when the fob isn't on the correct side of the car REGULARLY and sometimes even if the fob is near the rear instead of near the front door.

 

[quirkySquirt]

Huh, my experience with the fob has been very good. Even when the fob is in my pocket, about 3 feet away from the handle with my body in between them, car always detects the fob and lock/unlocks when I press the handle button. I would imagine 3' away from the charge port would be detectable as well so when I press that latch button on the J1772 handle and disengage the pilot pins, the Volt should know that I'm near the charging port and not trigger the charger theft alarm since it's the owner removing the charger.

If this were the case, I'd keep the alarm on since it'd be useful.

 

[Myronbg]

Actually, I *would* claim it is a bug. Or at least a rather poorly implemented feature. The car can easily determine if you have your key fob with you when you unplug at the charge port. The same as it can when you press the button to unlock the doors. When the charge cord alarm is enabled and if the key fob is present then there is absolutely no good reason to require unlocking the door before removing the cord.

I tried to request this simple enhancement along with reporting a couple of other mis-features by explaining it to the dealer, but after waisting an hour of my time to help them write up my suggestions to be sent to chevy, the response I got back two weeks later was "it works as designed. If you want to suggest improvements, start over by calling your volt advisor". So far, I have not found another hour to waste on a company which doesn't seem interested in customer suggestions for easy improvements.

The lack of a pause feature is another example of Chevy refusing to listen to their customers. A simple firmware change could add a pause function using the "select/check" button on the wheel in contexts where that button has no other function. The up and down arrows here already cause track skips when the audio feature is selected on the instrument display so using the button between them for pause would be quite intuitive I think. Another, slightly less flexible approach would be simply to pause media playback when the audio is muted. Or have a double press of mute implement pause.

Having to switch to a specific entertainment or android auto screen and reach over to that screen to pause is more than just annoying, it is actually less safe than it should be.

I had thought about updating my "thank you for the solution by unlocking the door or changinging the theft to off". I agree with you that it is a "bug" because having the key fob in my pocket should be an indication that a thief isn't removing the cord. I also noted that this only happened after the update. Having the car for over a year and charging the car dozens of times and removing the cord while NEVER unlocking the door, the alarm NEVER went off. There was one other minor change, my driver display setup changed. Perhaps the update did a factory reset?

 

[brad112358]

Huh, my experience with the fob has been very good. Even when the fob is in my pocket, about 3 feet away from the handle with my body in between them, car always detects the fob and lock/unlocks when I press the handle button. I would imagine 3' away from the charge port would be detectable as well so when I press that latch button on the J1772 handle and disengage the pilot pins, the Volt should know that I'm near the charging port and not trigger the charger theft alarm since it's the owner removing the charger.

If this were the case, I'd keep the alarm on since it'd be useful.

Indeed. After what Hellsop wrote, I tried an experiment. I put the fob in my pocket, picked up a 4 foot long stick and tried pressing the door button from various distances and positions. I was unable to find a position where the fob was not detected. Even when I was on the far side of the charge port and much too far away to reach the charge port with my hand. Of course, there may be environmental and sample differences, but It seems robust enough to be useful in silencing the alarm when unplugging from the car end, which is the normal use case I think.

 

[Zardozer]

IMO this alarm should be OFF by default. It's really a useless feature, and every Volt owner should be instructed to turn it off. It's actually bad for public plug etiquette. The other day, the Volt next to me had a sign on its window saying it was ok to unplug when it was done charging, but they didn't turn off the alarm! I unplugged it so I could charge, but the alarm goes off and is super annoying. There were tons of people going in and out of the lot, but nobody cared. It doesn't even last that long (and thank god it doesn't!) So, other than annoying people, it's almost totally useless.

The only SORT of use I can see is that it's supposed to alert you to when someone is taking your charge cord if you're using it at home. Nobody cares about the alarm except to be annoyed by it, but at least that might alert you to someone unplugging your cord while you're in the house. But in this case, what it really should be tied to is the location-based charging, so that it only arms at a set location like your house.

 

[brad112358]

It's detecting a loss of signal on the pilot pins, I'm pretty sure. So the thief could be unplugging from the far end first. Also, the proximity sensors are pretty picky about where the fob is. I've had the doors not respond to the handle button to unlock when the fob isn't on the correct side of the car REGULARLY and sometimes even if the fob is near the rear instead of near the front door.

I almost forgot. Just FYI, when I was testing the distance for the FOB detection (plenty far for this use), I also checked, and the alarm is not triggered by a power failure (unplugging the far end). So it must be doing more than just detecting the loss of pilot signal.

I think this is as it should be. You really just want to know if someone might be stealing your charger, not that the power failed. So they got part of it right. But I think they missed on not checking for the fob before alarming.

 

[muzicman0]

One button I miss in my Saturn VUE was a MUTE button. It was so helpful when going through a drive through or just for some peace and quiet without smashing a down volume button or torquing a knob to oblivion. Hitting the power button is annoying as it resets whatever you are listening to. It doesn't need to be on the steering wheel but somewhere close by for sure.

TLDR: A MUTE button would be a cool feature to have IMO.

I believe the 'phone hangup' button functions as a mute button in most scenarios (obviously assuming you aren't actually using the phone!)

 

[Arcanox]

I almost forgot. Just FYI, when I was testing the distance for the FOB detection (plenty far for this use), I also checked, and the alarm is not triggered by a power failure (unplugging the far end). So it must be doing more than just detecting the loss of pilot signal.

I think this is as it should be. You really just want to know if someone might be stealing your charger, not that the power failed. So they got part of it right. But I think they missed on not checking for the fob before alarming.

I believe that is because it is only looking for loss of pilot signal (or, at least, loss of pilot signal before power loss). When you click the button on the handle, the charger stops providing power, but presumably it also negotiates that with the car beforehand. I can hear a small relay click somewhere under the car as soon as I hit the button on the charger.

I believe the 'phone hangup' button functions as a mute button in most scenarios (obviously assuming you aren't actually using the phone!)

You are correct I actually thought I had tried using the hangup button for mute after I got my car back, because the loaner worked like that. It didn't work at the time, so I thought it must not work like that in the Volt. But the other day I accidentally hit the hangup button and suddenly it muted, and it has done ever since! Strange... *shrug*

 

[glasspilot]

One button I miss in my Saturn VUE was a MUTE button. It was so helpful when going through a drive through or just for some peace and quiet without smashing a down volume button or torquing a knob to oblivion. Hitting the power button is annoying as it resets whatever you are listening to. It doesn't need to be on the steering wheel but somewhere close by for sure.

TLDR: A MUTE button would be a cool feature to have IMO.

******, you mention the power button. That IS the mute button. I use it all the time and it doesn't reset anything for me. When I un-mute, the same channel or source starts up from when I muted it. I never shut down the radio, I just mute and un-mute.