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BECM Failure/6+ Month Backorder (2016)

6K views 28 replies 18 participants last post by  luvaircooled 
#1 ·
My baby is dead. It will not Start/Charge and the BECM is to blame. Dealer said they've had other BECMs on order for over six months but the chip shortage has caused a nationwide backorder.

As I need a car, what are my options? GM said it's not eligible for buyback as the bumper to bumper expired. Sell it to the dealer? Just suck it up and wait?
 
#2 ·
Supply chain issues. Lot's are in-line waiting for a Gen 2 Volt replacement BECM. Waiting many, many months does not seem uncommon unfortunately. It seems like a fair number have been failing.
 
#3 ·
Yikes, I'm glad mine failed pretty early prior to this mess. The good news is we haven't seen failures once the part is replaced with the revised one, so it should be a one time issue.

As far as options, that's a highly personal decision only you can answer. It depends on if you have other cars, etc.
 
#5 ·
I'm so glad mine was replaced a couple of years ago and before this became a widespread issue.
 
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#7 ·
Someone else here is more of an authority to me, but the problems seem to center on 2017s. I'm pretty sure I've seen some 2016 and 2018, and a smattering of first gens.

As for cost, the part itself appears to be just a few hundred bucks but the labor, particularly the software part, probably means most of us would have to rely on the dealership and their rates. There's also the issue of having to drop the battery to access the BECM, which isn't trivial.
 
#9 ·
This is not legal advice but I believe that the federal Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act (specifically, 15 U.S. Code § 2304) requires warranty repairs to be made within a "reasonable time."

My concern about this is what happens when the Gen 2 Volts are out of warranty? GM is only required to keep spare parts around to comply with its warranty obligations. BECMs may be unobtainable in a few years.
 
#10 ·
This is not legal advice but I believe that the federal Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act (specifically, 15 U.S. Code § 2304) requires warranty repairs to be made within a "reasonable time."

My concern about this is what happens when the Gen 2 Volts are out of warranty? GM is only required to keep spare parts around to comply with its warranty obligations. BECMs may be unobtainable in a few years.
I haven't been able to find what constitutes 'reasonable time' in terms of Magnuson-Moss, and not for lack of trying.

The concern above is exactly my worry. GM does have two clear incentives to produce parts - 1) they can sell both the parts and the repair work involved, and 2) keep existing customers happy, leading to future & word of mouth sales. Of course, their calculus might involve the hubristic thought that early obsolescence of an existing means a new sale opportunity, as if we wouldn't just go immediately to another manufacturer when abandoned.

The BECM shortage does lead me to thinking incentive #2 isn't exactly GM's highest priority. Yes, supply chain shortage, etc. etc., but I'd bet the farm that following discussion happens daily at GM: "we could take our supply-chain-limited resources and focus on supporting our existing fleet, or we could those limited resources to produce new units for a sellers market with historic markups, thus guaranteeing immediate sales and future parts and service revenue, and use Covid as an excuse to maintain PR with our neglected existing customer". It's the decision I'd make if I was them, but the cost is that not all customers are going to accept months without their cars, Covid or not. My company, which produces industrial machinery that requires long term support (much like a car) chose to prioritize #2. We know good rapport with existing customers is much better for long term revenue than selling as many new units as possible regardless of our ability to support it. We're also not publicly traded and don't have shareholders clamoring for quarterly profits and sales numbers, which, in the end, is probably what GM is up against.

I've made this point in other threads, so apologies for the redundancy.
 
#13 ·
The first thing I saw was a check engine light and I took the car to AutoZone and they read the computer and it came out with a description that said, "battery energy control module lost communication with hybridEV battery interface control module 3". After I left the AutoZone, the check engine light went off. But at the time I was not aware of the BECM failures so I thought the car just needed a new battery because the battery was old. So I had the battery changed and the vehicle started to act normally so I had no clue that my car had a serious problem. I started driving it again and that's when I stopped at the Post Office and the computer just went nuts and the car, although it was in drive, started sliding backwards. It wouldn't go, it wouldn't go forward, it wouldn't do anything. I panicked after the tow truck didn't show up, and I was stuck, and I started to pray, and then the car started going and acting normal but it was stuck in mountain mode, and I got it home, and after that it continued to behave strangely whenever I would start it and it would refuse to charge and it started acting completely crazy so I stopped driving it and right now it is parked because I'm not sure what to do about it. The cost of the repair, since it is not under warranty, is somewhere above $3,000 according to things I've seen online. Plus I was told the price of the part has gone up, and when I asked how much, I was told "it's really really expensive." The gentleman never did tell me the price. So I haven't had the car towed to the closest Chevy dealership, which is about 50 mi away, to have the car formally diagnosed because I'm concerned about the potentially high cost of repairing it.

If anyone has this problem repaired and it's not under warranty, would you please tell me how much it actually costs to have it fixed? Fortunately, I have an old car that still runs, so I'm driving it.

Thank you.
 
#17 ·
My 2016 Volt has been waiting for the BECM part for nearly 6 weeks. Chevy service advisor here in the Phoenix area told me a week ago the part was manufactured, however hadn't shipped yet. Expected about two more weeks for it to be repaired. If this is so, sounds like I would be fortunate.
 
#23 ·
Update 8/18: my 2017 with 50,000 miles has now been at the dealer since June 3 and a nice lady from GM now calls me every week to let me know they still have no idea when the BECM will be available. She said they at GM service now have other options to help. She offered a loyalty discount of $2500 off a new GM vehicle if I was interested. I had to laugh. Can't get any trade in value for my Volt unless my dealer wants a vehicle that won't run and no idea when or if it can ever get fixed. They didn't even offer a loaner until I complained directly to GM. Finally they loaned me a full size truck at 20 miles a gallon that I can barely climb into with my bad knee because Chevy didn't think a side step rail should be standard on a truck that needs a small ladder to climb into. After this experience I probably won't ever consider another GM vehicle in my lifetime unless they want to swap even for my Volt after filing a class action.
I suggested to the GM lady the possibolity of getting an attorney and starting a class action against GM since so many Volt owners are having this same issue. She said if I contact an attorney then she can't help me any more and all future contact would have to be with their legal dept. Depending on any feedback on this site I wonder how many Volt owners would be willing to join a class action to make GM finally take us seriously enough to make this a priority. When DirecTV had a similar class action filed by their customers that company lost billions and ended up being bought by AT&T for pennies on the dollar. Look what happened to VW after their bad press. GM could end up being sold to China if they don't get their SHT together soon.
Any joiners?
 
#24 ·
I suggested to the GM lady the possibolity of getting an attorney and starting a class action against GM since so many Volt owners are having this same issue. She said if I contact an attorney then she can't help me any more and all future contact would have to be with their legal dept. Depending on any feedback on this site I wonder how many Volt owners would be willing to join a class action to make GM finally take us seriously enough to make this a priority. When DirecTV had a similar class action filed by their customers that company lost billions and ended up being bought by AT&T for pennies on the dollar. Look what happened to VW after their bad press. GM could end up being sold to China if they don't get their SHT together soon.
Any joiners?
This "let's do a class action" idea comes up from time to time. Then we never hear from the person again. My guess is the cost of years of litigation makes it a non-starter or attorneys don't want this on contingency.
 
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