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Consumer Reports gives 2019 Volt low reliability score: 32%

10K views 38 replies 29 participants last post by  J.Smith 
#1 ·
Quote: Issues with the drive system, power equipment, and cabin electronics have turned up in recent years.

The Prius Prime gets (91%) and the i3 gets (89%).

Can anyone corroborate this low reliability claim. It will be anecdotal evidence but I am surprised by these numbers since I have not seen much evidence or complaints about G2 Volts from owners on this site and elsewhere.
 
#3 ·
This is the fundamental flaw with CR's automotive reliability scores - CR mixes critical and non-critical equipment. Cabin electronics are NOT critical, but the drive system is. A car can have a perfect 100% score on Drive System and a 0% score on Cabin Electronics and CR will give it a 50%.
 
#6 ·
I read an interview with one of CR's editors in 2011 where he claimed the Volt's electric drive would be very uneconomical for the owner. He trashed the car.

Let's see, my $1.30 charge takes me 40 miles. Gas would need to be $1.30/gal and my car would need to get 40 MPG to match that economy.

I cancelled my subscription.
 
#9 · (Edited)
We've always had GM cars over the years (with the exception of two identical Infiniti G35s). CR has always trashed every model GM car we have had, and our experience with the cars was excellent -- the opposite of what CR predicted. CR gave the G35 a top rating, and we had nothing but problems with both cars. That says it all.

I ignore CR car assessments, including this one. We have had zero issues with the drive system, power equipment or cabin electronics on our 2017 Volt Premier. I don't know where CR gets its data from, but come to think of it I can think of a place where they pull it out of but will refrain from mentioning it in polite company. ;)
 
#10 ·
I think people have differing opinions on what, exactly, reliability means. My 2017 Volt is 100% reliable in that it turns on and goes every time I need it to (so far).

On the other hand, I have had the following issues:

1. Interior trim pieces that were not properly snapped together at the factory (I snapped them together myself)
2. Hatch bumpers that were misadjusted, resulting in loud rattling from the hatch even on smooth roads (I adjusted them myself)
3. Various other interior rattles
3. Cruise control that only worked intermittently (dealer fixed with new brake pedal retainer and position sensor)
4. Exhaust pop (software update fixed, but it wasn't available until I owned the car a year and a half)
5. Multiple one-off software glitches which were fixed by turning the car off and on again
6. Squeaking/moaning noise from the brakes when applying/releasing the parking brake or stepping on the brake harder than usual

My previous Mazda had zero issues like this over a 3y/30k lease (twice as long as I've owned the Volt so far). It went to the dealer for oil changes and tire rotations. I'd still buy the Volt again, but not because I've been impressed with the quality. There's still nothing else on the market that compares well to it. Everything else has less electric range, less acceleration, etc.
 
#12 ·
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That was my first thought but either it was a survey on Gen2 Volts or a incidents during warranty, like first 90 days (or portion there of) in other words, faults from the factory survey.
 
#13 · (Edited)
Neither CU ratings nor anecdotal reports on this forum are statistically reliable, but one factor that seems recurring is uneven quality. But, only Chevy knows whether problems are significant or random and they'll never disclose this data. I have a very early '16 and have never had a squeak, rattle, thump, banging, ill-fitting panel, or any other of the common mentions on this forum.(other than a beyond-warranty shift to park problem thankfully fixed at no cost) Luck? Dunno, but ALL Volts should leave the factory as good. Maybe 90% do.....
 
#16 · (Edited)
As I told my wife, things are a lot different today than they were in previous decades, especially those leading up to the late 90's in terms of the quality of vehicles. Last time we looked at a new vehicle she wouldn't look at a Ford because of the bad experiences they had with them growing up. Automation, lean manufacturing and error proofing has improved quality significantly. The vehicles of today have way fewer issues, and last a lot longer than they used to. Chevy as a brand did fairly well on the JD Powers 2018 reliability study, ahead of Hyundai, BMW, Toyota, and Honda. (see below). In today's world, the difference between the brands isn't that huge, and vehicles today scoring a 2.5 or 3 are pretty good over all, and much better than they used to be, especially with paint quality, rust proofing, critical fasteners, engines and transmissions.

Infotainment systems are computers. They need rebooting occasionally, go figure.

Text Line Font Parallel


Pure electric vehicles versus internal combustion engines is going to be another leap forward in terms of reliability, simplicity and price.
 

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#17 ·
I am thinking of dropping my subscription to consumer reports after 20 or so years of subscribing. The copy usually ends up in the trash without getting read anymore. For the most part, I find their reviews sanctimonious, anal, and aimed at how a total 'airhead' might be affected by the item being reviewed. Often they are subjective reviews disguised to appear objective.
I also love the idea of an independent review, but Consumer report doesn't fit the bill. I can usually find a more balanced, trustworthy review of an item out on the Web from other sources.
 
#19 ·
Haven’t trusted CR on cars for a long time. They drool over Japanese cars without hesitation and the CR report on the 2016 had so many factual errors it looks like it was written by an amateur. Dropped CR magazine years ago as well.
 
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#20 ·
Take this for what it is: my own opinion which has a weight of about one in 60,000... but I never trust publication reviews as they carry about the same weight: one or up to maybe a few out of 60,000 owners in the case of the gen2 Volt. IMO, there is no place for publications like CR in this day and age when you can go read consumer reviews for anything at places like Edmunds for cars, Amazon for appliances and such, Google Reviews for restaurants, attorneys, stores, and so on. Particularly with something like cars, I'd rather go to Edmunds and read owner reviews and make my own decision as to what is important there, rather than read dumbed down generalizations from biased publications like CR.

BTW, the 2018 Volt Edmunds owner rating: 4.5 out of 5. The 2019 is too new for ratings (which is what CR should have said).

Mike
 
#26 ·
I agree. One year flawless on our 2018. If anything, each successive year should be more reliable. The problems with my, first year in the US, 2011 Cruze were all ironed out and eliminated on newer models.

And for those who have had problems with their Volts, that's what the warranty is for.

And who among us would really rather have a Prius Prime, even if it is more reliable? Slow as molasses and only 25 miles of range on a good day? And about as ugly as ugly gets IMHO? No thanks!

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk
 
#27 ·
While I have not yet had a failure or problem that disabled the car, I have had MANY little issues and idiosyncrasies with my Gen 2 so I would say that CR is on target with their assessment...
 
#28 ·
Agreed.

I feel like as engineering and quality processes mature, catastrophic failures of drivetrains and cars is going down. But the added complexity of everything having numerous integrated digital controllers and computers in the car has made lots of little annoying issues very commonplace in modern cars. They're usually hard to reproduce and/or minor to the car operating so they're largely brushed off, but the annoyance persists.
 
#29 ·
Here are the issues I had with my Volt 2016 in 3 years and 45k miles
- driver’s door lock/unlock button stopped working
- high voltage fuse blew up for no apparent reason.
- speed sensor on one of the wheels went bad. This caused some interesting moments with the car braking and accelerating on it’s own until I put it in neutral and held the brakes down. I was told that someone had a bad day on assembly line.
I’m not counting numerous issues with infotainment system which were addressed by few software updates.
Luckily all these happened before the warranty has expired.
I like the car but I don’t consider Volt a reliable.
 
#33 ·
I have a 2019 and it is simply too early to know if components are about to fail, go squeaky, or need repairs.

I suspect none will, but every car has its thing eventually.

The volt suffers from what many GM cars suffer-- average to poor interior quality. Panel gaps the size of a finger are hard to explain in the 21st century. But I was aware of the hard plastic, sharp unrefined corners, and dull styling before I bought the car. I bought the car due to functionality in drivetrain so I don't complain about interior sadness-- though it appears other new owners must have complained somehow or another to consumer reports.
 
#39 ·
Car and Driver magazine is a good place.
Have you noticed that CR and C&D couldn't disagree more? Literally every vehicle that CR highly recommends gets horrible ratings on C&D.

For example, the Prius C is listed as CR's "highest recommended" category, and yet on C&D it gets a 2/10 score, the lowest they've awarded a car (never seen a 1/10, I guess they are saving it for a rainy day).

Likewise, I'm a little torn because the i3, which I do like the styling and suicide door on, has CR's high recommended with high predicted reliability and owner satisfaction, while well we know what they say about the 2019 Volt, but C&D loves the Volt and is luke warm at best about the i3.

One thing I am liking more about the Volt is that the Volt can operate as a parallel hybrid for greater highway efficiency, and for much greater range in hold w/ cruise control at 70mph which is great for my Houston to Dallas trips. i3 w/ range extender apparently can only run the generator on its small 2.4 gallon tank, that you have to pay to fully unlock and use on hold mode as its locked out on US versions, in serial mode and so only gets 30mpg when actually running on gas which isn't horrible but pretty bad compared to hybrids. But its range may be more forgiving in all electric for my 45 mile round trip from our new office (which has no chargers).

Another plus, BMW still seems invested in the i3, whereas GM has given up on the Volt and so a decade from now who knows how hard it will be to find technicians to work on it. Ditto with the Hyundai Ioniq that has a practical liftback like the Volt. Oh well, its good to have choices, even if it makes things difficult. ;)
 
#36 ·
CR has suspect methodology.
 
#37 ·
I quit trusting CR many, many years ago. They, like most of their review, are unreliable.
 
#38 ·
This is a necro thread though, I think OP a few years ago meant predicted reliability was very low. The latest April 2020 reliability surveys are more promising, showing the 19s did well:

171894


Not that surprising, as the Challenger used to have crappy reliability, but FCA kept making essentially the same car for so long that they worked out all the bugs by now, and CR rates it as their highest predicted reliability sports car. Isn't that a bummer though that right when it seems they have things really polished, they go and close the plant where the car is made... doh!
 
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