[Klownicle]

Noise present more audibly when decelerating in L or D with and without brake depressed. Audibly at all speeds when decelerating. Also sightly audibly noticeable when accelerating but not as loud. Can hear it quite the distance away when vehicle approaches during deceleration. Noticeable from both left and right side of vehicle, primary noise source from front left driver side.

Here is the 2014 Volt (my friends) with the noise. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Ili7kmgBsQ

And here is mine 2014 without the noise. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YuPfqt25tb4&index=2

This way you can get a baseline for the difference. Both were recorded at the same timeframe. Nothing was realistically different.

This noise occurs 100% of the time, it does not come and go except for as detailed in the scenario above. I have a friend looking to purchase a Volt and we noticed another 2014 with this noise (not related to the two videos above). So curious as to what needs to be repaired. I've test driven another 2014 without the noise, a 2015 without the noise and another two 2013's without it.

 

[razorvolt]

Bearing cage failure - see https://gm-volt.com/forum/showthread.php?103913-Bearing-failure-FAQ

 

[wizard_of-ahs]

Bearing cage failure - see https://gm-volt.com/forum/showthread.php?103913-Bearing-failure-FAQ

Absolutely

 

[Dutch]

Classic "skillsaw" whine.
No question about the bearing failure. sorry man.

 

[Klownicle]

Thanks Ya'll!

 

[edk-austin]

What's the build date of that 2014 affected?
I didn't think 2014's were at risk.

 

[POVO2018]

Sooo…

How many miles are on your car? Did you take it to the dealer? Are they going to cover the repair? Which warranty covers the repair? What is the cost they are quoting for the repair?

These questions are being asked because I have the exact same problem with my 2011 Chevy volt with only 29,000 miles. The dealer quoted me a repair of over $1400 (well over 1500 with the 1.5 hours labor for diagnosis), and said IT IS NOT covered by the Voltec warranty. I tried to get assistance from GM, but they essentially turned their back on this problem, leaving me to pay dealer pricing for a major repair for a babied vehicle at less than 30,000 miles with only a 1 year warranty on said repair.

I've owned the volt for over four years, had problems with the EVSE, remote operations over OnStar cellular. Those were small out of pocket annoyances which pale in comparison to this problem.

In my opinion, the Volt is a excellent attempt in this automotive marketspace, but my experiences with GM's refusal to offer ANY assistance for what clearly seems to be an error in design and/or manufacturing will now deter me from ever considering another Volt, or any other GM product, not matter how good it is on paper.

GM: My advice is don't cheat a decent product with a bad reputation. Start taking care of your Volt customers with these bearing problems. A TSB at revision "H", people having their vehicles serviced multiple times for this problem, redesigns of the part, and complete redesigns of the system on subsequent generations clearly indicate a problem in GM's end.

Having customer service echo false platitudes like "I am sorry to hear you are having this problem" while doing nothing else, is a waste of our time, and your resources. Yes, you can choose to blindly stick to the terms of your warranties and ignore the fact of premature failures when they occur outside of your specified terms, but If you continue to abandon your customer with products that cannot achieve a reasonable MTBF, sooner or later you will find yourself in the same predicament as before:

On the verge of extinction, needing to be bailed out and reorganized, to survive.


POVO2018