[Double_E]

Hi Guys,

Just wanted to see what kind of lead time people experienced when having their HV traction battery replaced in the past. About a week ago, my 2013 volt threw DTC P1E00 and P0BBE for the second time. I brought it to the dealer for investigation and they found that 1 of the 3 HV cells had failed and a second was showing low numbers. My service adviser stated that in the past, it is not uncommon for it to take up to 4 weeks to obtain a replacement cell. Currently my car is pending a response from GM on whether they will replace the defective cells or the entire battery pack. I was curious to see if anyone else has experienced this issue and what the time to repair was.

 

[DonC]

Sorry that you've had this occur. It's a module replacement rather than a cell replacement. A reasonably large piece. We haven't seen enough of these to have a large enough sample size for a decent estimate of the time, and I doubt your dealer has either. The failure rate for the cells (not the module) is about two per million. I suspect he just tossed out an estimate far enough out to set your expectations. Did you get a loaner?

 

[Steverino]

I'd expect at least 4 weeks for it to be received once ordered. That seems typical for many parts on the Volt.

 

[Double_E]

Sorry that you've had this occur. It's a module replacement rather than a cell replacement. A reasonably large piece. We haven't seen enough of these to have a large enough sample size for a decent estimate of the time, and I doubt your dealer has either. The failure rate for the cells (not the module) is about two per million. I suspect he just tossed out an estimate far enough out to set your expectations. Did you get a loaner?

My adviser stated that they have done 1 module replacement per month for the past 4 months and that my car would be the first with 2 bad modules. I do have a loaner currently but have not received any definitive time frame for the repair. I'm hoping to hear something from the SA today.

 

[timoshev]

Just curious: can you still drive the car with a bad cell? Error codes aside, it would be nice to be able to use the car until the parts arrive.

 

[Aseras]

If they pulled the HV battery and got authorization to replace the entire unit ( which they have to do in order to "order" one ), your car is a brick until the new battery arrives. They will not reinstall it in your car.

I know it is possible for them to get a battery overnight. My battery for my 2015 came overnight in a fedex custom critical panel truck. You however haven't put a legal gun to their head to make them hurry up. Your 2013 is out of lemon law territory and only under Magnuson Moss Warranty Act for the hybrid warranty. As long as they eventually fix it, you don't have much you can do.

 

[Aseras]

Just curious: can you still drive the car with a bad cell? Error codes aside, it would be nice to be able to use the car until the parts arrive.

My whole battery had multiple bad cells in every pack and the car still drove and would charge if you cleared the codes. The codes would refire after the next full charge.

 

[Double_E]

Just curious: can you still drive the car with a bad cell? Error codes aside, it would be nice to be able to use the car until the parts arrive.

With my car, it set the code while charging at a public charging station. I assumed there was some sort of issue with the station itself which triggered the code so I went ahead and cleared them. About 2 weeks after, the codes reappeared while charging at home on my Siemens Level 2 station so I decided it was best to have the dealer take a look. Other than reduced EV range, the car seemed to drive just fine.

 

[llninja]

With my car, it set the code while charging at a public charging station. I assumed there was some sort of issue with the station itself which triggered the code so I went ahead and cleared them. About 2 weeks after, the codes reappeared while charging at home on my Siemens Level 2 station so I decided it was best to have the dealer take a look. Other than reduced EV range, the car seemed to drive just fine.

DoubleE
Man that sucks hopefully its all covered under the powertrain warranty. I'm guessing mine won't code until after I'ev exceeded the miles (I'm at 78K reaching 100k in about 18 months or so).

DoubleL

 

[DonC]

My adviser stated that they have done 1 module replacement per month for the past 4 months and that my car would be the first with 2 bad modules. I do have a loaner currently but have not received any definitive time frame for the repair. I'm hoping to hear something from the SA today.

At 2 cell (cell not module) failures per 2M cells, that's 2 cell failures per 10K Volts or one failure per 5K Volts. That would suggest the dealer has sold at least 20K first generation Volts, which would be about 20% of all first generation Volts sold. That would likely be several hundred percent of all first generation Volts sold in Florida.

Maybe he's talking about something else related to the battery pack.

 

[Aseras]

Per the GM at my local ( tiny <20k people town ) Chevy dealer, they've bought back 7 volts including the GM's wife volt. They've replaced 21 battery cell packs and replaced 7 entire HV battery assemblies.

They also had to repair 9 gen2 volts with the wiring fault when the battery shorted and blew the fuse. There's apparently a lot of "Friday" volts out there.

 

[DonC]

Per the GM at my local ( tiny <20k people town ) Chevy dealer, they've bought back 7 volts including the GM's wife volt. They've replaced 21 battery cell packs and replaced 7 entire HV battery assemblies.

They also had to repair 9 gen2 volts with the wiring fault when the battery shorted and blew the fuse. There's apparently a lot of "Friday" volts out there.

There are more Volt owners on this forum than people in the town and I don't think we've seen that many battery assembly replacements.

 

[mariotalavera]

My car just came back from service department where they replaced 4 modules and some other battery related electronic. It took two and a half week to do but almost a week was talking to Chevy who authorized the work. So I would say... it took about 2 weeks to get parts and day to install.

 

[Double_E]

So just an update to this post, it took a total of 7 weeks for GM to provide the replacement cell. Even though 2 cells tested bad, only 1 was replaced. As many of you know, there is no longer a Volt adviser team and GM customer care was basically useless in the matter. After being stuck with a Silverado work truck loaner (17 MPG!) with no answer from GM on when the replacement parts will arrive the entire time, I am very disappointed with GM customer care. After owning several GM products including several corvette's and corvette Z06's, I believe this will be the end of the line for me. While the Volt is a great car, the GM customer service experience is atrocious.