[VoltGuy007]

Hello all..
I am curious if others are having the same issues i am having?
I purchased a 2012 Chevy Volt with 12k miles on it.
It was a Certified Pre Owned car.. I traded in a toyota Sienna XLE with 349K miles on it.. That car i purchased used with 85K miles on it, and never had a single issue.. ever.. it was never in the dealer for anything.. i did my 3k mile oil changes and did my own brakes.. outside of that, honestly not a single thing ever wrong with it..

I purchased the car in August on the 15th 2015. August 19th it was at the dealership when the car couldn't find the key in the car.. so it would not start.. They replaced the keys, and the batteries, and reprogrammed the car to find the keys.. I figured that was it, and i would move on.. i did a lot of reading, and found that a lot of people praised this car before i purchased mine.. About 2 weeks later, same issue, can't find the key, can't start the car. They replaced the keys again, and gave me new batteries, telling me that this is "not a normal problem".. figured, Ok, just a temp issue will be fixed.. 2 weeks later, no start again, put the key in the center console key hole under the rubber mat in the dash, car started.. went to work.. got to work.. car wouldn't turn off.. i left it in the parking lot, locked running for 3 hours.. when i went out for a smoke break i went over to the car, and it allowed me to turn it off.. called the dealer, returned it.. they had it for 2 weeks.. they replaced the keys.. again, the batteries, again, and the sensor in the dash that picks up the keys.. the car was find for nearly 3 weeks.. no issues.. ran fine.. until i took it on a long trip, when it shorted out a Blink charge station, and fried the charge port.. figured maybe it was the charging station.. tried to charge it that night.. not knowing it fried the port.. it shorted out my home, melting the 240v circuit breaker.. and killing the Voltec charger.. brought it back into the dealership.. they replaced the inverter, the charge port, and the charging port door.. they gave me a new voltec charging plug.. and i had to replace the 240 one i bought for my home.. everything was fine again for about 2 weeks, when the steering developed a dead spot where it took more effort on long rides to pull the car out of straight, i took it back to the dealership.. they told me there was a TSB on the car.. they replaced the steering rack, and the column in the car.. they accidentally dropped the rack, and it crushed my exhaust.. rather than replacing the exhaust, they just put it back together.. I took the car home, and smelled a strong smell of fuel in the car.. immediately brought the car back to the dealership, where they discovered the Cat was cracked, as was the manifold, and the flex pipe.. all are on back order, i still don't have them.. and the car is LOUD when the gas engine kicks in. In the mean time the car has been back to the dealership a few more times.. it has a lose clunk in the front end, where it sounds like the upper strut mounts rattle.. they can't "reproduce" the issue, but everyone i take for a ride hears it.. The car also ever since it has gotten cold is costing me a fortune to run.. i average 9.4MPG in the winter, and get at the most 12 miles a charge.. the cost of charging at my home is .06cents per kwh.. In the summer, it was 48 cents to charge the car a night.. now i see 3-6 dollars a charge.. I brought the car once again to the dealership, who and i quote said that driving the car after it has run out of charge is driving it outside of it's design.. I have called the Volt team, who no offense are worthless.. and i can't even trade it in, since in 6 months it has lost 7K dollars in resale value.. The dealers point me to GM, and GM points me to the dealership.. The dealers are very nice.. but i don't want to live there, like i have been.. The EPA sticker is 37MPG "Gas only" i am seeing 9.4 average on gas, and 15mpg on the highway at 75mph..

Oh.. and now.. i have no power steering.. it will need to go back once again..

am i alone here?

Curious?
go to you tube and search for "chevy volt gets worse MPG than H1 hummer" and you will see my personal nightmare.

 

[Dutch]

holy smokes, go back and break that into paragraphs. My head wants to explode wading through that.

 

[TSquare]

The very first thing that I would do is find a different dealership for service.

 

[AZ EV Driver]

Disconnect the negative lead to the 12v battery under the cargo floor for 10 minutes then reconnect and you might solve the issue. Sort of like a hard reboot on the cars computer systems. There are two sides to the communications between the key fob and the car. Changing the battery in the fob only addresses the fob side, resetting the car side addresses the car side. This has worked for me in the past - could work for you as well.

VIN # B0985

 

[AtomicPowered]

3 years on GM-Volt and I have never heard a story like that. Did you get a Carfax. Sounds like the car had a bad accident or flood. Try another Sienna.

 

[G-PA]

Sorry your having trouble. With my 2013 today, I got 32 miles ev and about 38 mpg on gasoline in 32 degree F temperature, driving the posted speeds of 65 mph and 70 mph. Other than a couple software updates and repair of a coolant leak ( hose clamp), there have been no issues. Most of the rest of the forum would report likewise.

 

[Falconed]

If it costs you .06 per KW and the your volt takes roughly 13 KW to charge that should cost you roughly .06x13KW=.78 cents per charge ? Not sure if I am missing something

 

[edkristos]

Hello, I'm also an owner of a 2012, and have had a great experience with it. I just have a question about the mileage, did it drop when the exhaust system was damaged? If it did, with the exhaust system being crushed, the generator is not breathing efficiently with the backpressure hence the MPG drop.

 

[srmarti]

I'd guess if you searched the Forum nobody has reported problems like this.

 

[Upper5Percent]

Hello all..
I am curious if others are having the same issues i am having?
I purchased a 2012 Chevy Volt with 12k miles on it.
It was a Certified Pre Owned car.. I traded in a toyota Sienna XLE with 349K miles on it.. That car i purchased used with 85K miles on it, and never had a single issue.. ever.. it was never in the dealer for anything.. i did my 3k mile oil changes and did my own brakes.. outside of that, honestly not a single thing ever wrong with it..

I purchased the car in August on the 15th 2015. August 19th it was at the dealership when the car couldn't find the key in the car.. so it would not start.. They replaced the keys, and the batteries, and reprogrammed the car to find the keys.. I figured that was it, and i would move on.. i did a lot of reading, and found that a lot of people praised this car before i purchased mine.. About 2 weeks later, same issue, can't find the key, can't start the car. They replaced the keys again, and gave me new batteries, telling me that this is "not a normal problem".. figured, Ok, just a temp issue will be fixed.. 2 weeks later, no start again, put the key in the center console key hole under the rubber mat in the dash, car started.. went to work.. got to work.. car wouldn't turn off.. i left it in the parking lot, locked running for 3 hours.. when i went out for a smoke break i went over to the car, and it allowed me to turn it off.. called the dealer, returned it.. they had it for 2 weeks.. they replaced the keys.. again, the batteries, again, and the sensor in the dash that picks up the keys.. the car was find for nearly 3 weeks.. no issues.. ran fine.. until i took it on a long trip, when it shorted out a Blink charge station, and fried the charge port.. figured maybe it was the charging station.. tried to charge it that night.. not knowing it fried the port.. it shorted out my home, melting the 240v circuit breaker.. and killing the Voltec charger.. brought it back into the dealership.. they replaced the inverter, the charge port, and the charging port door.. they gave me a new voltec charging plug.. and i had to replace the 240 one i bought for my home.. everything was fine again for about 2 weeks, when the steering developed a dead spot where it took more effort on long rides to pull the car out of straight, i took it back to the dealership.. they told me there was a TSB on the car.. they replaced the steering rack, and the column in the car.. they accidentally dropped the rack, and it crushed my exhaust.. rather than replacing the exhaust, they just put it back together.. I took the car home, and smelled a strong smell of fuel in the car.. immediately brought the car back to the dealership, where they discovered the Cat was cracked, as was the manifold, and the flex pipe.. all are on back order, i still don't have them.. and the car is LOUD when the gas engine kicks in. In the mean time the car has been back to the dealership a few more times.. it has a lose clunk in the front end, where it sounds like the upper strut mounts rattle.. they can't "reproduce" the issue, but everyone i take for a ride hears it.. The car also ever since it has gotten cold is costing me a fortune to run.. i average 9.4MPG in the winter, and get at the most 12 miles a charge.. the cost of charging at my home is .06cents per kwh.. In the summer, it was 48 cents to charge the car a night.. now i see 3-6 dollars a charge.. I brought the car once again to the dealership, who and i quote said that driving the car after it has run out of charge is driving it outside of it's design.. I have called the Volt team, who no offense are worthless.. and i can't even trade it in, since in 6 months it has lost 7K dollars in resale value.. The dealers point me to GM, and GM points me to the dealership.. The dealers are very nice.. but i don't want to live there, like i have been.. The EPA sticker is 37MPG "Gas only" i am seeing 9.4 average on gas, and 15mpg on the highway at 75mph..

Oh.. and now.. i have no power steering.. it will need to go back once again..

am i alone here?

Curious?
go to you tube and search for "chevy volt gets worse MPG than H1 hummer" and you will see my personal nightmare.

You posted back in September 2015...disappeared until today...so why are you saying the Volt Advisors are useless??

Did you check the Carfax on this vehicle??...because either you are damaging the vehicle or there are quite a few problems with this vehicle that should have been noted at the time of sale, like was this vehicle in a flood or wreck??...

as noted in your video...why aren't you charging your vehicle??...and only running ICE??

 

[Barry]

If your account is true and the problems have not been caused in part by accident damage while in your possession, etc, then you probably can get relief through the lemon laws.

 

[Upper5Percent]

If your account is true and the problems have not been caused in part by accident damage while in your possession, etc, then you probably can get relief through the lemon laws.

No...lemon laws only apply to NEW car sales...used cars fall under buyer beware...

 

[Barry]

If a car is used, preowned or certified and is still covered by the manufacturer's warranty, it may be covered by the lemon law.

This is not legal advice. Laws vary by jurisdiction.

 

[CaptiainSlow]

If you add your location to your profile it would help with people being able to provide advice. The suggestion of finding a different dealership is spot on.

 

[VoltGuy007]

If it costs you .06 per KW and the your volt takes roughly 13 KW to charge that should cost you roughly .06x13KW=.78 cents per charge ? Not sure if I am missing something

It get's down into -20 degree's at night when i plug it in.. i was told by GM that the system has to keep the batteries warm in order to charge the car.. that the warmer is basically a heat pump that pumps warm coolant around the battery system.. That is unfortunately VERY expensive to have running all night to charge the batteries.. Once it is charged, i can go between 9-12 miles before the batteries are dead.. Also, 90% of the time, even when fully charged it will throw a warning on the screen which will indicate that the car is unable to drive on battery power due to the cold.. which when on gas, at best i can get 23mpg, my general average at 45mph is 9.4MPG.

 

[VoltGuy007]

Hello, I'm also an owner of a 2012, and have had a great experience with it. I just have a question about the mileage, did it drop when the exhaust system was damaged? If it did, with the exhaust system being crushed, the generator is not breathing efficiently with the backpressure hence the MPG drop.

Actually since the Exhaust got wrecked by the dealership, it has gotten better, prior to the exhaust issue i was getting a little less MPG.. Not much, but a small amount.. Right now i am averaging 9.4MPG, but i was getting 8.9MPG average when the exhaust was fine.. I can see that causing an issue, but aside from the smell and the noise, it has gotten better.. If it weren't for the noise and i thought it would help, i would run wide open off the header..

 

[VoltGuy007]

You posted back in September 2015...disappeared until today...so why are you saying the Volt Advisors are useless??

Did you check the Carfax on this vehicle??...because either you are damaging the vehicle or there are quite a few problems with this vehicle that should have been noted at the time of sale, like was this vehicle in a flood or wreck??...

as noted in your video...why aren't you charging your vehicle??...and only running ICE??

1. Charging - At -20 degrees it cost me an absolute fortune to charge the car at night.. I would love to charge it, but GM indicated that this is normal.. that the batteries have to stay at an ambient temperature in order for the car to charge, which is very expensive.. I have a In-line meter to measure the amount of electricity that is being used and the cost of the electricity at the rate indicated by my provider, at between 4 and 6 bucks to go 12 miles.. which honestly is about 4 times the cost of fuel for an ICE engine on a Hummer H1.

2. I posted months ago, and got locked out of the account, couldn't sign back in.. ended up having to upgrade my version of Windows to post here.. It wouldn't allow me to sign in any longer with Older versions of IE running on Windows 2k. So i needed to upgrade to Windows 7 on a Virtual Machine to post again.. Sorry..

As per why i think the Volt Customer Service line is useless..
Purchased the car August 15th had an issue with the key on August 19th.. Still have an issue with the key..
The dealer is convinced the car is a "manufacturers Defect" which they explained is GM's way of saying a "lemon"
They called GM and put the information on the constant issues with the car into GM's hands..
Gm tells me it's the dealerships issue.. the dealer tells me it's GM's issue, and it has been an on-going battle to get them to communicate.. The Volt service tells me that i need to bring the car for service, they never call the service station, and don't call me back ever.. i have to constantly call them, and fight with the dealers to get the car fixed.. What's the point of a warranty if they can't fix the issues?

Car fax is clean..
it was a local lease turn in..

 

[VoltGuy007]

If you add your location to your profile it would help with people being able to provide advice. The suggestion of finding a different dealership is spot on.

From Columbus Ohio..
been to Jack Maxton Chevrolet, which is where i bought the car certified..
and been to Dan Tobin Chevrolet..

 

[VoltGuy007]

Sorry your having trouble. With my 2013 today, I got 32 miles ev and about 38 mpg on gasoline in 32 degree F temperature, driving the posted speeds of 65 mph and 70 mph. Other than a couple software updates and repair of a coolant leak ( hose clamp), there have been no issues. Most of the rest of the forum would report likewise.

The speed limit here is 70 on county run highways and 75 on state run interstates.. Typically i can get away with going 75mph in the 70's but in the 75's they are going 80+ and i just can't do 80+.. so i usually set the cruise on a 77mph and hope for the best.. 99% of my driving though is on 45mph roads, or 35mph roads... My daily commute is 18 miles round trip..

 

[don shaw]

Send your entire post to the volt advisor ,and ask them for help. Also check car fax as others have suggested