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2019 Chevrolet Bolt EV Problems and Recalls
Owners filed 178 complaints with NHTSA about the 2019 Chevrolet Bolt EV, most often about the electrical (48% of complaints, typically around 15,000 miles). It is the 2nd most complained-about Bolt EV model year since 2000 and has 6 recalls.
⚠ Safety advisory2 recalls for this car came with a park-outside warning. See below and check your VIN at nhtsa.gov/recalls.
Most common 2019 Chevrolet Bolt EV problems
Electrical
85 complaints · 48%Half of these problems showed up before 15,000 miles. Parts named most often: 12v/24v/48v battery, propulsion system.
Vehicle unexpectedly & without warning lost power while traveling on highway. Vehicle was unable to accelerate and all power from the high voltage system was lost.
Around 11:00am on 5/1/21 saturday morning noticed thick smoke coming out of the rear side of the car parked in the garage and it was not connected to the charger and shouted at my family & kids to come out of the house and when I opened the garage shutters I saw fire in the rear of car from beneath and the rear seats…
Steering
46 complaints · 26%The contact owns a 2019 Chevrolet bolt. The contact stated while driving at an undisclosed speed and turning, the steering wheel failed to return to the center. The vehicle was taken to the dealer, where it was diagnosed that the rack and pinion needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was…
The contact owns a 2019 Chevrolet Bolt EV. The contact stated while veering to the left or right, the steering wheel failed to return to center as expected and the vehicle was difficult to steer. There was no warning light illuminated. The contact researched the failure and linked the failure to the steering rack. The…
Fuel system
44 complaints · 25%Half of these problems showed up before 4,500 miles.
On june 1, 2020, 1-yr old vehicle (4000 miles on odometer) with 55% battery charge lost full propulsion power on a gentle curve on a country road at 40mph in l drive setting. Propulsion gone, steering stiff, warning bells, service-vehicle-soon warning messages. I coasted barely off the road onto the shoulder. Car was…
Vehicle was doing highway speeds on interstate 81 in pennsylvania in the left lane. Suddenly, the vehicle made a loud thud, followed by rapid deceleration. Managed to barely make it to the right shoulder, and at that point the vehicle put itself into park and refused to shift into drive or reverse. Warning messages…
Other or unspecified
21 complaints · 12%Half of these problems showed up before 10,000 miles.
The left and right sides of the dashboard continue to come loose after multiple fix attempts from the dealer. In the event of an accident, if the airbags fire and the a-pillar trim moves outward the dash parts may be thrown at the car's passengers further injuring them. Gm rep stated there is no fix at this time and…
Dash reflect excessive light onto windshield blinding driver. I have a turn from sr-95 south to I-15 north ramp and I am blinded while making the turn potentially causing a crash. Seems this has been a known issue since 2017 and no fixes has been mad.
Transmission
13 complaints · 7%The contact owns a 2019 Chevrolet Bolt EV. The contact stated that there was an abnormal ticking noise coming from the vehicle. The noise sounded as if it were coming from the area of the console/ gear shift. The vehicle was taken to camelback Chevrolet (1233 e camelback rd, phoenix, az 85014, ([phone]) where it was…
I have a 2019 Bolt EV (mileage approximately 10k) that automatically shifted gear to "park" mode from the "l" mode and slowed to an almost stop while I was on the highway at rush hour driving approximately 65 mi/hr. I was able to safely steer the car to a median and call on star after repeatedly shutting power off and…
Driver assistance
6 complaints · 3%Parts named most often: warnings, blind spot detection, automatic emergency braking.
This front collision warning system doesn't work well, today I was driving on a car pool lane at a speed about 65-70 MPH, a white ford explorer suddenly cut in, the system didn't make any warning or brake at all. I have a dash cam recorded it. When this happened, it was sunny, clear day, on a straight free way. After…
Brakes
5 complaints · 3%Visibility and wipers
4 complaints · 2%General motors refuses to service my vehicle and claims I'm black listed from every dealership in the area. They refuse to complete the safety recall for battery fires on my vehicle, the windshield wipers are slapping each other and rear suspension is making metal on metal clanking noises. Gm has had me black listed…
Complaints are owner reports to NHTSA, not verified defects. One complaint can name several components, so shares add up to more than 100%.
2019 Chevrolet Bolt EV recalls
Seat belts: pretensioner
Risk: A fire increases the risk of injury.
Fix: Dealers will inspect both front seat belt pretensioners and, if necessary, install metal foil at the carpet near the pretensioner exhaust. Certain vehicles will also need a pretensioner cover installed. Repairs will be performed free of charge. Owner notification letters were mailed january 24, 2024. These vehicles were previously recalled for this same issue under recall number 22v-930 and will need to have the new remedy performed. Owners may contact gm EV concierge at 1-833-evchevy (1-833-382-4389) (tty 711 / 1-800-833-2438) or customer service at 1-800-222-1020. Gm's number for this recall
Full defect summary
General motors, llc (gm) is recalling certain 2017-2023 chevrolet bolt EV vehicles. This recall includes certain vehicles previously repaired incorrectly under NHTSA recall number 22v-930. After a crash with seat belt pretensioner deployment, the pretensioner exhaust may ignite carpet fibers near the b-pillar, causing a fire.
Seat belts: pretensioner
Risk: A vehicle fire can increase the risk of injury.
Fix: Dealers will install metal foil at the carpet near the pretensioner exhaust, and install a pretensioner cover as necessary, free of charge. Owner notification letters were mailed between january 23, 2023 and april 25, 2023. Owners may contact chevrolet customer service at 1-800-222-1020. Gm's number for this recall is n222383790.
Full defect summary
General motors, llc (gm) is recalling certain 2017-2023 chevrolet bolt EV vehicles. After a crash with seat belt pretensioner deployment, the pretensioner exhaust may ignite carpet fibers near the b-pillar, causing a fire.
Electrical: traction battery
Risk: A battery fire increases the risk of injury.
Fix: Owners are advised to take the following interim steps: activate either the hill top reserve (2017 and 2018 models) or target charge level (2019 models) feature in their vehicle to limit the charge level to 90%, charge their vehicle more frequently, avoid depleting the battery to 70 miles range remaining, park outside after charging, and do not charge the vehicle indoors overnight. Defective battery modules will be replaced by gm, free of charge. Interim notification letters notifying owners of the safety risk were mailed on august 13, 2021. Owner notification letters were mailed on august 13,
Full defect summary
General motors llc (gm) is recalling certain 2017-2019 chevrolet bolt EV vehicles previously recalled under NHTSA recall number 20v-701. The high voltage battery could catch fire when charged to full or nearly full capacity.
Electrical: traction battery
Risk: A battery fire increases the risk of injury.
Fix: This recall has been superseded by recall number 21v-560. Vehicles previously repaired under 20v-701 will still need to have the new remedy under recall 21v-560. Gm will notify owners, and as an interim repair, beginning on november 17, 2020, dealers will reprogram the hybrid propulsion control module 2 (hpcm2) to limit the full charge to 90%, free of charge. Owners are advised to activate either the hill top reserve (2017 and 2018 models) or target charge level (2019 models) feature in their vehicle to limit the charge level to 90%, or park outside, until the software update is completed. Own
Full defect summary
General motors llc (gm) is recalling all 2017-2018 and certain 2019 chevrolet bolt EV vehicles. The high voltage battery could catch fire when charged to full or nearly full capacity.
Doors and locks: latch
Risk: If the rear door opens while driving, or the door handle fails to open the rear door, there is an increased risk of injury to the rear passengers.
Fix: Gm will notify owners, and dealers will replace the rear inside door-handle cables, free of charge. The recall began april 17, 2020. Owners may contact chevrolet customer service at 1-800-222-1020. Gm's number for this recall is a202298320.
Full defect summary
General motors llc (gm) is recalling certain 2019-2020 chevrolet bolt EV vehicles. The door-handle cable inside the rear doors may be too long, allowing contact with the window when it is opened, possibly damaging the cable. A damaged cable may cause the rear door to open unintentionally when the rear window is opened. Additionally, it may cause the rear inside door handle to not work.
Brakes: caliper
Risk: A reduction of braking performance can increase the risk of a crash.
Fix: Gm will notify owners, and dealers will bleed the vehicle's brake system, free of charge. The recall began october 11, 2018. Owners may contact buick customer service at 1-800-521-7300, cadillac customer service at 1-800-458-8006, chevrolet customer service at 1-800-222-1020, or gmc customer service at 1-800-462-8782. Gm's number for this recall is 18279.
Full defect summary
General motors llc (gm) is recalling certain 2018-2019 chevrolet equinox, impala, cruze, volt and bolt EV vehicles, gmc terrain vehicles, buick lacrosse and regal vehicles, cadillac xts and xts professional vehicles and 2018 chevrolet malibu vehicles. The rear brake caliper pistons may have an insufficient coating causing gas pockets to form, potentially reducing rear brake performance.
Recall repairs are free at any franchised dealer. Enter your VIN at nhtsa.gov/recalls to see which recalls are still open on your car.
NHTSA defect investigations
Pedestrian alert sounds
Summary
Nhtsa received a petition on or about july 18, 2022, requesting that federal motor vehicle safety standard (fmvss) 141 be applied to all electric and hybrid vehicles operating in the united states. The petition can be reviewed at NHTSA.gov under odi number 11486072. Fmvss 141 establishes performance requirements for pedestrian alert sounds for motor vehicles. The standard applies to hybrid and electric vehicles that have a gross vehicle weight rating of 4,536 kg or less or are defined as low-speed vehicles. The standard became fully applicable to all such vehicles manufactured on or after march 1, 2021.on january 27, 2023, NHTSA opened defect petition (dp) 22-005 to evaluate the subject matt
Electric vehicle battery fires
Summary
In october 2020, the office of defects investigation (odi) opened a preliminary evaluation (pe) on 2017-2020 model year (my) chevrolet bolt vehicles based on complaints received alleging that the vehicles caught fire under the seating area while parked and unattended. At the time, odi had received 2 vehicle owner questionnaires (voqs) and several field reports. All complaints alleged vehicles caught fire during or after electrical charging.odi's review found vehicle thermal events occurred during and/or at the end of the battery module charging cycle. The information learned from NHTSA and general motors joint vehicle inspections prompted general motors to file recall 20v-701 on april 29, 20
Questions about the 2019 Chevrolet Bolt EV
- What are the most common problems with the 2019 Chevrolet Bolt EV?
- By NHTSA owner complaints: electrical (85 complaints, typically around 15,000 miles); steering (46 complaints); fuel system (44 complaints, typically around 4,500 miles).
- How many recalls does the 2019 Chevrolet Bolt EV have?
- 6 recalls listed by NHTSA, the latest from December 14, 2023 (seat belts). Check your VIN at nhtsa.gov/recalls to see which ones are still open on your car.
- Is the 2019 a bad year for the Chevrolet Bolt EV?
- It is the 2nd most complained-about Bolt EV model year since 2000, with 178 complaints. Complaint counts are not adjusted for how many cars were sold, so popular years collect more of them, and the newest years have had less time to.