2019 Chevrolet Volt — Known Issues & Recalls

Your 2019 Volt experienced two powertrain issues: first, the EV battery drained completely and prevented the gas engine from starting (later repaired by dealer), and second, while driving up a parking garage ramp, your car lost all power without warning and displayed a "Powertrain loss" message. After 12-13 minutes, you were able to restart it. The Chevrolet dealership could not find any error codes or reproduce the problem, but you're concerned this could happen again on the highway, creating a serious safety hazard. Fixing this will likely require the dealership or GM to perform advanced powertrain diagnostics and computer system testing to identify the root cause of the unexplained power loss.

Your car's gear shifter is stuck or not responding properly to Park position. Even when you shift into Park, the dashboard keeps showing a "Shift to Park" message and won't let you turn off the engine. You may need to repeatedly shift the gear selector in and out of Park several times before the car finally shuts down. This likely involves a faulty shift mechanism sensor or the transmission control module that reads the gear position.

Your car is showing a message that it's shifting to park even though it's already in park, and this prevents you from turning off the engine. This happens intermittently, meaning it doesn't occur every time. The issue likely involves the transmission control system or shift-lock mechanism that needs diagnosis and repair.

Your car won't shut off because it doesn't recognize when the transmission is in park. This prevents the engine from turning off properly, even when you've shifted to the parking position. The issue is with the transmission's park position sensor or the shift mechanism that communicates this position to the engine control system.

Your car intermittently won't turn off when you shift into Park and press the power button, instead displaying a message saying "Action required. Shift to Park." This creates a safety concern because you can't be certain the car is actually parked and won't roll, making it unsafe to leave the vehicle unattended. The issue has been documented in a GM technical bulletin and can be fixed by replacing a wiring harness in the transmission control system.

Your car frequently shows a "not in park" warning when you shift into park, even though it's actually in park. You can temporarily fix it by jiggling the shift lever, but the problem keeps coming back and is happening more often. This likely involves a faulty shift position sensor or mechanical wear in the shifter mechanism that needs replacement or adjustment.

When you turn off your vehicle, you're seeing a "shift to park" error message and the car won't shut off. This appears to be a transmission defect that affects multiple vehicles, though there is currently no recall issued for this issue.

Your car's dashboard keeps telling you to shift to park even though the shift lever is already in park. You have to wiggle the shift lever to make the message disappear so you can turn the engine off. In one instance, the message wouldn't go away for 10 minutes no matter what you tried, preventing you from shutting down the vehicle. The fix will likely involve diagnosing and repairing the shift position sensor or the electrical connection between the shifter and the car's computer.

Your complaint raises concerns about whether Chevrolet dealers are following GM's factory service manual requirements when servicing brake systems. Specifically, you're concerned that dealers may not be using single-use fasteners (special bolts that should be replaced each time), avoiding air-impact tools on brake fasteners as required, and not following the proper two-step torque specifications detailed in the manual. You're asking GM to verify dealer compliance with these safety-critical brake service procedures.

Your Volt repeatedly displayed a 'Shift to Park' message even though the vehicle was already in Park, and you couldn't turn off the engine until you restarted the car, shifted out of Park, and back into Park. Additionally, the electric parking brake warning light appeared on your dashboard without you having engaged the parking brake. This occurred about 6 times during one trip with no prior warning signs.

Your car displays a 'shift to park' error even though the vehicle is already in park, and you're unable to turn off the engine when this happens. The error seems more likely to occur when the parking brake is engaged or the car is on a hill. You can usually clear the error after several minutes by trying various combinations of adjusting the parking brake, shifting, restarting the car, or opening the door. The fix will likely involve diagnosing the shift interlock system, parking brake sensor, or related electrical connections.

Your check engine light came on while driving, and the dealer found a faulty high-voltage disconnect relay in your battery system. The dealer couldn't repair it because the part was unavailable and on backorder from Chevrolet. The issue occurred at 80,000 miles.

Your car displays a "Shift to Park" warning message with audio alerts even when the vehicle is already in Park, making it difficult to reliably park and turn off the car. This electrical issue is covered under GM's Voltec Component Warranty according to Technical Bulletin 19-NA-206, but GM has refused to honor the warranty claim. Resolving this will likely require GM service to diagnose the park position sensor or transmission control module and apply the warranty repair covered under the technical bulletin.

Your car's battery control module can fail unexpectedly, causing the engine to shut off without warning while driving. This could leave you stranded in traffic or in an unsafe situation. The dealer has confirmed this is a defective part that needs replacement.

While driving at highway speeds, your Volt's engine became unavailable and propulsion power suddenly reduced, causing your speed to drop from 70 mph to below 59 mph on a busy freeway. You received dashboard warnings including "Engine Not Available," "Service Soon," and "Propulsion Power Is Reduced" messages simultaneously. The dealer experienced the same errors during a test drive at 95 mph and is recommending a complete transmission assembly replacement along with 45,000-mile maintenance service.

Your vehicle lost all power and propulsion while turning in rain at 45 mph, causing power steering and assisted brakes to fail and resulting in a crash. The car would not restart and had no diagnostic codes. After repairs, the same problem happened again at 70 mph on the highway, with fault codes pointing to the Drive Motor Power Inverter B. The issue remains unresolved under warranty, with no replacement parts available from GM.

When you set cruise control on the freeway, your car suddenly accelerated to maximum speed and wouldn't turn off, forcing you to repeatedly brake hard to keep your speed below 70 mph. The braking generated enough heat that smoke filled the cabin. After you slowed to about 20 mph, you heard a clunk sound from under the dashboard and the cruise control shut off on its own. The issue appears to involve a malfunction in the cruise control system that may require replacement or repair of the cruise control module or related components.

Your car displays an error message saying it's not in Park even when you shift it into Park, and sometimes won't turn off despite trying different shift positions. While shifting to Drive and back to Park has temporarily resolved the issue in the past, the most recent occurrence was more serious and the engine continued running. This is concerning because your car could continue running unattended, which could be dangerous in situations like being on a ferry or away from the vehicle.

Your power steering suddenly failed while driving, making the steering wheel extremely hard to turn and requiring significant effort to navigate even simple turns. A warning message appeared telling you to service the power steering system. After shutting off the car and restarting it the next morning, the power steering worked again, and the dealership determined a software update was needed to resolve the issue.

Your driver's seat frame makes a loud squeaking noise during normal driving. While this is primarily a noise issue rather than a safety defect, the squeaking suggests the seat frame may have a manufacturing problem. The fix would likely involve tightening loose connections or replacing worn components in the seat frame assembly.