2016 Chevrolet Volt

My 2016 Chevrolet Volt loses power while driving and the "propulsion power reduced" warning message appears. This has happened multiple times in the past few weeks and it is very dangerous losing power while traveling. After taking it to a Chevy dealer for service, they advised that it was an internal failure of the BECM (battery energy control module) and that it would need replaced. After searching online it appears that this is a common issue with the Chevy Volt models from 2016 - 2019. So much so that GM extended a special warranty to cover this failure up to 15yrs and 150,000 miles. Unfortunately for reasons I still don't understand, I was informed that my vehicle is not covered under this special warranty despite it specifically being the year and model that is affected. My vehicle currently has 93k miles and was purchased in 2016. So I am just outside the original 8 year 100k mile warranty but thought I was covered under this new special coverage given that this is an issue that GM is clearly aware of. I was also shocked to find out that there apparently was never a recall for this issue. My wife and child normally take this vehicle across town at highway speeds and I'm lucky the issue only happened to me. I fear for those who brought their vehicles and are not aware of the issue and will be told that theirs isn't covered as well.

Took the car in for service to Simi Valley Chevrolet on 8/16/2023 due to the check engine light illuminated on dashboard. They determined that the EGR valve had internally shorted so they unplugged it so as not to take down the rest of the system and placed a special order for the valve. It has now been over one year and they still don't have the replacement part. The car runs rough and occasionally stalls and sputters. I'm concerned that the car could stall while driving and is unsafe.

Check engine light came on. Moran Chevrolet dealership says the code is related to the EGR cooler and EGR valve. They want me to pay $3,175.23 for these two parts - however, they can't guarantee that I will get the parts as they are on backorder, and no idea when they will get parts. This is outrageous. I asked, "What if the part doesn't come in?" The dealer's response, "Then we will refund your money, but, we will keep $250 for inspecting the car." "And what if I don't fix it?" Their response: "Eventually, your car will stop working." "What if the car is on the freeway and just stops?" Their response is unsettling for me and hopefully every driver on the road: "We haven't seen that type of failure, yet."

Driving to work one morning, I noticed an engine light with a "Propulsion Power Reduced" on my 2016 Chevy Volt. Upon closer arrival to work, the car was behaving quite erratically with constant "Propulsion Power Reduced" errors on the dash. The A/C stopped blowing cold and immediately fogged up the front window, making me unable to see the road. After arriving at work, I could smell what could be described as a burning electrical smell coming from the vehicle, although no fires were seen. Upon checking diagnostic codes, the car had a list of codes pointing to the failure of the Battery Energy Control Module (BECM.) I researched the issue and discovered "N232432680 - Special Coverage Battery Energy Control Module Malfunction" listed by GM and the NHTSA. My Chevy Volt is within the model years (2016-18) and mileage (<150,000) for the special coverage warranty from March 2024. Upon checking with the local GM dealer, they said that my VIN is not included in the special coverage and I must pay out of pocket, even though I have the exact problem described in the warranty and my Volt satisfies other conditions (model year and mileage). I am scheduling a service appointment this week with the local dealer to formally diagnose and repair the issue.

Vehicle has been to dealership numerous times starting in 2021 to address issue with loss of power between ev and gas. No results were found, but I believe the BECM was failing for awhile. Vehicle has continued to lose power until this year check engine light came on. 12V battery was changed and no change. Dealership said vehicle was fixed. It barely made it home and light came back on. Loss of propulsion message. Vehicle loses all ev charge, will not go over 35 miles per hour, barely makes it up a hill. Brakes and steering are hard to control. Vehicle is not included by VIN for the BECM replacement. Dealership is now saying that is the problem. Dealership is quoting $2500 for the fix. This is very dangerous to drive this vehicle. You have no warning of when car is going to stop or lose power. This is a vehicle that was supposed to be for my teenagers to drive and it is not safe at all. This has been discussed numerous times at the dealership with no solution.

While on the freeway, the instrument screen displayed a message about reduced propulsion power, then the check engine lit up. I pressed the gas pedal, but nothing happened. I took precautions and let it rolled over to the side of the road. I turned off the car and turned it back on, and I was able to put it in drive mode, but it still wouldn't move. I also tried reverse, but nothing happened there either. The car was completely disabled, so I had to call a tow truck to take it home.

The car has experienced a ‘BECM’ failure, which is very common on the Chevy volt. When it fails the car becomes undrivable and will slow down into reduced propulsion mode. It will not start and required us to have it towed to the dealer. The 2016-2019 Chevy volt BECM issue has been investigated by the nhtsa and gm. It is a common enough issue that gm has voluntarily issued ‘special coverage N232432680’. This covers the becm failure on 2016-2019 volts for free for up to 150k miles 10 years. We have a 2016 volt with 144k miles so we assumed it would be covered. The dealer said it wasn’t covered based on my vin but they didn’t know why our vin was left out of the coverage. Obviously if they thought our car didn’t have a suspect becm, they were wrong because it failed during the special coverage time. The repair is $2600 and gm will not assist us with this repair. I have attached a copy of gm special coverage and the bill. This seems to be a clerical error that our vin and maybe others were missed despite the fact our car falls right in the special coverage criteria. I believe this should be a full recall or 2016-2019 volts, especially if the becm has failed.

I'm driving a 2016 Chevy Volt in California that I bought in 2022 from Carmax. In the middle of driving on the highway, the error "Propulsion Power is reduced" alongside the check engine light. In the middle of driving on a highway at 65mi/h, I could not accelerate even though I floored the gas pedal and the car quickly decelerated. This is extremely dangerous especially in the middle of the highway. I had an auto shop look at it and they replaced a fuse and told me it was good to go. When I got it back, I though the problem was fixed but the issue came up again after only 1 week and had to take it to a different shop where I originally bought the car used at ~49k miles (CarMax). It took ~3 weeks before they were able to get it diagnosed at another auto shop. I received this email from them after diagnosis (attached file). A quick search on the internet and it seems a lot of people with this car is having the same issue. Everyone is also having issue with the EGR valve being backordered that is taking a couple months to over a year to get the parts in. Those people are resorting to unplugging the valve and driving as is. I don't want to have to do this either. Please see attached file for inspection report.