2012 Chevrolet Volt problems
NHTSA has received 359 complaints about the 2012 Chevrolet Volt, and 24% of them involve air bags. Next are electrical system (24%) and fuel system (10%).
At a glance
- Complaints
- 359 filed with NHTSA
- Most reported
- Air bags 24% of complaints
- Crashes and fires
- 11 and 2
- Injuries and deaths
- 15 and 0
- Typical mileage
- 77,000 miles 270 complaints with mileage
Source: NHTSA owner complaints
Where the complaints are
Share of this model year's complaints by the part of the car involved. One complaint can name more than one part, so the shares can add up to more than 100%.
When problems show up
View the numbers
| Mileage | Complaints |
|---|---|
| 0k to 20k miles | 40 |
| 20k to 40k miles | 30 |
| 40k to 60k miles | 31 |
| 60k to 80k miles | 39 |
| 80k to 100k miles | 47 |
| 100k to 120k miles | 32 |
| 120k to 140k miles | 23 |
| 140k to 160k miles | 19 |
| 160k to 180k miles | 6 |
| 180k to 200k miles | 2 |
| 200k+ miles | 1 |
What the data shows
Of the 270 complaints that include odometer readings, half describe a problem before roughly 76,000 miles. For air bags specifically, the median reported mileage is about 98,000 miles (57 complaints with mileage).
Safety-related details: 11 complaints mention a crash; 2 complaints mention a fire; 15 injuries reported.
Looking only at complaints filed within five years of the model year (so older and newer years are comparable), the 2012 ranks 4th most-complained-about out of 9 model years of the Chevrolet Volt with enough data (142 complaints in that window). It is also covered by 2 safety recall campaigns.
What owners wrote
A few complaints as filed, shortened and with personal details removed. The first ones are among the most serious reports for this model year; the rest are typical.
Tl* the contact owns a 2012 chevrolet volt. The contact stated that the rear reverse light would not illuminate bright enough to determine how close the vehicle was to a wall or a person. The contact stated that the failure caused the contact to crash into and injure two pedestrians while reversing. The dealer made an attempt to resolve the failure and the manufacturer was notified, but denied any assistance with repairs to the vehicle. The vehicle was not repaired.
I was making a left hand turn and was hit by an SUV who ran a red light doing about 35 or 40 miles per hour on front of my car. It hit the front of my car spinning it to the right [about 160 degree turn] when my car spun I hit the back of my head and left shoulder on the door pillar, my head hurt and I was dazed. The airbags had not gone off I hit the onstar button nothing happened I smelled burning so I turned the car off and got out. I now have a minor concussion due to the failure of the airbags to deploy.
Vehicle dies suddenly while moving, although under full electric charge. Could not restart. Chevy said was software problem and made fix dec 2018. Just happened again yesterday 2/17. Others reported on volt blog site. Said wait 5-10 minutes and then restart, which I did and that worked. Concern that loss of power is sudden and without warning. Died in middle of intersection this time but fortunately no cross traffic. This is serious problem -- apparently others have had same issue.
The service airbag light comes on for no apparent reason. It doesn't matter if someone is sitting in the seat or not. If someone is in the seat when this happen the airbag is not armed so it would not deploy in an accident. I am the original owner, it was purchased in october 2011 and has over 90,000 miles on it. This is an important safety issue since the airbag won't deploy during an accident.