2018 Chevrolet Bolt EV problems
Owners have filed 119 complaints about the 2018 Chevrolet Bolt EV with NHTSA. Steering accounts for 31.1% of them — narrowly the most common, ahead of electrical system at 25.2%.
Complaints119
Crashes2
Fires1
Injuries2
Deaths0
What owners report breaking
Steering 31.1% · 37
Electrical system 25.2% · 30
Power train 10.1% · 12
Fuel/propulsion system 9.2% · 11
Unknown or other 6.7% · 8
Service brakes 5.9% · 7
Engine 4.2% · 5
Vehicle speed control 2.5% · 3
Severity
Of those complaints, 2 describe a crash, 1 describe a fire and 2 report an injury.
Reading the numbers
Across the 4 model years of the Chevrolet Bolt EV in this data, 2018 draws comparatively few complaints; 2017 is the outlier year.
Filings have fallen off, 35 in the last three years against 63 in the three before. The issues here may already have been addressed.
The median odometer reading at the time of complaint was 17,000 miles.
In owners' own words
The factory installed steering rack is binding and fails to return to center. The car has 96,000 miles on it. The steering is dangerous and the vehicle does not track straight even after multiple attempts to align the front end suspension. We replaced the tires, front struts and aligned the vehicle only to discover there is a manufacturing defect in the design of the steering rack. Steering
The steering wheel gets stuck, is difficult to turn, and doesn't return to center. Issues with this make the car much more difficult to drive and makes it impossible to sense the state of the road with the steering wheel. This can lead to loss of control. No warning lamps or messages informed me of this issue. Steering
At about 40k miles my steering changed. The steering would no longer straighten out. It occurred to me on a windy road, and made the drive a lot more difficult as I was not used to it. I just got it fixed from the Chevrolet dealership and they replaced the steering box. Steering
Verbatim from NHTSA filings. Complaints are unverified owner reports.
Safety recalls
Checking NHTSA for open recalls…