2019 Chevrolet Bolt EV
Complaints about this year name battery far more often than the model's other years — 37% of them, about 91× the usual rate of 0.4%.
NHTSA opened a defect investigation into this model year.
| Complaints filed | 175 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 58 |
| Involving a crash | 2 |
| Involving a fire | 10 |
| Recalls | 6 |
| NHTSA crash rating | 5/5 |
| EPA combined | 119 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- family — 12.6% of this year's complaints, against 2.6% across the model's other years (4.8×). Owners wrote it as: family, timely manner, half, follow.
- must — 8% of this year's complaints, against 1.6% across the model's other years (4.9×).
- smoke — 8.6% of this year's complaints, against 2% across the model's other years (4.2×). Owners wrote it as: smoke, quickly, white, underneath.
Words owners used for the same problem are counted together, so a fault written four different ways is measured once. Grouped by which complaints they appear in, not by a list anyone wrote in advance.
Also unusual this year
- fire — 29% of complaints, 6× usual
- cars — 14% of complaints, 34× usual
- steering — 28% of complaints, 4× usual
What owners wrote
I made the mistke of purchasing a Chevy Bolt EV in 2019. The cars have been on a recall since 11/2020 for batteries that set fire. Three times Chevy has called my car back to the dealership and done nothing but reduce my battery charge level to 80%. This is no…
GENERAL MOTORS WILL NOT PROVIDE A SOLUTION TO POTENTIAL BATTERY FIRES, AS IDENTIFIED IN THEIR RECENT RECALL OF CHEVROLET BOLTS. MINE IS A 2019 AND IS PART OF THE CURRENT RECALL.
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 20V184000 LATCHES/LOCKS/LINKAGES Fixed free of charge.
- 21V560000 ELECTRICAL SYSTEM Fixed free of charge.
- 20V701000 ELECTRICAL SYSTEM Fixed free of charge.
- 18V576000 SERVICE BRAKES, HYDRAULIC Fixed free of charge.
- 22V930000 STRUCTURE Fixed free of charge.
- 23V845000 STRUCTURE Fixed free of charge.
How this was worked out
Every year of the Chevrolet Bolt EV was compared against its own history rather than against other cars, which removes popularity and age from the answer — a common car draws more complaints at equal reliability, and an older one has had longer to accumulate them. A year is flagged when it drew at least 2.5× this model's median and at least 50 complaints.
This is a fault record, not a review. Nobody files a federal complaint to say the car was fine, so it shows what tends to go wrong — not whether owners liked it, and not whether it is a good car.
Source: NHTSA complaints, recalls and investigations, retrieved . Look this vehicle up directly on NHTSA's site to check anything here.
Own a 2019 Chevrolet Bolt EV? What happened to yours?
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