Coscienzios

Model years to avoid

Chevrolet Volt

What it says about you

Opinion

The plug-in that solved range anxiety before anyone solved batteries, and got discontinued for being too clever. You still defend it, correctly.

Not measured, not from the data, and offered in fun. Everything below this is not.

9 model years on record, 1,854 complaints filed.

The years to look at closely: 2017 (shift park). Everything else drew a normal number of complaints for this model.

What owners report, and when

Faults that dominated the complaints of more than one model year. Not the same question as which year to avoid — a car can have an ordinary number of complaints every year and have most of them be about the same thing.

  • shift park 2016, 2017, 2018 peak 37.4% of that year's complaints
  • seat 2011, 2013 peak 33.4% of that year's complaints
  • turn off 2017, 2018 peak 33% of that year's complaints

Every year

  1. 2019 2 recalls 34 complaints
  2. 2018 2 recalls 219 complaints
  3. 2017 shift park 694 complaints
  4. 2016 1 recall 169 complaints
  5. 2015 1 recall 43 complaints
  6. 2014 0 recalls 93 complaints
  7. 2013 3 recalls 308 complaints
  8. 2012 2 recalls 245 complaints
  9. 2011 1 recall 49 complaints

What does a Chevrolet Volt say about you?

Loading comments…

Source: NHTSA complaints, recalls and investigations, retrieved . A year is flagged when it drew at least 2.5× this model's median and at least 50 complaints — compared against itself rather than against other cars, so popularity and age do not decide the answer.