NHTSA Complaint #11567891 — 2017 CHEVROLET VOLT

While we were driving on the freeway, we saw a check engine light and “propulsion power is reduced” message. The car began driving very roughly and we had to slow down. We had this happen once before where the car engine stopped working entirely while driving at city speeds after seeing this error earlier in the summer, so we pulled over as soon as we could. We were traveling in a remote area at the time, just before the holidays, and it was fairly cold out. The car dealer inspected the car and told us it was unsafe to drive, that we could not take it back until it was fixed, and that it was an EGR valve problem. We previously had this fixed under warranty as well for similar behavior, and the car is barely five years old with very few miles on it. It’s our only car and we have been waiting on the part for weeks now, with no response on when we’ll be able to have our car back, and no rental car that we can drive in the meantime to get to our jobs and get groceries. The part is covered under our warranty. Both times this has happened to us, we were actively driving. In the city, it was very unsafe for the engine to unexpectedly stop as we were driving because of the amount of traffic and pedestrians, and because it meant we didn’t have full control of the vehicle. On the freeway, it was very unsafe because of the speed we were going on the freeway. Knowing that our engine was at high risk of unexpectedly stopping working while driving on the freeway from the past experience in the city made it difficult to safely concentrate on pulling over and also maneuver in traffic.