While driving on a city street, regen stopped working and braking stopped functioning to a point of almost crashing. Almost immediately following the regen issues, the service stabilitrack warning displayed on the dash along with the ABS and brake lights going on. Even at less than 5mph in a parking lot to reach the tow truck, trying to stop was a lesson in fear and frustration. This is now the 3rd time this vehicle is at the dealership for this catastrophic problem. 1st time was march 2018 while on the highway at highway speeds, 2nd time february 2019 and now april 2019.
The worst 2014 Chevrolet Spark EV problems
Ranked by number of owner complaints. Mileage and cost come from what owners wrote.
- Brakes3
- Driver assistance1
- Transmission1
Problems by type
Tap a problem to see which part fails, at what mileage and in which other years.
- Brakes3
- Driver assistance1
- Transmission1
Recalls 3
Latches/locks/linkages: hood: latch
- What is wrong
- General Motors, LLC (GM) is recalling certain 2013-2015 Chevrolet Spark and 2014-2015 Chevrolet Spark EV vehicles. The secondary hood latch may corrode at the latch pivot, preventing the hood latch from properly engaging.
- Risk
- A hood latch failure can result in the vehicle's hood opening unexpectedly, increasing the risk of a crash.
- Remedy
- Dealers will replace the hood striker assembly and hood latch assembly, free of charge. Owner notification letters were mailed June 12, 2023. Owners may contact Chevrolet customer service at 1‑800‑222‑1020. GM's number for this recall is A222359300. This recall supersedes and expands the federal safety agency recall number 14V‑593. Vehicles previously repaired under 14V‑593 will need to have the new remedy performed.
Recall number 22V640000 · Recall details
Seat belts: pretensioner
- What is wrong
- General Motors LLC (GM) is recalling certain model year 2014-2016 Buick Lacrosse and Chevrolet Spark EV, Caprice PPV and SS vehicles, 2014-2017 Buick Encore and Chevrolet Corvette, Silverado 1500 and GMC Sierra 1500 vehicles, 2015-2016 Cadillac Escalade and Escalade ESV, Chevrolet Tahoe, Trax, Suburban and Silverado 2500 and 3500 and GMC Yukon and Yukon XL vehicles, and 2015-2017 GMC Sierra HD 2500 and 3500 vehicles. While being previously remedied for recall 16V‑651, the affected vehicles may not have received the complete software update necessary to remedy the recall condition. Without the update, certain driving conditions may cause the air bag sensing and diagnostic module (SDM) software to activate a diagnostic test. During this test, deployment of the frontal air bags and the seat belt pretensioners would not occur in the event of a crash.
- Risk
- A failure of the front air bags or seat belt pretensioners to deploy in the event of a crash necessitating deployment increases the risk of injury to the driver and front passenger.
- Remedy
- GM will notify owners, and dealers will reflash the SDM software. Vehicles that have had a previous air bag deployment will have the SDM replaced. These repairs will be performed free of charge. The recall began on August 4, 2017. Owners may contact Buick customer service at 1‑800‑521‑7300, Cadillac customer service at 1‑800‑458‑8006, Chevrolet customer service at 1‑800‑222‑1020, or GMC customer service at 1‑800‑462‑8782. GM's number for this recall is 17287.
Recall number 17V437000 · Recall details
Seat belts: pretensioner
- What is wrong
- General Motors LLC (GM) is recalling certain model year 2015-2017 Chevrolet Silverado 2500 HD, 3500 HD, Tahoe, Suburban, GMC Sierra 2500 HD and 3500 HD, GMC Yukon, GMC Yukon XL, Cadillac Escalade and Cadillac Escalade ESV vehicles and 2014-2017 Chevrolet Corvette, Silverado 1500, Trax, Caprice Police Pursuit Vehicle, GMC Sierra 1500, Buick Encore, and 2014-2016 Buick Lacrosse, Chevrolet Spark EV and SS vehicles. In the affected vehicles, certain driving conditions may cause the air bag sensing and diagnostic module (SDM) software to activate a diagnostic test. During this test, deployment of the frontal air bags and the seat belt pretensioners would not occur in the event of a crash.
- Risk
- A failure of the front air bags or seat belt pretensioners to deploy in the event of a crash necessitating deployment increases the risk of injury to the driver and front passenger.
- Remedy
- GM will notify owners, and dealers will reflash the SDM software. Vehicles that have had a previous air bag deployment will have the SDM replaced. These repairs will be performed free of charge. The recall began on October 13, 2016. Owners may contact Buick customer service at 1‑800‑521‑7300, Cadillac customer service at 1‑800‑458‑8006, Chevrolet customer service at 1‑800‑222‑1020, or GMC customer service at 1‑800‑462‑8782. GM's number for this recall is 16007.
Recall number 16V651000 · Recall details
See all 3 recalls for the 2014 Chevrolet Spark EV
Defect investigations
Pedestrian alert sounds
the federal safety agency received a petition on or about July 18, 2022, requesting that Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) 141 be applied to all electric and hybrid vehicles operating in the United States. The petition can be reviewed at under ODI Number 11486072. FMVSS 141 establishes performance requirements for pedestrian alert sounds for motor vehicles. The standard applies to hybrid and electric vehicles that have a gross vehicle weight rating of 4,536 KG or less or are defined as low-speed vehicles. The standard became fully applicable to all such vehicles manufactured on or after March 1, 2021.On January 27, 2023, the federal safety agency opened Defect Petition (DP) 22-005 to evaluate the subject matter described in the petition. On June 24, 2023 and as supplemented on June 25, 2023, the petitioner notified the federal safety agency he was withdrawing his petition. The petitioner indicated that, based on his review of data, there is no justification for asserting potential benefits that could be derived from actions sought by my petition. Based on the petitioner's withdrawal, DP22-005 is closed. Closure of this DP does not represent a determination by the federal safety agency regarding the subject matter of the petition.
DP22005
Technical service bulletins for the 2014 Chevrolet Spark EV 1,226
Bulletins tell dealers how to fix known problems. A warranty extension means the manufacturer pays for that repair for longer.
- Unknown or other
- This PI provides Diagnostics tips on how the LIN bus works and how to diagnosis it.
- Unknown or other
- Unknown or other
- Unknown or other
- Unknown or other
- New Vehicle Monitoring Programs Section in IVH
- This Warranty Administration service bulletin provides Lithium-Ion battery Exchange Process and...
- Unknown or other
- This service bulletin provides information on Tire Sidewall Irregularities.
What 2014 Chevrolet Spark EV owners say
Most recent owner complaints, unedited.
When attempting to park the vehicle I place it in park without issue while the vehicle is on. Once I then attempt to turn the vehicle off an error appears stating "shift to park. This is despite the fact that it has been in park without any issue prior to attempting to turn the vehicle off. The vehicle refuses to fully shut down, draining the accessory 12v battery as it remains connected to bluetooth, the tail lights remain on, and an interior warning noise continues to ring. The car has less than 12k miles.
I was driving my spark EV to the dealer around 1:45pm on 12/29/2016 for them to fix the non-functioning heat, the airbag pretensioner recall, and failure to fast-charge. I was traveling straight at about 25 MPH on a residential street. When the car in front of me stopped I tried to stop but the brake pedal went to the floor and the car failed to stop. In an instant I checked to be sure I wasn't pressing the accelerator, then pushed with all my might even harder on the brake pedal. The car eventually stopped but only after coming within an inch of the car in front of me. My car sounded a warning "ding," and the dash illuminated the service light, the stabilitrak light, and the parking brake light, and the message in the middle of the display said "service stabilitrak module." see attached image for what was displayed. I put the car into low and moved it into the parking strip. It was still incredibly difficult to stop. I power cycled the car and within 5 seconds of starting up the same error was displayed and the brake pedal was nearly useless. I called the dealer and they told me to call chevy roadside assistance. They had me wait 90 minutes in the cold with a car with no heat for the tow truck to arrive. I was only a few blocks from where I would have been getting on the freeway. If this had happened on the freeway then I am certain that serious injury or death would have resulted. The car is now at wentworth chevy in portland, or. I have had other brake issues with this car before. Last year the electronic parking brake was failing to release on only one wheel, which would become evident at highway speeds when the car would start shaking violently and one rear wheel would get very hot. It took 3-4 visits for the dealer to repair it, mostly because they didn't believe me the first few visits..
The brakes on the car stopped working at full power, it took 5x longer for the car to come to a complete stop. Took to dealer, did recall repairs. Same symptoms returned after several days of normal operation. When the brakes start to loose full braking power there are many warning lights that appear on the instrument panel. This car is unsafe to drive and is again acknowledge at the dealer awaiting diagnoses. The car is under full warranty, it has 26k miles. I was going about 50mph
Compare the 2014 Chevrolet Spark EV
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Questions about the 2014 Chevrolet Spark EV
Is the 2014 Chevrolet Spark EV reliable?
Owners have filed 4 complaints about the 2014 Chevrolet Spark EV, fewer than a typical Spark EV model year.
What is the most common problem with the 2014 Chevrolet Spark EV?
Brakes, with 3 complaints. Next is driver assistance (1).
How many recalls does the 2014 Chevrolet Spark EV have?
3 recalls, covering latches/locks/linkages and seat belts.
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