2017 Chevrolet Volt: steering wheel locks up

5 of the 703 complaints about the 2017 Chevrolet Volt describe steering wheel locks up.

owner complaints: 5
of this car's complaints: 1%
recalls: 0

Is there a fix? 14 service bulletins cover this area of the car. See below

Steering wheel locks up by model year

2017
5
2013
1
2012
1
2011
1

What owners say

Filed Feb 27, 2024 · Electrical, Fuel system · CA

Propulsion error, steering wheel locked up today, last week shut off to dead stop while idling, trouble restarting. Speed and sudden battery drop issues. 14 miles without any power steering. Unsafe.

Filed Oct 31, 2019 · Engine, Fuel system · 18,881 miles · CA

While driving on a busy surface street the vehicle lost all propulsion and stalled. Steering locked up, was disabled, and electric power stopped. The warning light read "action required - shift to park'. This stall is immediate and highly dangerous. I was able to glide to the side of the road without being in or causing an accident. The orange engine symbol was illuminated. All systems shut down on the vehicle. The car was towed to the nearest chevy dealership but we were unable to turn off the vehicle or shift it in neutral. The car start button would not turn off the vehicle and had to be towed running and the battery disabled at the dealership.

Filed Oct 31, 2019 · Engine, Fuel system · 50 miles · CA

On my 2nd day of ownership when the vehicle had 50 miles on it the vehicle stopped without warning in the middle of the highway. While driving 65 MPH on interstate 5 (4 lane highway) the vehicle began smoking and lost all propulsion and forward power. The vehicle had just changed from electric power to gas power. The warning message displayed was "action required - shift to park". The orange engine symbol was displayed. Then the steering wheel locked up, all displays and controls were turned off. Luckily I was able to move from the 2nd to far right lane of 4 and get just off the highway. There was just enough space to glide the vehicle to a stop off the highway. However, the i5 is the primary trucking route and in this uphill location all semi trucks are required to drive in the far right lane. My vehicle was swayed continuously by the large high profile vehicles for over 2 hours. A chp stayed with me with flashing lights to attempt to move vehicles to the left. The vehicle was towed to the nearest dealership. The vehicle was replaced by the dealership with another vehicle after 9 hours. However, I am now in arbitration with gm over the same issue "action required - shift to park" with the 2nd vehicle. The vehicle has been in service for 95 days over an 8 month period and I am seeking a vehicle buyback under the california lemon law with the bbb for impairment of value, use, and safely.

Filed Jun 18, 2019 · Steering · 28,000 miles · WA

Electric power steering failed - almost caused a wreck and it would have it it happened in traffic or parking garage or accident avoidance maneuver. The car is 3 yrs and 3 months old with approx 28,000 easy miles- the first 2017 in spokane delivered in 2016 (yes, a 2017 built in early 2016). The lt version. Happened after typical city drive on all electric in modest temperatures and clear weather and running on electric. My wife was turning into the driveway and it felt like the steering locked but I believe it just turned very hard at low speed with no power assist. No warning. After this occurred she powered down and powered back on the car and there was a message saying "power steering is working, drive carefully" so came in and told me because it was not working. This is the first time this happened, it recovered in about 10 minutes and worked like normal for a few days now. She does not want to drive the volt now. Fti another same model volt lt delivered to local dealer in the same batch of volts, the third volt delivered to same local dealer, had many many more issues with power steering. I love my volt, an otherwise great safe and well handling car.

Filed Jul 2, 2017 · Electrical, Engine · 4,300 miles · VA

The car literally just stopped working as I was turning on a busy road, so I was stuck right in the middle of the road with cars nearly smashing into the back of me. The steering wheel locked up. The accelerator stopped working. I couldn't turn it off or on- it was kind on just stuck in an alternate mode. There was an orange engine symbol that was lit up and it kept saying "shift to park" but I would shift and nothing would happen. I couldn't put it in neutral so I could push it to a safer location. Nothing. The technician on the phone didn't know what was wrong with it, but someone who stopped to help said he used to work on these cars and said it happens quite often and it there was absolutely nothing I could have done to fix it (I thought I remember him saying something about an engine switch problem, but I was so frazzled I wasn't really listening to him) . If this had happened on a highway I could have been killed. I don't know how these cars have no been recalled.