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World Of EVEditorial

2020 Chevrolet Bolt EV problems & recalls

NHTSA has issued 8 recalls covering the 2020 Chevrolet Bolt EV and owners have filed 173 complaints. The most-reported area is electrical system (94 complaints). 4 complaints describe a fire and 7 complaints describe a crash. 3 recalls tell owners to park outside until it is fixed.

Recalls
8
Complaints
173
Crash reports
7
Fire reports
4
Injuries
0

Recalls (8)

Oct 31, 2024#24V812000⚠ Park outside

Electrical system › Propulsion system › Traction battery

General Motors, LLC (GM) is recalling certain 2020-2022 Chevrolet Bolt EV and 2022 Bolt EUV vehicles previously repaired under Recall 21V-650. The installation of advanced diagnostic software may have failed. As such, the high voltage battery could catch fire when charged to full or nearly full capacity.

Risk: A battery fire increases the risk of injury.

Fix: Owners are advised to take the following interim steps: Set the Target Charge Level feature in their vehicle to limit the charge level to 90%, charge their vehicle more frequently, avoid depleting the battery to 70 miles range remaining, park outside after charging, and do not charge the vehicle indoors overnight. Dealers will reinstall advanced diagnostic software, free of charge. Owner notification letters were mailed December 3, 2024. Owners may contact the Bolt EV Concierge Team at 1-833-382-4389. GM's number for this recall is N242470160.

Jun 27, 2024#24V481000⚠ Park outside

Electrical system › Propulsion system › Traction battery

General Motors, LLC (GM) is recalling certain 2020-2022 Chevrolet Bolt EV and 2022 Chevrolet Bolt EUV vehicles that were previously remedied under recall number 21V-650. The advanced diagnostic software may have been incorrectly installed and fail to detect defective battery modules, possibly resulting in a battery fire.

Risk: A battery fire increases the risk of injury.

Fix: Owners are advised to take the following interim steps: Set the Target Charge Level feature in their vehicle to limit the charge level to 90%, charge their vehicle more frequently, avoid depleting the battery to 70 miles range remaining, park outside after charging, and do not charge the vehicle indoors overnight. Dealers will reinstall the advanced diagnostic software, free of charge. Owner notification letters were mailed on August 1, 2024. Owners may contact the Bolt EV Concierge Team at 1-833-382-4389. GM's numbers for this recall are N242443000 and N242443002.

Dec 14, 2023#23V845000

Structure › Body › Roof and pillars

General Motors, LLC (GM) is recalling certain 2017-2023 Chevrolet Bolt EV vehicles. This recall includes certain vehicles previously repaired incorrectly under NHTSA recall number 22V-930. After a crash with seat belt pretensioner deployment, the pretensioner exhaust may ignite carpet fibers near the B-pillar, causing a fire.

Risk: A fire increases the risk of injury.

Fix: Dealers will inspect both front seat belt pretensioners and, if necessary, install metal foil at the carpet near the pretensioner exhaust. Certain vehicles will also need a pretensioner cover installed. Repairs will be performed free of charge. Owner notification letters were mailed January 24, 2024. These vehicles were previously recalled for this same issue under recall number 22V-930 and will need to have the new remedy performed. Owners may contact GM EV Concierge at 1-833-EVCHEVY (1-833-382-4389) (TTY 711 / 1-800-833-2438) or Customer Service at 1-800-222-1020. GM's number for this recall is N232421970.

Dec 15, 2022#22V930000

Structure › Body › Roof and pillars

General Motors, LLC (GM) is recalling certain 2017-2023 Chevrolet Bolt EV vehicles. After a crash with seat belt pretensioner deployment, the pretensioner exhaust may ignite carpet fibers near the B-pillar, causing a fire.

Risk: A vehicle fire can increase the risk of injury.

Fix: Dealers will install metal foil at the carpet near the pretensioner exhaust, and install a pretensioner cover as necessary, free of charge. Owner notification letters were mailed between January 23, 2023 and April 25, 2023. Owners may contact Chevrolet customer service at 1-800-222-1020. GM's number for this recall is N222383790.

Aug 20, 2021#21V650000⚠ Park outside

Electrical system › Propulsion system › Traction battery

General Motors, LLC (GM) is recalling certain 2020-2022 Chevrolet Bolt EV and 2022 Chevrolet Bolt EUV vehicles. The high voltage battery could catch fire when charged to full or nearly full capacity.

Risk: A battery fire increases the risk of injury.

Fix: Owners are advised to take the following interim steps: Set the Target Charge Level feature in their vehicle to limit the charge level to 90%, charge their vehicle more frequently, avoid depleting the battery to 70 miles range remaining, park outside after charging, and do not charge the vehicle indoors overnight. Defective battery modules will be replaced by GM, free of charge. Owner notification letters were mailed on October 1, 2021 and June 23, 2023. Owners may contact the Bolt EV Concierge Team at 1-833-382-4389. This recall is an expansion of NHTSA recall 21V-560. GM's number for this recall is N212345940.

Dec 23, 2020#20V811000

Seat belts

General Motors, LLC (GM) is recalling certain 2020 Chevrolet Bolt EV and 2021 GMC Canyon and Sierra 1500, 2500 and 3500, Yukon, Yukon XL, Cadillac Escalade and Escalade ESV and Chevrolet Blazer, Camaro, Colorado, Equinox, Silverado 1500, 2500 and 3500, Suburban and Tahoe vehicles. Incorrect bolts may have been used at one or more fastening locations to secure the seat belts to the vehicle. If an incorrect bolt was used, the seat belt may not be properly attached to the vehicle.

Risk: If a seat belt assembly is not properly attached to the vehicle, the seat belt may not properly restrain an occupant in the event of a crash, increasing the risk of injury.

Fix: GM will notify owners, and dealers will replace the suspect bolts, free of charge. The recall began January 29, 2021. Owners may contact GMC customer service at 1-800-462-8785, Cadillac customer service at 1-800-458-8006, or Chevrolet customer service at 1-800-222-1020. GM's number for this recall is N202322230.

Dec 22, 2020#20V808000

Service brakes, hydraulic › Foundation components › Disc › Caliper

General Motors, LLC (GM) is recalling certain 2020 Chevrolet Bolt EV vehicles. These vehicles may have an improperly cast front left brake caliper that can fracture during a high-pressure braking event.

Risk: If a brake caliper fractures and brake fluid is lost, the vehicle may experience reduced brake performance, increasing the risk of a crash.

Fix: GM will notify owners, and dealers will inspect the casting lot number on the front left brake caliper and replace it if necessary, free of charge. The recall began January 29, 2021. Owners may contact Chevrolet customer service at 1-800-222-1020. GM's number for this recall is N202321400.

Mar 26, 2020#20V184000

Latches/locks/linkages › Doors › Latch

General Motors LLC (GM) is recalling certain 2019-2020 Chevrolet Bolt EV vehicles. The door-handle cable inside the rear doors may be too long, allowing contact with the window when it is opened, possibly damaging the cable. A damaged cable may cause the rear door to open unintentionally when the rear window is opened. Additionally, it may cause the rear inside door handle to not work.

Risk: If the rear door opens while driving, or the door handle fails to open the rear door, there is an increased risk of injury to the rear passengers.

Fix: GM will notify owners, and dealers will replace the rear inside door-handle cables, free of charge. The recall began April 17, 2020. Owners may contact Chevrolet customer service at 1-800-222-1020. GM's number for this recall is A202298320.

Owner complaints (173)

What owners reported to NHTSA, by component. One complaint can name several components.

  • Electrical system94
  • Fuel/propulsion system30
  • Steering22
  • Unknown or other21
  • Power train11
  • Vehicle speed control8
  • Engine8
  • Air bags6
  • Seat belts6
  • Structure5
  • Exterior lighting5
  • Lane departure5

Complaints over time

Jan 2020: 1 complaintFeb 2020: 0 complaintsMar 2020: 0 complaintsApr 2020: 0 complaintsMay 2020: 0 complaintsJun 2020: 0 complaintsJul 2020: 0 complaintsAug 2020: 1 complaintSep 2020: 0 complaintsOct 2020: 0 complaintsNov 2020: 0 complaintsDec 2020: 0 complaintsJan 2021: 0 complaintsFeb 2021: 2 complaintsMar 2021: 3 complaintsApr 2021: 1 complaintMay 2021: 0 complaintsJun 2021: 2 complaintsJul 2021: 2 complaintsAug 2021: 5 complaintsSep 2021: 13 complaintsOct 2021: 1 complaintNov 2021: 2 complaintsDec 2021: 4 complaintsJan 2022: 2 complaintsFeb 2022: 1 complaintMar 2022: 0 complaintsApr 2022: 3 complaintsMay 2022: 1 complaintJun 2022: 4 complaintsJul 2022: 3 complaintsAug 2022: 2 complaintsSep 2022: 1 complaintOct 2022: 7 complaintsNov 2022: 5 complaintsDec 2022: 4 complaintsJan 2023: 4 complaintsFeb 2023: 6 complaintsMar 2023: 6 complaintsApr 2023: 3 complaintsMay 2023: 5 complaintsJun 2023: 3 complaintsJul 2023: 3 complaintsAug 2023: 2 complaintsSep 2023: 1 complaintOct 2023: 4 complaintsNov 2023: 4 complaintsDec 2023: 0 complaintsJan 2024: 3 complaintsFeb 2024: 1 complaintMar 2024: 3 complaintsApr 2024: 2 complaintsMay 2024: 2 complaintsJun 2024: 1 complaintJul 2024: 1 complaintAug 2024: 3 complaintsSep 2024: 4 complaintsOct 2024: 3 complaintsNov 2024: 3 complaintsDec 2024: 2 complaintsJan 2025: 0 complaintsFeb 2025: 2 complaintsMar 2025: 3 complaintsApr 2025: 1 complaintMay 2025: 1 complaintJun 2025: 1 complaintJul 2025: 5 complaintsAug 2025: 3 complaintsSep 2025: 1 complaintOct 2025: 0 complaintsNov 2025: 1 complaintDec 2025: 0 complaintsJan 2026: 3 complaintsFeb 2026: 0 complaintsMar 2026: 0 complaintsApr 2026: 3 complaintsMay 2026: 3 complaintsJun 2026: 4 complaintsJul 2026: 1 complaintAug 2026: 1 complaintSep 2026: 1 complaint202120222023202420252026
Complaints filed per month. Peak: 13 in Sep 2021. Hover a bar for its count.
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Recent owner reports

Sep 16, 2026Electrical system

Camera(s) stopped working altogether after intermittent issues. The vehicle has no functioning backup camera.

Aug 6, 2026Steering

Steering rack is starting to fail at under 47000 miles, car pulls to right during acceleration and pulls left when decelerating. Steering wheel does not return to the center and a slight left pull on the wheel has to be maintained at all times so the car doesn't merge right into traffic. It is available upon inspection request. I almost didn't realize it pulling to the right and almost merged into another car on the highway. It has not been confirmed yet by a third party. It has not been inspected yet. No warning lights or messages occured when it started happening.

Jul 6, 2026Fuel/propulsion system

GM installed Advanced Monitoring Software on the car rather than replace the battery. The software detected a battery fault. Under the battery recall if a fault is detected the battery is replaced free of charge. GM is refusing to replace the battery. Now the car will not move.

Jun 19, 2026Electrical system, Fuel/propulsion system

General Motors is using the arbitrary 6,213-mile tracking window of Recall 944 to deny coverage for a diagnosed Cell Section 3 hardware failure at 123,582 miles. However, this vehicle is directly impacted by the failure parameters outlined in the expanded GM Safety Recall N242470160 / N242470162, where GM openly acknowledges to federal regulators that the advanced diagnostic software has failed to properly detect defective battery modules. By denying a physical battery replacement when a manufacturing defect is caught during a mandatory corporate software reconfiguration, GM is violating the s…

Jun 8, 2026Steering

Steering stiffened over several weeks. Then steering wheel would not automatically return to center while turning while driving. Diagnosed by service as a fault with steering column. This is apparently very common in Chevy Bolts.

Jun 6, 2026Structure

After putting washer fluid in, my son closed the hood. The hood did not latch. He tried again but it still didn’t latch. He lifted the hood to find the hood striker had come off the hood. There was nothing to hold the hood closed. I’ve included photos of the striker welds. There is no rust or tearing of the welds. It just separated. It was a bad weld.

Jun 2, 2026Power train, Electrical system, Fuel/propulsion system

When driving the car through a busy intersection there was a sudden, brief surge of acceleration, followed by deceleration and the vehicle cutting all motor power and becoming inoperable. The MIL lamp illuminated and the "Ready" light went out. I was unable to move the vehicle out of traffic until I got out and disconnected / reconnected the 12v battery to reset the car systems. The problem is difficult to reproduce, happening randomly, sometimes with multiple months between incidents. The incidents happen with no warning, and there are no other symptoms associated with the issue. The dea…

May 15, 2026Vehicle speed control

Accelerating to merge onto the highway the accelerator pedal got stuck under the all weather mat (provided and installed by the manufacturer). When I took my foot off the pedal the vehicle continued to accelerate. I had to break against the force of the motor trying to accelerate until I was going slow enough for the car to allow me to put it into park.

Source: U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) recall and complaint records, updated Oct 1, 2026. Complaints are owner reports and are not verified by NHTSA. Check your VIN at nhtsa.gov/recalls.