Chevrolet Volt Owner Claims Unintended Acceleration

A Chevrolet Volt owner is claiming to have experienced unintended acceleration during highway driving in his range-extended electric car.

Sharing his experience on the enthusiast forum GM-Volt.com the owner, who goes by the screen name lsteiner, says he inadvertently pressed the power button four times in succession rather than the drive mode button (which is located just above the power button).

Reportedly, the car’s LCD screen experienced problems, the air conditioning turned off and hot air came through the cabin vents. Then the user says his 2013 model year Volt lurched forward as if the throttle were being applied. After pushing the brake and releasing the pedal, the car allegedly rushed forward again with the gasoline engine revving “at its highest point.”

The user then writes that he drove to the side of the road, slowed the car to a stop by stepping heavily on the brake and pressing the power button.

There are two complaints listed on the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration site relating to problems with the car after the driver mistakenly pressing the power button several times. In those cases, the car lost power while driving rather than accelerating.

A General Motors spokesperson was unavailable to comment.

There are no recorded complaints filed with NHSTA by other Volt owners.

UPDATE: After the publication of this story, a Chevrolet spokesperson issued the following statement at 3:07 p.m. EST

“We are aware of the incident. We are investigating it and trying to work with the customer. We are not aware of the situation for any other vehicles.” She also clarified that General Motors is not aware of any other instances of the same problem occurring.

[Source: The Truth About Cars]