Seats Problems of Chevrolet Bolt Ev

I was sitting in the passenger seat of my new 2023 chevy Bolt Ev while parked at a convenience station. The vehicle was on and not hooked up to a charger. I smelled something burning and quickly thereafter I saw smoke coming from under the driver side seat. The driver exited the vehicle and looked under the seat. The driver attempted to put out the fire with his hand and the carpeting under the seat. The fire got bigger. I ran to the closest extinguisher and pulled the pin to extinguish the fire. It was out for several seconds before re-igniting again. Another round of extinguisher foam was released and the fire was put out. I reported the damage to the dealership, the car manufacturer and my insurance company. I towed it to the dealership where it has been sitting since 6/1/24. Nothing further has been done since then. The dealership refuses to assess the vehicle and to date the manufacturer has not sent any inspectors to diagnose the reason of the fire. As a matter of fact my insurance company, the dealership and the manufacturer all advised me to get and pay for my own inspection from a 3rd party inspector which I am working on scheduling now.

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On June 1, 2020, 1-yr old vehicle (4000 miles on odometer) with 55% battery charge lost full propulsion power on a gentle curve on a country road at 40mph in l drive setting. Propulsion gone, steering stiff, warning bells, service-vehicle-soon warning messages. I coasted barely off the road onto the shoulder. Car was towed to dealer. Dealer now says it is a manual service disconnect fault and is waiting for a back-ordered replacement part.

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The seats are horribly shaped and far too narrow in the posterior/buttock/thick area. The ribs along the sides of the seats press into the backs of my legs (I am 5'8, 160lbs and 35 years old) to the point where I get bruises after driving the car for 5 minutes. They are just designed extremely poorly. Furthermore, exiting the vehicle requires me to place my entire body weight on a thin piece of plastic along the side of the seat while sliding off if it, further giving me bruises. I have ordered a thicker seat cushion to assist with the problem, but I fear that I will be pushed up higher and not securely anchored to the seat since I will be sitting above the side bolstering, potentially creating a major safety risk. I've leased the car so I'm locked in, but I cannot continue to drive it with these seats as there is too much pain, even for hours after driving has completed.

See all problems of the 2017 Chevrolet Bolt Ev 🔎.

After driving the bolt for one hour I discovered that hard plastic pieces of the seat could be felt through the bottom cushion causing severe leg pain and numbness. The pain took 3 days to go away. The short duration of the test drive was not enough time to feel this pain. After talking to hundreds of people in various online forums I've discovered this is a very common issue with the bolt. Apparently in a certain percentage of bolts (~%25) there is insufficient padding applied to the seat. I have seen pictures that show a bolt with proper padding and one without and there is a difference of up to 2x in height. I have seen pictures of the foam inside the seat and it varies significantly between bolts. I am requesting that Chevrolet recalls the seats that are defective and adds proper padding to them. I currently have to add a large seat cushion to the seat which compromises my ability to drive the car as it puts me at a height where the rearview mirror no longer works and I roll around in the seat when I go around corners. This is a health issue and a safety issue. I've attached a picture of examples of conversations where many people are reporting this problem.

The seats are uncomfortable to the point where it hurts my rear end and lower back. Albeit my personal opinion, it seems the padding is inadequate. Furthermore, the back of the seat appears to have a gap in it so everytime you lean back, the seat clicks. This isn't a defect but rather a poorly designed seat. The seat issue will pass any test drive because the test drive is so short. I've never owned a car with seats like this, used or new and chevy should issue a recall for the seats.

Front seats have inadequate padding and sharp frame perimeters causing lower leg discomfort and during longer than 20 minute drives leading to numbnesss in the legs creating a unsafe operating condition.