Three problems related to check engine light on have been reported for the 2012 Chevrolet Volt. The most recently reported issues are listed below.
The car will shut itself off with very little time to get to the side of the road if that is even a possibility. When switching from battery power to the gas motor. Randomly. The car will die at any speed. First message is low propulsion power. Next message engine not available, service soon. Less than 4 minutes from 1st message to total shut down. Least amount of time between messages and shut down is 15 seconds. Car will decelerate (on highway where vehicles behind have no warning. . . No brake lights that car is rapidly losing speed). Never know when it will happen. Usually car will restart and run terrible. . After 20 minutes or so. After restart car runs bad low power. Check engine light is on. After 10 more minutes of driving. It straightens out. Usually. Dealership unable to find problem. Assorted codes in computer. Very dangerous when driving. Especially when it happens and it is 15 seconds to complete shut down. I have opened a case with Chevrolet. No response as of yet. They were supposed to call within 2 days. I will upload an attempt at restart as it is the only one I have where I was safely in a parking lot when it happened. Usually I am not. And many roads in my area do not have a shoulder.
Driving using cruise control during commute at 60mph. Simultaneously experienced drastic power loss and check engine light. Onstar diagnostics reported an electrical propulsion system malfunction. Attempted to navigate to a safe parking area but eventually lost all propulsion and ended up in a traffic lane. Significant impact to control especially in highway traffic that nearly resulted in a collision.
The contact owns a 2012 Chevrolet Volt. The contact stated that while driving approximately 35 mph, the check engine warning light illuminated intermittently. The vehicle was towed to the dealer where the technician was unable to diagnose the failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the problem. The VIN was not available. The approximate failure mileage was 5,492.