I've received a few calls from my Volt advisor asking me to schedule an appt. for a software update, then today she said the update was on hold. Have you guys received these calls too? What's in this software update?

Fleming
Melbourne, FL

Is this the software update that has been discussed in several different threads lately (service bulletin 11137)?

I would wait on the update. My Volt has had a few problems since the update.

I just had it done today and I'm waiting for the dealer to deliver the car. I'll let you know if I notice any difference. B-1567

My Volt recieved the update Monday, wile in to get the charge port door sensor problem fixed.
One thing that I thought would be in the update was the fix for the problem with the delayed charging being overridden with out connecting and reconnecting the plug.

Even though I had not experienced this problem before, I did today.

So was this correction included or not?

I did specificly ask the dealer for that update.

Also as others had mentioned on the other update thread, my Volt was returned clean but with the battery 28 miles lower on charge and about 18 miles more on the odometers, no gas was used.

One thing that I thought would be in the update was the fix for the problem with the delayed charging being overridden with out connecting and reconnecting the plug.

Do you have another thread that describes this? You can override right before exiting the car like is clarified in this thread: http://gm-volt.com/forum/showthread.php?9075-Support-the-movement-charge-quot-off-peak-quot-even-if-you-don-t-have-TOU-hourly-plan.

Well it wiped out all of my radio presets, as someone warned that it would. I specifically asked them to charge the car with their Level 2 charger, and they promised that they would. It was returned with 8 miles of AER showing. I would be willing to bet that someone either didn't know enough to override the preset charging time, or just forgot. Oh well, everybody has to learn sometime. Stay tuned.

We got the Volt software update today and really wish GM would let us know what was changed or fixed. It really would be great to get the KW/mile data on the LCD instead of miles driven, or in addition to that.

I was not trying to overide the delay, it just did it by it self, a bug that the up grade was suposed to fix.

Back to the original post to this thread. Is GM recommending that we wait if we have not yet got the update? Perhaps a VA could comment on this?

I had the update done on my Volt #2389 and have had no problems whatsoever, and I have put 2,305 miles on since, including separate trips to Arkansas and Chicago. The update is subtle, somewhat like a Microsoft security update. The dealer said 7 modules were re-programmed. Other than the delayed charging not being delayed, nobody has mentioned specific problems. I use delayed 240 volt charging and have not seen that problem. Could it be that your estimated start time was before the charge would be complete, so it started charging earlier? (Option is something like charge based on rate and drive time).

You trusted GM enough to buy the Volt, why wouldn't you trust their update based on a year of engineering experience? (It's not some small software company putting out a new version). I think it's commendable that the update did not include "mission creep"; changes wanted that would not be documented in the owner's manual. And for those of you who want to turn the radio completely off (it would be in violation of Federal Vehicle Safety Standards because the radio is used for the turn signal sound and various chime warnings), they could have done something that made the radio look like it was off, but it would still be consuming power. (Do you guys also unplug your toasters when they are not being used??)

Yes, I had to reset the time, radio resets and some vehicle configuration options, but no big deal doing that.

...including separate trips to Arkansas and Chicago...

Another Volt came to Arkansas and I missed it! I still have not seen a Volt on the road other than mine.

@ Frankman,

If you have not had the update yet, we do recommend that you wait. We will let you know when we are ready to start up again. If you have had the update and are experiencing an issue with your Volt, hold off for now and once the newest revision is complete you can take it in to your dealer to be looked at. I will keep everyone on here updated and once the revision is complete, I will make a post.

Trevor, you just replied 1 hour ago and I had mine done last Thursday after the first "software update pause" was issued. What issue is it now?

So far I've noticed that my battery no longer charges to 40 miles and my steering is slightly heavier.

@AllenL

I have not been told any specifics, I have just been told that it is temporarily on hold while they make another minor revision. Like I said, I will keep everyone updated, and once the revision is made, I will be posting about it.

I've been a "propeller head" enough years that I should have known (and really did) when the first notice was given.

Maybe January would be a good time frame?

This is one time when my procrastinating personality has really paid off. I didn't get the adviser call on the first round, but I did on the second and I have been a slacker in calling back. Good thing!


@ Frankman,

If you have not had the update yet, we do recommend that you wait. We will let you know when we are ready to start up again. If you have had the update and are experiencing an issue with your Volt, hold off for now and once the newest revision is complete you can take it in to your dealer to be looked at. I will keep everyone on here updated and once the revision is complete, I will make a post.

@AllenL

I have not been told any specifics, I have just been told that it is temporarily on hold while they make another minor revision. Like I said, I will keep everyone updated, and once the revision is made, I will be posting about it.

Trevor, I think it's important for us to know at this point when this next revision is released whether it's considered, critical; high/medium/low, cosmetic or simply suggested.

I for one am not particularly interested in putting up with my dealer again anytime soon and would prefer my next visit (if I have to have one) to be of a warranty nature and simply get an update at that time as well, if one exists.

As GM/Chevy has introduced a product with significant technological advances over the standard automobile it's a sad predicament for those of us who want more than simply to drive from point A to B economically to have to deal with such an arcane infrastructure, our dealers, which really have no clue what this is all about. To them if it don't fit, get a hammer and if it still don't fit, get a bigger hammer.

Amen.

But please don't be one of those people that sticks to one bad dealer. Try other ones since it's a Chevy and not a Lambo, you have choices, and they are all owned and operated by different people with differing levels of service.


Trevor, I think it's important for us to know at this point when this next revision is released whether it's considered, critical; high/medium/low, cosmetic or simply suggested.

I for one am not particularly interested in putting up with my dealer again anytime soon and would prefer my next visit (if I have to have one) to be of a warranty nature and simply get an update at that time as well, if one exists.

As GM/Chevy has introduced a product with significant technological advances over the standard automobile it's a sad predicament for those of us who want more than simply to drive from point A to B economically to have to deal with such an arcane infrastructure, our dealers, which really have no clue what this is all about. To them if it don't fit, get a hammer and if it still don't fit, get a bigger hammer.

But please don't be one of those people that sticks to one bad dealer. Try other ones since it's a Chevy and not a Lambo, you have choices

You are absolutely correct but when you live in far northwest harris county . . . you probably get my drift of inconvenience.

So . . . we'll see.

I would wait on the update. My Volt has had a few problems since the update.

So I am scheduled to drop the car off tomorrow night so they can do the deed Wednesday - - they tell me the upgrade takes about 4.5 hours. Is it worth the risk of fixing something that isn't broken?

# 565

I Would wait a few weeks or a month if you can wait.

So I am scheduled to drop the car off tomorrow night so they can do the deed Wednesday - - they tell me the upgrade takes about 4.5 hours. Is it worth the risk of fixing something that isn't broken?

# 565

I spoke with my VA "Kevin" yesterday. He told me that they had put the upgrade on hold again because they were trying to streamline the upgrade and reduce it to a much shorter process. I'm guessing that the bean counters at GM are looking at 4+ hour warranty claims from the dealers and are hoping that they can shorten the time and reduce their costs.

When the upgrade was first announced, I decided that I had no reason to be on the bleeding edge of that process. I'm glad I waited and I will continue to wait.
Stuart #B2209

I spoke with my VA "Kevin" yesterday. He told me that they had put the upgrade on hold again because they were trying to streamline the upgrade and reduce it to a much shorter process. I'm guessing that the bean counters at GM are looking at 4+ hour warranty claims from the dealers and are hoping that they can shorten the time and reduce their costs.

When the upgrade was first announced, I decided that I had no reason to be on the bleeding edge of that process. I'm glad I waited and I will continue to wait.
Stuart #B2209

Not sure why you are thinking of it negatively and as "bean counters" as it behooves so many people if they can optimize this process. Helps the dealerships, the techs doing the work and helps the end users (us) as we may choose to wait or shop nearby vs renting a car, etc. It is a great thing they are doing IMHO to stop a rollout and adjust. They get some heat but they are reacting and being agile. Props to them I say!!

you're right. I agree completely. didnt mean to say that this was a bad thing. Just thought that the financial realities of the upgrade were probably driving the moment. In any case, streamlining and becoming more efficient is a good idea.
Stuart #B2209

And for those of you who want to turn the radio completely off (it would be in violation of Federal Vehicle Safety Standards because the radio is used for the turn signal sound and various chime warnings), they could have done something that made the radio look like it was off, but it would still be consuming power. (Do you guys also unplug your toasters when they are not being used??)

Where did that come from? I can't speak for everyone who is annoyed by the radio behavior, but I'm not asking for the turn signal sounds to be silenced or anything like that.

It's not a matter of consuming power, it's a matter of not being able to do simple things like toggle the climate control recirc setting or take a quick look at the GPS map without the audio system suddenly coming on.

btw, I have learned to hit the mute button in these circumstances, but (1) the brief bit of sound is still annoying, and (2) if I'm in the middle of a podcast or recorded book, to which I usually listen when driving alone but not when carrying passengers, it loses my place.

That said, I don't expect this software update to change this. If I'm incorrect then I'll be pleasantly surprised.


But please don't be one of those people that sticks to one bad dealer. Try other ones since it's a Chevy and not a Lambo, you have choices, and they are all owned and operated by different people with differing levels of service.

I'm displeased with my dealer's service department, so we've essentially decided to switch. But it's not necessarily easy to find a better one. I have reasons to believe the service department at the dealer closest to my house would be even worse. There was a time, according to my grandfather a couple of decades ago, that all GM repairmen were crooks. :)

Got my software update done on Monday. Last night (2nd nightly charge cycle - first "normal" cycle where I plug it in and delayed charging starts the charge at 11PM) the car did not charge. Found out when I went to take the garbage out for weekly pickup. There was a red light on the 240V EVSE. There was a message on the DIC "unable to charge" (scary). Unplugged and replugged. By departure for work time it was close to fully charged.
This morning after plugging in at work (at reduced charge rate) I got a text message (timestamped about 30 minutes after start of charge) that the car was not charging. Walked out to the parking structure and all was well. Probably just coincidental.
Not able to tell of any changes other than the various sound volumes were kind of out of whack and the radio favorite stations were gone - and set to all kinds of things.

Got my update today. Disappointed that it didn't include the kilowatthours (kWh) as the 2012 models have. Called the VA's and they mentioned the 2011s will not be getting the kWh readout. Other than that, I haven't noticed too much. Seems like the ECO climate fan control is a little slower. VA said they basically corrected a few glitches.

Tom
1996

Got my update today. Called the VA's . . . Tom
1996

The last I heard, Trevor said the update was on hold and that he would let us all know when it was available again. Did you hear from a VA that it was now available again, or did you just go in because you didn't hear about it being on hold? I cancelled my appointment based on the "on hold" announcement and a call to my VA on Wednesday morning.

Trevor, can you weigh in?

I Would wait a few weeks or a month if you can wait.

I have delayed as you suggested.....

Thanks!

# 565

Since getting the software upgrade my VOLT no longer shows an estimated battery range beyond 40 miles when fully charged. It used to regularly predict 42 - 44 miles range with a full charge. I have not made any changes to driving style or AC settings.
** There's another thing I have noticed** It is very subtle, but I believe this has changed. It seems the deceleration rate when removing my foot from the accelerator while driving in L has lessened. It does not feel the same as before, it seems like the car rolls farther in L than it did before the upgrade, and I seem to be using more brake pedal to stop. Driving on the same street, to the same traffic light, at the same speed as before the upgrade, I now must use more aggressive braking to stop, whereas before the upgrade I would practically come to a complete stop in that same distance only by coasting in L.
I would like to know why this range prediction has decreased, and if anyone from GM can comment on the deceleration in L aspect regarding the upgrade.... or is it just me .

The update did not affect my range prediction. I still see 40-42 miles every morning.

The update did not affect my range prediction. I still see 40-42 miles every morning.

I've also had the software update although I'm not 100% WHICH ONE. I think it was after the first hold but before the second. Jeez! :p

This morning my predicted range was 48 miles. I drove 31 to get to work and it says I have 25 left. :)

I have been holding off on this update until I hear about the success and issues. They have put a hold on this a couple times, still waiting on it to stabilize.

I have been holding off on this update until I hear about the success and issues. They have put a hold on this a couple times, still waiting on it to stabilize.

Can you say . . . wait for it . . . wait . . . MICROSOFT! :eek::eek:

Does one have to make an appointment with the dealer and drop it off for an extended time for it to be completed (like my BMW has to) or can I just schedule a time and wait about 30 mins for them to complete it?? Other than that I have no reason to take my Volt to the dealership. Oil change still shows 75% after 7000 miles. Nice one!

They are updating 7 modules and it takes more than 2 1/2 hours. You also need to bring in your charger at the same time.

And I was told that your battery must be fully charged. For me that means taking it in and leaving it overnight so they can charge it at 120V. (My closest dealer is 40 miles away and they don't have a 240V charging station yet.)

And I was told that your battery must be fully charged. For me that means taking it in and leaving it overnight so they can charge it at 120V. (My closest dealer is 40 miles away and they don't have a 240V charging station yet.)

I had mine updated this week. The car did not have to be fully charged, but it does have to be plugged in (mine was plugged in using 120V) during the update process.

We had our Volt software updated 2 days ago. The battery had 15 miles left so you don't need a full charge. The entire update took 1:30 from start to finish. Our Volt has 7,800 miles so I had the tires rotated and set to 45psi. I also had the oil changed. I know it wasn't due but I like to do the first oil change on a new engine early. We do have a fair amount of engine use as we took a trip from Michigan to Florida and back, plus our weekly trips of 100 miles each way on weekend to our cottage on Michigan's thumb. Our update included the usual clock error issue and we also no longer show a range above 40 miles. The actual mileage seems to be a bit better than before. We have always noticed that we would lose about 3 miles in the first mile after charging. That no longer happens.

After upgrading the software on Sept 13th, my car is finally showing a full battery charge predictive range above 40 miles as it did the previous 9 months. I'm not sure why it was showing less than, or no more than 40 mile range for two weeks after the upgrade, but it had me concerned I was never going to get the high battery mileage predictions in the mid 40s and I thought the upgrade was to make the car more efficient. This morning it is up to 42 predicted miles. All seems fairly close to normal again with that aspect of the car with the newer software and I hope the predicted miles return to 44-45 as they used to. A sigh of relief....

Sounds like the FL temp might have something to do with that. Is it cooling off there?

Mine jumped up without a software upgrade. But it jumped overnight from a real world (not estimated) 31 mile range to a real world 42 mile range. That was wierd.

It's now slowly creaping down to around 36 real world.

Wish I had more of the data of the car to know why the dramatic changes with very little change in outside temp.

After upgrading the software on Sept 13th, my car is finally showing a full battery charge predictive range above 40 miles as it did the previous 9 months. I'm not sure why it was showing less than, or no more than 40 mile range for two weeks after the upgrade, but it had me concerned I was never going to get the high battery mileage predictions in the mid 40s and I thought the upgrade was to make the car more efficient. This morning it is up to 42 predicted miles. All seems fairly close to normal again with that aspect of the car with the newer software and I hope the predicted miles return to 44-45 as they used to. A sigh of relief....

After upgrading the software on Sept 13th, my car is finally showing a full battery charge predictive range above 40 miles as it did the previous 9 months.

I upgraded on September 28, and my estimated range decreased from 44-45 recently to 40 miles the morning after. It's hard to say if it still loves me the morning after or not. ;)

There was nothing that was changed in the updates that would or could have any affect on range.
Are you sure it wasnt TTT?
WOT

There was nothing that was changed in the updates that wuld or could have any affect on range. Are you sure it wasnt TTT?
WOT

WOT, remember, we are not talking range, but estimated range, the number that shows up on the DIC screen and on RemoteLink after a full charge. Many Volt owners noticed a change in the estimate the day after they had the update. Do you think they all changed TTT at that particular time?

I remember mentioning to my wife that the estimate might be lower than before and was just happy that it was 40 and not 38.

What, please, is TTT ? It's not in the recent list of acronyms that were posted

What, please, is TTT ? It's not in the recent list of acronyms that were posted

It's GM's way of saying YMMV (your mileage may vary) as applied to Volt electric range. Let's see terrain, temperature, and something else I can't remember that means whether you drive like a hypermiler or a speed demon. Oh, yeah, technique.

It's GM's way of saying YMMV (your mileage may vary) as applied to Volt electric range. Let's see terrain, temperature, and something else I can't remember that means whether you drive like a hypermiler or a speed demon. Oh, yeah, technique.

LOL :D
Would have hoped you were kidding...but I guess not.

LOL :D
Would have hoped you were kidding...but I guess not.

No kidding. Check it out here:

http://www.chevroletvoltage.com/index.php/videos.html?task=videodirectlink&id=274

The update did not affect my range prediction. I still see 40-42 miles every morning.

Got my upgrade yesterday and got the car back without the battery being recharged....(boo!) so this morning was the first real range prediction. I have been getting a prediction in the mid 40's - - sometimes as high as 47 or 48. Today it was 37. I will be interested to see how long it takes to "learn" what a more accurate prediction would be. Of course the temperature was down near 40 F with a cold rain falling so the lights, wipers, and heater/defroster were on a lot today so it was not a stellar day for EV milage.

The other interesting thing was that they had to re-home the tire sensors since the software upgrade apparently got those confused...but only on the driver's side tires.....

# 565 @ nearly 13k miles and lifetime 157 mpg

WOT, remember, we are not talking range, but estimated range, the number that shows up on the DIC screen and on RemoteLink after a full charge. Many Volt owners noticed a change in the estimate the day after they had the update. Do you think they all changed TTT at that particular time?

I remember mentioning to my wife that the estimate might be lower than before and was just happy that it was 40 and not 38.No the reflash merely reset your statistical baselines. Providing conditions (TTT) remain the same your range estimates will certainly return to whatever they were before.
WOT

No the reflash merely reset your statistical baselines. Providing conditions (TTT) remain the same your range estimates will certainly return to whatever they were before.
WOT

I think we are actually saying the same thing. :)

BTW, congratulations. The last time I looked, you were a moderator; now you are a Super Moderator! I always thought you were super. ;)

I think we are actually saying the same thing. :)

BTW, congratulations. The last time I looked, you were a moderator; now you are a Super Moderator! I always thought you were super. ;)

And the difference between a Super WOT and a regular WOT? Several thousand Volts!

Heh, heh, heh.....thanks for all you do.

# 565

LOL
u2 crack me up
Thanks!
WOT

OK, so now it's been about three weeks since I had the software update. I've noticed no change in the car whatsoever and I didn't think at first that this had anything to do with the update but, I've now tried four different USB flash drives to transfer music to my HDD. Two of these were the same that I had been using previously and not one of the four now work. In every case I'm presented with the display, "This media cannot be used".
I know the USB port itself still works as the system recognizes my iPhone when plugged in.

There is another thread following USB flash drive problems but I'm wondering if anyone else has noticed this (or any other issue) since the update?

What do I gain and what do I lose with this upgrade? Is it ready for prime time yet? I havn't had my car to the dealer in 8 months so I have the original program. My biggest gripe is the dumb a_s input screen for nav, give me a qwerty keyboard.

What do I gain and what do I lose with this upgrade? Is it ready for prime time yet? I havn't had my car to the dealer in 8 months so I have the original program. My biggest gribe is the dumb a_s input screen for nav, give me a qwerty keyboard.

In the Volt, you only need one "key" to enter an address: the blue one overhead.

In the Volt, you only need one "key" to enter an address: the blue one overhead.

Good point, but being a guy that doesn't like to ask for directions I still want a QWERTY keyboard!

Good point, but being a guy that doesn't like to ask for directions I still want a QWERTY keyboard!I agree, the address entry isn't very good. That's why I use Google Maps or my phone to locate an address and send it to my Volt. And, I can do this ahead of time without even being in the car.

How do you send a Google Maps address to the Volt? Sounds good but I have no idea how to do this.

Rick Cyber Gray Volt# B 2919

How do you send a Google Maps address to the Volt? Sounds good but I have no idea how to do this.
Got to maps.google.com.
Enter your address.
Click the postage envelope icon in the upper right of the Google Maps window.
Select Car under the Send to: list
Select Chevrolet under Make:
Enter your Onstar user name
Enter a name tag you want to give the destination
Click the send button

Then, when you get in the car, press the black Onstar phone button (not the blue button). You will get a prompt "Onstar Ready". Then say "Virtual Advisor". You will be prompted with the saved destination, and asked if you want to download it.

You can also do this using the OnStar RemoteLink app on an iPhone or Android phone.

Thanks, I will try it out soon.

Rick, Cyber Gray Volt# B 2919

How do you send an address entry, or route instructions, from google maps? I do use my OnStar remote link.

How do you send an address entry, or route instructions, from google maps? I do use my OnStar remote link.

Open the RemoteLink app and select "Nav" from the bottom scrolling menu bar. Use the search bar to look for your destination, or use the voice search command. You can then either hit the pin and then select the down arrow icon to get to the "send to in-dash nav" button, or hit the middle icon (the one with three bars and the magnifying glass) to get a list of possible destinations. Select the destination you want and "send to in-dash nav."

In my experience (i.e., the one time I tried to do this), when I sent the destination to my car prior to going out to the garage, the destination did not load. I went to my nav address book and went to virtual advisor, but the destination wasn't there. But, when I tried to resend while the car was on, the destination loaded up into the nav automatically. So, it looks like the computer-based google maps "send to car" is the way to go if you can pre-plan, but if you are trying to find something while "on the go" then the remotelink app is very handy. Yes, I could always call OnStar and talk to someone, but hey, I'm anti-social :)

OK, so now it's been about three weeks since I had the software update. I've noticed no change in the car whatsoever and I didn't think at first that this had anything to do with the update but, I've now tried four different USB flash drives to transfer music to my HDD. Two of these were the same that I had been using previously and not one of the four now work. In every case I'm presented with the display, "This media cannot be used".
I know the USB port itself still works as the system recognizes my iPhone when plugged in.

There is another thread following USB flash drive problems but I'm wondering if anyone else has noticed this (or any other issue) since the update?AFAIK there was nothing in the most recent set of updates that could be related to your USB port issues. I suggest you reformat your USB device and try reinsyalling the files. Make sure no M4A files are being uploaded and that NONE of the MP3 filenames include an exclaimation mark "!" which has been known to cause problems.
In what format is your music? all MP3??
WopOnTour


PS> Let's try to keep this thread on-track with respect to the recent software updates. If you want to discuss navigation techniques I suggest you start a new thread, Thanks! - WOT

I had the 11137 software update installed yesterday during my 7500 mile maintenance. I haven't noticed any changes (i.e. radio presets, projected range, etc.) so far.

Edit: My local dealer in York, PA got their Volt demo two weeks ago and sold their first Volt last week!!

Got my upgrade yesterday and got the car back without the battery being recharged....(boo!) so this morning was the first real range prediction. I have been getting a prediction in the mid 40's - - sometimes as high as 47 or 48. Today it was 37. I will be interested to see how long it takes to "learn" what a more accurate prediction would be. Of course the temperature was down near 40 F with a cold rain falling so the lights, wipers, and heater/defroster were on a lot today so it was not a stellar day for EV milage.

The other interesting thing was that they had to re-home the tire sensors since the software upgrade apparently got those confused...but only on the driver's side tires.....

# 565 @ nearly 13k miles and lifetime 157 mpg

One week after getting the update, my projected EV miles from a full battery has now risen from 37 to 42. I have been averaging over 45 for most of the week so the learning curve for the software is inching the milage projection closer to the actual average I have been getting. Frankly, that seems a bit quicker than 10 months ago when I first got the car.

Other than having to reset the radio stations, this milage prediction is the only difference I have seen with the new software. That is good I guess.

I have been bouncing around to different work locations on this tank of gas. At the moment, I have driven over 800 miles with this tank and have used only 3.3 gal.

# 565 @ 13,302 miles and lifetime average of 158 mpg

I received a call today from my Volt Advisor, she left a msg stating that my Volt needs a software upgrade, which would take two to three hours...So, I called my dealer who knows nothing about it! Nice communication GM!
Volt #1219
PS:My Volt was at the dealer for 10 days for a major repair, I was hoping the bugs were worked out.....

And the major repair was???

AFAIK there was nothing in the most recent set of updates that could be related to your USB port issues. I suggest you reformat your USB device and try reinstalling the files.

Didn't unequivocally state it was the software upgrade. Just stated the problems have started since. I've deleted and created new partitions on all the USB flash drives. Have formatted as FAT32, even tried MacOS HFS+. The problem doesn't seem to have anything to do with file names, the system won't read the flash drive at all. As mentioned previously the message is; "This media cannot be used".

And the USB port is functioning, at least it recognizes my iPhone.


Make sure no M4A files are being uploaded

I have successfully uploaded M4A files in the past before this problem started.


and that NONE of the MP3 filenames include an exclaimation mark "!" which has been known to cause problems.

None of my files have any special characters in the file name.


In what format is your music? all MP3??

Both




PS> Let's try to keep this thread on-track with respect to the recent software updates. If you want to discuss navigation techniques I suggest you start a new thread, Thanks! - WOT

Was this directed at my post? I made no mention of navigation techniques of any kind.

I received a call today from my Volt Advisor, she left a msg stating that my Volt needs a software upgrade, which would take two to three hours...So, I called my dealer who knows nothing about it! Nice communication GM!
Volt #1219
PS:My Volt was at the dealer for 10 days for a major repair, I was hoping the bugs were worked out.....The Volt advisors are calling 2011 owners and requesting they book an appointment to have the update.
So your dealer isnt really part of that until YOU call them to do so, at your own convenience.
Volt owners are essentially the only car owners in the world that get phone calls that their is a software update for their car...

HOWEVER, assuming your car WAS at the dealership recently for some sort of major concern (as you have indicated) I would be real surprised if your dealer hadn't already installed all of the most recent software updates.But there's certainly no real way for your Volt advisor to know that.
It might say if this was done on your copy of the service/repair order or perhaps call your dealer to confirm this was already completed by the Volt technician.

HTH
WopOnTour

The car quit on me, "Engine not available"
Dealer replaced Valve Body, Transmission.
Control Solenoid Valve and Transmission.
Oxygen Sensor.
Radiator

My Mileage 4503

PS: Since the car WAS at the Dealership...

I leased my 2011 Volt last month. My Volt Adviser called me on Wednesday to tell me that I needed the software update. So she contacted the closest dealership (I didn't get the Volt from them) and scheduled an appointment first thing Friday morning for me. It was great. I love that GM went the extra mile and is really taking care of Volt owners. I feel special. I love that. I tell everyone that will listen how well I'm being treated and what a great car the Volt is. My friends were happy that I finally got the car so that, "Maybe now you'll shutup talking about it all the time." But once they got in it, they love it too. Telling them about "My Volt Adviser" really makes GM look good to people who normally wouldn't consider buying a car from them.

And then I took my Volt in to the dealership first thing Friday morning.

A service adviser comes out and asks if he can help me. I tell him I have an appointment to get my car's software update. So he asks me which service adviser took the appointment. I have no idea. He asks the other advisers if they have an appointment for a Volt. None of them do. He hems and haws and doesn't know what to do. I ask him what's wrong and he says they all work on commission so he can't help me because then he would take away some other advisers job. I'm thinking to myself, "Why is this my problem?" I ask him, "Don't you guys have an appointment database that you can look at?" They don't. Each adviser only knows their own appointments. Finally he goes and gets the service manager. The manager doesn't know anything either but at least tells me they'll help me. I tell him that I was on the phone with the Volt Adviser and heard her make the appointment with this dealership. And he tells me, "Don't listen to anything that GM tells you. They don't know anything. If you want something done, call us and we'll take care of it. That's just someone sitting in an office who has no idea what's going on." I tried to tell him that they called me about an important software update and it was the dealership that couldn't figure out what to do. But he just kept saying that GM corporate is clueless. At this point I'm just completely baffled. Finally the service adviser that made my appointment shows up. He was stuck in traffic. I was finally able to get my loaner and go to work.

The experience was less than stellar. Everyone was really nice. But they really need to invest in some basic calendar software.

And to top it off, the software update wiped out all my settings for lights, radio presets, and locking. Oh and the welcome chime about blew me out of the car. Being somewhat OCD, I sat in the service area for 15 minutes while I reset everything back to where I had it before. I'm sure they thought I was nuts.

I love the car and don't regret for a minute getting it. I guess I just wanted to vent. So far I can't tell a difference between the car before and after the update.

I leased my 2011 Volt last month. My Volt Adviser called me on Wednesday to tell me that I needed the software update. So she contacted the closest dealership (I didn't get the Volt from them) and scheduled an appointment first thing Friday morning for me. It was great. I love that GM went the extra mile and is really taking care of Volt owners. I feel special. I love that. I tell everyone that will listen how well I'm being treated and what a great car the Volt is. My friends were happy that I finally got the car so that, "Maybe now you'll shutup talking about it all the time." But once they got in it, they love it too. Telling them about "My Volt Adviser" really makes GM look good to people who normally wouldn't consider buying a car from them.

And then I took my Volt in to the dealership first thing Friday morning.

A service adviser comes out and asks if he can help me. I tell him I have an appointment to get my car's software update. So he asks me which service adviser took the appointment. I have no idea. He asks the other advisers if they have an appointment for a Volt. None of them do. He hems and haws and doesn't know what to do. I ask him what's wrong and he says they all work on commission so he can't help me because then he would take away some other advisers job. I'm thinking to myself, "Why is this my problem?" I ask him, "Don't you guys have an appointment database that you can look at?" They don't. Each adviser only knows their own appointments. Finally he goes and gets the service manager. The manager doesn't know anything either but at least tells me they'll help me. I tell him that I was on the phone with the Volt Adviser and heard her make the appointment with this dealership. And he tells me, "Don't listen to anything that GM tells you. They don't know anything. If you want something done, call us and we'll take care of it. That's just someone sitting in an office who has no idea what's going on." I tried to tell him that they called me about an important software update and it was the dealership that couldn't figure out what to do. But he just kept saying that GM corporate is clueless. At this point I'm just completely baffled. Finally the service adviser that made my appointment shows up. He was stuck in traffic. I was finally able to get my loaner and go to work.

The experience was less than stellar. Everyone was really nice. But they really need to invest in some basic calendar software.

And to top it off, the software update wiped out all my settings for lights, radio presets, and locking. Oh and the welcome chime about blew me out of the car. Being somewhat OCD, I sat in the service area for 15 minutes while I reset everything back to where I had it before. I'm sure they thought I was nuts.

I love the car and don't regret for a minute getting it. I guess I just wanted to vent. So far I can't tell a difference between the car before and after the update.

Sorry to hear about your experience. I am fortunate enough to live close to the dealer I purchased from in Fairfax, VA and they take very good care of my Volt. When I first got it on January 2 2011, I was having some strange problems. Since my car is # 565, it was still new enough that all of us - me, the dealer, and GM - were still kind of figuring things out. GM actually flew two engineers from Detroit to my house to look at the car (it was perfect), the SPX 240v charging station (it was perfect too), my house electrical connections (perfect) and my connection to Virginia Dominion Power Company (faulty equipment). Can you imagine that kind of customer service??? (BTW, Dominion was really great about fixing the problem.) GM has put a lot of effort into making this car the rock star of a generation and I can't say enough positive about it.

# 565 @ 13,604 miles, lifetime 158 mpg

I just had my #11137A Software upgrade today, I had the same issues with the chime and the radio setting, which I didn't mind reprogramming. However, now my Backup Camera doesn't work. I can't even find it under config, as per the owners manual.I called my GM Volt advisor "Victor", he thinks the service tech didn't select all the options for my car. So,back to the dealer we go...again.

I just had my #11137A Software upgrade today, I had the same issues with the chime and the radio setting, which I didn't mind reprogramming. However, now my Backup Camera doesn't work. I can't even find it under config, as per the owners manual.I called my GM Volt advisor "Victor", he thinks the service tech didn't select all the options for my car. So,back to the dealer we go...again.

That has happened to several folks here and it is most likely as described by your advisor.

That has happened to several folks here and it is most likely as described by your advisor.

Which is why this place is so great. After reading about others having the camera problem, I checked mine out before leaving the dealer. Back in the service bay right then, fixed in a very short time, and away we went. :)

I am still missing the little icon for seat heaters on the climate control display page, but my VA assures me I can get the fix through OnStar. Anybody out there do this?

I am still missing the little icon for seat heaters on the climate control display page, but my VA assures me I can get the fix through OnStar. Anybody out there do this?

I would be surprised if OnStar can fix this. I have yet to hear one positive thing about this software upgrade. The best comments I have read are neutral about the upgrade and its effects on the vehicle. Everyone says that the user preference settings are wiped out and some have reported problems like the missing seat heater controls and back up camera. The upgrade was halted 3 times by GM while additional changes were made. If anyone that has had the upgrade and can post something positive about how the vehicle performs after the upgrade compared to before the upgrade please post your comments. My GM Volt advisor assured me that the update is not urgent and addresses no safety issues. She told me that it would be fine to wait until my next scheduled service that would be in about a year and that is what I plan to do unless I see something positive about it posted here. It's just my Volt is working great for me as it is now and I would hate to mess that up.

Just got a call from my Volt Adviser stating that there is an available computer software upgrade for the 2011 Volt, that enhances things like: miles per charge - seat heaters - HVAC, and some other items. She said that the upgrade would take approximately 2 to 3 hours at my local dealer. I will call tomorrow to set up an appointment.

Pat #271

Wow, they seem a little late in the notice. I had mine done several weeks ago, but got the notice about a month earlier. It was also posted here before that.

Didn't they say this update has nothing for increasing electric range?

I still have not done it even though I got that call a long time ago.


Just got a call from my Volt Adviser stating that there is an available computer software upgrade for the 2011 Volt, that enhances things like: miles per charge - seat heaters - HVAC, and some other items. She said that the upgrade would take approximately 2 to 3 hours at my local dealer. I will call tomorrow to set up an appointment.

Pat #271

foypat, there's another thread about this that you might want to peruse:

http://gm-volt.com/forum/showthread.php?9088-2011-Software-Update

Got my software update done in August. No problems whatsoever and the effect is very subtle. But I suspect much engineering feedback and improvement have gone into the little things, such as winter climate control performance. They also changed the label on the rear fuse panel. I would strongly encourage you to get it done. If you check with your Volt advisor, I believe they can get you a car to use while it's being done, if needed. In my case, my dealer also gave my Volt and thorough going-over and pronounced it ship shape.

I created a thread (click here (http://gm-volt.com/forum/showthread.php?9315)) a while ago when I got the 'Urgent Safety Recall Notice' postcard in the mail. When I talked to the adviser at that time they indicated they were currently not pushing the updates as they were optimizing the procedures to make them more efficient. Sounds like that may be done (2-3 hours vs 4ish before?).

I'm having the update done on my Volt today. Got a call last week reminding me about it from Chevrolet.

I have yet to receive a call from my VA about the update, but this doesn't surprise me, my VA is never on top of things. She called me after I had my volt for 3 months, and started off the call with... "Now that you have had your volt for 30 days" and which point I stopped her and told her when I got my Volt, and she still insisted this was her 30 day call...

I have yet to receive a call from my VA about the update, but this doesn't surprise me, my VA is never on top of things. She called me after I had my volt for 3 months, and started off the call with... "Now that you have had your volt for 30 days" and which point I stopped her and told her when I got my Volt, and she still insisted this was her 30 day call...

I had an advisor like that. I requested a new advisor.

For the Houston people, which dealer have you used for the update? I don't want to be their first since I am not a fan of going to dealer already.

I went in to my Chevy dealer to have the tires rotated and while there, they offered to do the software upgrade. It only took them about 1.5 hours and was shown as"11137 product enhancements and update moduels Authorization code S19BC 11D57. I did not notice anything different while driving both on Battery or ICE mode. I did notice the rear view camera grid lines are now red instead of green. I'll know more as I drive it. I am curious about any NAV updates or changes. I'll post later if anything significant comes up. It will be interesting to see how much estimated range I have tomorrow morning after level 2 charging.

I did notice the rear view camera grid lines are now red instead of green.
Interesting. My grid lines were always red, before and after the upgrade.

Interesting. My grid lines were always red, before and after the upgrade.
Mine always have been orange, except for the red area (logical 6") that would be closest to the bumper plus the 2 little short nubs.

Mine always have been orange, except for the red area (logical 6") that would be closest to the bumper plus the 2 little short nubs.
Ok, I'm going to have to look carefully when I drive the car after work. I sure haven't noticed the difference. Wonder what else I've been missing...

Well, I checked mine when I left work. The grid is all red. I suppose it could be somewhat orange if the brightness is set different, but it sure looks red to me. We are talking about the rear camera lines that bend when you turn the steering wheel, right?

Interesting. My grid lines were always red, before and after the upgrade.

Mine too - red is still red.....

# 565 @ 13,966 miles, 160 lifetime mpg

Well, you got me looking, and I discovered that mine are the same as Scott's. If you would have asked me before I looked, I would have said they are all orange or they are all red. In fact they are orange except for the part nearest the back bumper and those are red just like Scott said.

Just got my call from the Volt Advisor offering the update......SHOULD I DO IT OR NOT???

I'm leery because I've seen nothing but problems on this site about that upgrade.

I had the 11137 software update installed yesterday during my 7500 mile maintenance. I haven't noticed any changes (i.e. radio presets, projected range, etc.) so far.

Turns out the software update was not done on 8/13.

I had my Volt in today to repair the "charge door open" alert problem and they also did the software update and I'm seeing the same loss of radio presets, reduced projected range, and return to original settings on alert/welcome chimes that everyone else has noted.

So, I guess they haven't come up with an improved method of installing the updates that maintains your customized settings, as I had thought.

So what is gained by the software update? Should I stay away from it???

I have held off on the update, thank you all 2011 guiena pigs. I guess it is probably as good as it is going to get. I guess I will schedule the update in the next couple weeks.

I have held off on the update, thank you all 2011 guiena pigs. I guess it is probably as good as it is going to get. I guess I will schedule the update in the next couple weeks.

I've been waiting for people like you to bite the bullet on that update. I think I'll wait and be "the last Volt standing." While I am sure that you plan on posting about it, if it hadn't crossed your mind, please do post your update experience.
Stuart #B2209

If anyone that has had the upgrade and can post something positive about how the vehicle performs after the upgrade compared to before the upgrade please post your comments.

I used some heat on my drive home this evening for the first time since getting the software update, and with a 71 deg temperature setting on ECO I actually felt some warm air coming from the vents.

Just got my call from the Volt Advisor offering the update......SHOULD I DO IT OR NOT???

I'm leery because I've seen nothing but problems on this site about that upgrade.

Yes, do it. The changes all are subtle, mostly tweaks to various control algorithms. Some changes are safety-related, and that's one reason that GM encourages the upgrade. Plus, surely they prefer all 2011 Volts to operate with the same software.

Any reported problems either were unconfirmed, or were related to improper procedures at the dealership (resulting in some lost presets). At worst you might have to reprogram some "favorites" (e.g. radio stations and Audio Cue volume).

I'll post later if anything significant comes up. It will be interesting to see how much estimated range I have tomorrow morning after level 2 charging.

Any updates on your software upgrade?

I've seen many complaints about it, at least as a result of the initial release.
For those who did it, but after the re-release, please advise!
Any problems, issues, or concerns? Did your VOLT run just as well as before. I really don't want to upset the apple cart.
Thanks!

I am not aware of any issues, other than many many months ago when they started and then temporarily stopped. Had mine done over a month ago. Painless.

I had the upgrade done yesterday no problems - you will need to reset the time and redo some presets

One area GM could improve - retain your presets and reset the time!

Did both of my 2011 Volts with no issues, except having to reset the radio presets.

Radio and my "Open All Doors" preset. No big deal as I wrote down all my radio presets before the update.

Yeah my Volt advisor keeps sending me reminders to go in for the upgrade. Do I need to leave the car overnight or can I go in and out in a couple hours?

Debating if I take it to the dealership where I live (which not that happy with) or take it to another dealership that is closer to my work.

Thanks!

Is it possible to get a service bulliten that details the exact updates that are performed? I won't update my computer without this kind of data, why should I update my car? My Volt advisor says that she does not have access to update data, but that I'd have to contact my dealer. Unfortunately, dealers are used to servicing PARTS, and give you a blank stare about software updates. Not in their realm...

Is it possible to get a service bulliten that details the exact updates that are performed? I won't update my computer without this kind of data, why should I update my car? My Volt advisor says that she does not have access to update data, but that I'd have to contact my dealer. Unfortunately, dealers are used to servicing PARTS, and give you a blank stare about software updates. Not in their realm...Excuse me? Ummm no.
Actually your GM dealer is VERY familiar to performing these types of software updates as they have been doing it since the early 90s and probably do as many as 2-10 daily. (depending on the size of the dealer)

There IS an internal notice as to these updates but no external paperwork as all of the affected 2011 Volt owners are being contacted personally via telephone/Onstar.

This "Customer Satisfaction/Product Enhancement" update (aka Campaign 11137B) will perform specific operating system and calibration updates on the following modules (in programming sequence):

-Radio Module
-HVAC Module
-On-Board Charging Module
-Battery Energy Control Module
-Hybrid Powertrain Control Module 2
-Engine Control Module
-Power Inverter Control Module
-Body Control Module

*As part of the campaign they will also install a new fuse panel label under the LH rear compartment hatch to remedy a printing error.

About the only negative is that ALL of your current statistical baselines for EV and fuel range will be "reset". So assuming you are getting better than average EV/CD range estimates for a full charge they MAY appear to temporarily decrease until a new baseline can be established over 3-10 EV drive-charge cycles. Certain "personalizations" and radio presets will be lost as part of the procedure as well, but easily readjusted after the update.

These update will both improve vehicle operation as well as correct certain self-diagnostic routines making it less likely certain DTCs will set falsely. It is highly recommended that ALL 2011 Volts that are being contacted receive the updates.

If any 2011 owners haven’t been contacted and are uncertain if your Volt is affected, please call your dealer with your VIN and they can quickly determine if your Volt is slated for "Required Field Actions". Alternatively you could contact your Volt advisor and they should be able to tell you.

HTH
WopOnTour

I had the recall 11137 update done a little over a month ago. As with most people, EV baseline changed and radio presets were lost. No problem. However, I also lost the heated seats icons from the Climate Control screen. I went back last week for the dealer to run recall 11264, which was supposed to fix that. It did not. Went back this week to have them repeat 11264. It still didn't work. They were on the phone with GM engineering team, who were reported to have responded with, "huh!" (I asked the service manager was was the technical term for that. ;) )

Waiting for another call this coming week when GM has a better idea. In case you are wondering, yes, I do have heated seats. Any ideas WOT?

Hello Fellow Volt Owners:

I noticed that my mileage per charge has dropped considerably since my last computer update. I was able to easily crack 48 to 50 miles per charge now I am 38 avg. it is colder now here in NJ. This is the first October I have had my car. I purchased it in April of 2011. Could the cold eat up 10 miles per charge. I am not utilizing the heater. I am conditioning my battery 15 minutes before I use it every morning. I have a 240 charge system that is working properly. It is garage kept. I have 3000 miles on my vehicle, all electric.

Has anyone experienced ths phenonomen?

From what I understand, 10 miles of charge lost is pretty reasonable, especially considering you were getting such great numbers earlier. We are just entering the time of year where a lot of energy is eaten up keeping the battery, as well as ourselves, warm.

Dan

If you feel its software related you could always ask the dealership to roll back the software. The thing about that is new software is released for a reason such as improvements to old software etc. I believe what Dandet has said is correct. Its more likely a weather related issue.

I had the software upgrade done in August and did not notice the difference in range, or any other significant changes. As they say, "your mileage will vary", it it depends on quite a number of factors, including ambient temperature.

Big Moe...I am experiencing the exact same issue since the update 4 weeks ago, and I am in NJ as well. My drop is more severe. I was getting a constant 40 miles until the update, and now I am getting around 26-27. It is extremely frustrating. While the weather is cooler, it was about the same as when I took delivery of the car in April...and was getting 39-40 miles then. I thought it just might be a calibration issue on the miles meter, but I have let it run down at least 5 times now, and these are the actual miles I am getting. If anyone has any ideas or had the same experience...would love to hear about it.

Personally, I would hold off. I had it done a month ago, and my electric range has dropped by a third. I did a longer post in another software updater thread...

We should be seeing a certain # of kWh used during a recharge. I wonder if the software upgrade cut into the "width" of the charge capacity somewhat? If it was using say 30% through 85% and after software upgrade, could it be 33% to 83% or some such "trimming"? Software changes could do that by adjusting the cut-off points of the charging cycle. Do any of you have a "Kill-a-Watt" device to look at how many kWh are used by the 120V charger during a recharge? It would be nice to know if the # of kWh going in has dropped and it is not using as many kWh to recharge.

Definitely contact the dealer and Volt Advisor to go over this. It sounds like if weather conditions are the same - it may be software releated.

I'm in the DC area and haven't yet received the software update. I was in the high 40's in range for most of the summer and am now down about 10 miles due to the recent weather. My one piece of data would suggest that it may be a temperature issue and not a software update issue. I'm scheduling the software update this week and will also get the tires rotated. I may have more information on range issues later this week.

When I first had the upgrade my "predicted" range after charging dropped for about a week. That had me worried that the new software was going to decrease my battery range, but nothing like that happened. In fact, just over a week ago, I beat my old personal record for battery range of 48.5 miles and drove for an all time NEW HIGH of 52.1 miles! The "predicted" miles after a full charge have also returned to their normal 44-45 miles .

Another from facebook:

K.R. - I've had major issues with mileage loss not charging. Before the software upgrade I always got 40-43 miles. The day after the "upgrade" I can't get past 36. Back in April when it was cold I always got 38. Now at those same temps I can't get past 31!!!

K.R. - I so wish it were a weather change, but no it changed literally the next day and that was in August. Now here in October with the same temps as April when I bought the car the mileage is way, way off too. In April with the same temps as now I was getting 38 miles on a charge now I can't get past 31. I can't be alone because my dealer and Volt adviser are working with the tech guys in Detroit as others are complaining and they're trying to get to the bottom of it. One of the 'solutions' was to drive it to zero miles and recharge three times, thus supposedly resetting the system. That didn't work they say so the newer solution is to drive it to zero five
times and recharge it. That hasn't worked for me either so they technicians work on.

If you feel its software related you could always ask the dealership to roll back the software. The thing about that is new software is released for a reason such as improvements to old software etc. I believe what Dandet has said is correct. Its more likely a weather related issue.

I so wish it were a weather change, but no it changed literally the next
day and that was in August. Now here in October with the same temps as
April when I bought the car the mileage is way, way off too. In April with
the same temps as now I was getting 38 miles on a charge now I can't get
past 31. I can't be alone because my dealer and Volt adviser are working
with the tech guys in Detroit as others are complaining and they're trying
to get to the bottom of it. One of the 'solutions' was to drive it to zero miles and recharge three times, thus supposedly resetting the system. That didn't work they say so the newer solution is to drive it to zero five
times and recharge it. That hasn't worked for me either so the
technicians work on.

Is this only for 2011 model year and not 2012?

I hope you don't have the 10 mile drop in range I have had since that software update.

We should be seeing a certain # of kWh used during a recharge. I wonder if the software upgrade cut into the "width" of the charge capacity somewhat? If it was using say 30% through 85% and after software upgrade, could it be 33% to 83% or some such "trimming"? Software changes could do that by adjusting the cut-off points of the charging cycle. Do any of you have a "Kill-a-Watt" device to look at how many kWh are used by the 120V charger during a recharge? It would be nice to know if the # of kWh going in has dropped and it is not using as many kWh to recharge.

Definitely contact the dealer and Volt Advisor to go over this. It sounds like if weather conditions are the same - it may be software releated.

This sounds like the best suggestion to me. Without knowing what the battery is actually using the possible other causes make it near impossible to determine the cause of the loss of range. I think I remember reading that in the upgrade they tweeked how the climate control worked. That could be part of the issue. And not that I'm trying to shift the blame to you but could you have changed your driving styles and accessory settings slightly and that is having an adverse effect on range. I know that I was driving like an absolute granny when I first got my car to see the max ranges I could manage. I'm driving a bit more aggressively now(gunning it to pass someone really chews up range!LOL), also I've moved from fan only to eco for my climate settings and I'm sure that has an effect too. Just some thoughts.

There are two issues and maybe three:

1. The update probably sets the default range of the car back to 35 miles. It will take a while for the car to recalibrate this number to your previous range.

2. Cold weather will significantly drop the range. I think someone said last year on one day they only managed to get 25 miles rather than the 45 they normally got this summer.

3. The software update may degrade the range.

I doubt number 3 but certainly anything in software is possible so it can't be ruled out. But you should probably wait a couple of weeks after the upgrade before worrying too much about the range. What would be especially helpful is that the weather will warm up and you can see if that makes a difference.

On a personal note, sitting in sun at 70F the weather on the East Coast looks horrible. Hope you guys back there come out of it quickly and with minimal issues. Having grown up there, this cold and snow came EARLY!

My one piece of data would suggest that it may be a temperature issue and not a software update issue. I'm scheduling the software update this week and will also get the tires rotated.

I too have not had the update (not been contacted yet either ?). My AER range was 46-50, now with the colder temps 37-38. Since CO has such variable weather I can see it going up and down. When we get mid 70's Im back in the mid 40's, and the next day when them temps drop into the 30's, the AER will drop to high 30's. A few days later the temps went back up and so did my miles.

I have only had the car show 40 (max) once since i picked it up a week or so ago. Since then the temperature has dropped (low 40's). I'm now getting into the car and it says 36 Miles and (I precondition and it sits in a a garage) I also hardly run the heat. However, when i actually drive it i'm getting over 40 electric miles so the range showing when i start isn't what I am actually getting in real world, i'm getting more.

So the question is what is the mileage you are actually getting (not what it displays) now on a full charge? it should show on your onstar stats.

I had the update done a week ago and have noticed absolutely no change in the performance of the vehicle since having the update performed. If, for some reason, you are worried about having the update performed, then by all means don't have it done. However, GM is doing a good thing here for customers, especially those of us with early VINs, by bringing all 2011 Volts up to the same software level. It's really just a bonus for you because once you have it done, you know you are running around with software that represents all that GM learned during the initial roll out of the vehicles.

JMHO

I'll be a guinea pig on Friday when I get the update. My Volt Advisor assured me that the "drop" is simply the estimation algorithm being reset to factory defaults. I'm most curious about the brake feel changes I heard rumors of but she had no input on that.

Meanwhile, I have not changed a thing and the cold weather has dragged me down into the mid 30s from mid 40s in the past week or so. Back in March when I got the car, I suffered in the cold for some dumb reason I can't recall. This season, I'm pre-warming on 120 which zaps a few miles off, then setting ECO 72F. My average day is easily covered with 30 miles AER so there's no real cost except 0.10 worth of electricity each day.

I live in northeast NJ and haven't had the software update yet. I've had my Volt sine early may and have pretty consistently had a range of 38-42 miles. Over the past week or so I've easily seen a decrease of about 10 miles. I do the same commute everyday 26 miles each way (240 charging at work as well as home).

Even though it was expected from reading how the cold weather effects range it was pretty shocking how i was able to see a difference literally overnight.

Personally, I would hold off. I had it done a month ago, and my electric range has dropped by a third. I did a longer post in another software updater thread...This would have little to do with the software updates themselves.
Any immediate drop in estimated range would be due to the "zeroing" of the statistical base-lines that manage the algorithm. Assuming the outside tempertatures were identical (and identical driving habits) , normal EV range will have returned within 10 or so complete drive>charge>drive cycles.

However, any decrease after that would more likely be due to the recent drop in average ambient temperature with the change of seasons.
The Volt's claimed EV range of 25 to 50 miles takes these seasonal adjustments into account.

Read up on some of the older posts on improving your cold weather range. (Many early 2011 Volt owners went through this already)
If very cold weather is included in your winter I would suggest a 240V charger, preconditioning the interior before you unplug, and learn how to adjust your timers so charging completes within the hour preceeding morning departures.

Getting these updates is important if you want your Volt to perform optimally and to allow the self-diagnostic system to be more tolerant of certain variables that could result in a false "Check Engine" lamp or other performance issues.
I strongly urge all 2011 owners that have been contacted to get these updates performed.

WOT

Hello Fellow Volt Owners:

I noticed that my mileage per charge has dropped considerably since my last computer update. I was able to easily crack 48 to 50 miles per charge now I am 38 avg. it is colder now here in NJ. This is the first October I have had my car. I purchased it in April of 2011. Could the cold eat up 10 miles per charge. I am not utilizing the heater. I am conditioning my battery 15 minutes before I use it every morning. I have a 240 charge system that is working properly. It is garage kept. I have 3000 miles on my vehicle, all electric.

Has anyone experienced ths phenonomen?

This would have little to do with the software updates themselves.
Any immediate drop in estimated range would be due to the "zeroing" of the statistical base-lines that manage the algorithm. Assuming the outside tempertatures were identical (and identical driving habits) , normal EV range will have returned within 10 or so complete drive>charge>drive cycles.

However, any decrease after that would more likely be due to the recent drop in average ambient temperature with the change of seasons.
The Volt's claimed EV range of 25 to 50 miles takes these seasonal adjustments into account.

Read up on some of the older posts on improving your cold weather range. (Many early 2011 Volt owners went through this already)
If very cold weather is included in your winter I would suggest a 240V charger, preconditioning the interior before you unplug, and learn how to adjust your timers so charging completes within the hour preceeding morning departures.

Getting these updates is important if you want your Volt to perform optimally and to allow the self-diagnostic system to be more tolerant of certain variables that could result in a false "Check Engine" lamp or other performance issues.
I strongly urge all 2011 owners that have been contacted to get these updates performed.

WOT

WOT & Everyone else...

Thank you for your advice and experiences. I will proceed with the upgrade at a convenient time. My shifter knob has cracked [like several others on this site complained] and the rear seat 12V cover snapped off, so those parts are being specially ordered now.

Great, so be smarter than some of us and check to see you still have an operational backup camera and the heated seats icons on the Climate Control Display before you leave the dealer if you had them to begin with. (I checked for one but not the other.)

This was also brought up and answered in the webinar. The PREDICTED range will show less than before the update because it uses the default 35 miles until it again learns your driving style. So an August update would knock the predicted range to 35 for a while (just like when the car was first picked up), but will then likely increase based on your driving style. An update now, with the changing weather, will also reset the predicted range to 35 miles, but it may stay there or even go down due to the colder weather and your driving style.

For example, we are using the seat heaters now, and some occasional heat. We never used them before. As expected, both our actual and predicted range are lowered by these actions.

Temperature will most definitely effect your range, even if you don't use the heater. Batteries do not work as efficient in cold weather. Below is a summary of my volts performace since May 2011.

Tom

http://www.digifixpix.com/volt/volt_ev_performance.jpg

I believe that they reproportioned the total battery usage per charge. If the computers only utilized 35% of the total available stored power and kept 65% in reserve they must have reproportioned it to utilize only 30% and keep 70% in reserve. This would extend the total battery life. I believe that GM must have analyzed real life average usage and made a conscious decision to extend these batteries to hit the end of the warranty period. In my case I very rarely go more than 30 miles per day and I have the ability to switch vehicles for long distance trips. I am at the 3000 mile mark without driving on gasoline.

Big Moe

I believe that they reproportioned the total battery usage per charge. If the computers only utilized 35% of the total available stored power and kept 65% in reserve they must have reproportioned it to utilize only 30% and keep 70% in reserve.

Don't think that is supported by the data. First I presume you mean the opposite.. they let you use most of the battery, so maybe 65% and keep 35% in reserve.

However in this thread
http://gm-volt.com/forum/showthread.php?5328-Volt-Diagnostic-Tool/page7
Rusty, who has already had the upgrade, reports that his DashDaq monitoring tool reports


Here's how it maps between the gauge display and the actual battery SOC (or at least I think the VICM term is SOC).

Code:

Battery Gauge Gauge % Battery %
10 bars 91%-100% 81%-86.5%
9 bars 81%-90% 74.4%-81%
8 bars 71%-80% 68%-74.4%
7 bars 61%-70% 61.5%-68%
6 bars 51%-60% 55.3%-61.5%
5 bars 41%-50% 48.7%-55.2%
4 bars 31%-40% 42.1%-48.7%
3 bars 21%-30% 35.6%-42.1%
2 bars 11%-20% 29.3%-35.5%
1 bar 1%-10% 22.7%-29.3%
0 bars 0%-1% 20%-22.7%
The ICE comes on around 20% SOC, and the CS SOC is around 22%. So the ICE runs a bit to bring the SOC back up from 20%ish to 22%ish. This somewhat confirms some of what we've heard about the battery and battery SOC.



So if they are letting you use down to 20%SOC, and up to 85%, its still 65% of the battery range.
(I don't know if anyone had measurements before they had the upgrade. Rusty can you confirm?)

I believe that they reproportioned the total battery usage per charge. Big Moe

Ummmm
No
Nothing in that respect has changed.
WOT

(I don't know if anyone had measurements before they had the upgrade. Rusty can you confirm?)

I can confirm that those measurements are consistent with a pre-upgrade Volt.

Because I'm a Luddite, and politely refused (for the moment) the nice offer of the VA to schedule an upgrade for me. I'll wait until I'm happy with getting pre-update measurements (now that it looks like I won't be shipping the DashDAQ back this week), *then* I'll get the upgrade and do posts.

WOT,

I'm sorry if you misunderstood my post. I will, of course (eventually) get the update. The point I was trying to make was that I think that I have the RIGHT ro know what they are doing to my car BEFORE they do it. I am not implying that GM is trying to do any evil to my car, but rather that I, as a certified geek, would like to know what problems they are solving with the update. I'm only asking for the same information I get before updating my home computer. That's really not a lot to ask. I do not hold GM liable for the problems they are solving. In such a complex system, such as the Volt, there are bound to be birth pains - especially given the rapid development cycle that the Volt went through. I went into this with my eyes open. I just would like to see full disclosure for people who would like to see the data.

And please keep up the great work you are doing on this forum. Your posts are fantastic.

I, as a certified geek, would like to know what problems they are solving with the update. I'm only asking for the same information I get before updating my home computer. That's really not a lot to ask.

OK. How 'bout if GM tells you exactly as much about how the upgrade works and how it modifies the car's behavior as they told you in advance about how the car really works in the first place. Will that do it?

Hmmm.... Right. GM didn't really tell *anyone* how the car actually works in the first place either. Why would you expect them to tell you now how they're modifying their little black box experiment?


I went into this with my eyes open. I just would like to see full disclosure for people who would like to see the data.

So would Toyota...

Well maybe not. Toyota doesn't seem to have its act together on this front. OK, so would Mercedes Benz, BMW, and any car company traded on the Chinese stock exchange. Granted two out of three of those can probably figure it out on their own, but there's no reason for GM to make it easy.

Me? I'm planning on putting a little effort into figuring out how the car works, first. There are actually some hints on the areas changed, which narrows the field of examination from bumper to bumper to bits and pieces inside the black box. Then they can do the mod and the game begins to see if I can figure out what changed. So call it extremely dark grey box testing.

Of course I won't be able to do comprehensive analysis because I can't put the car through the entire gamut of environmental stress. Or at least I'm not going to. But if all goes well maybe I can pull enough interesting tid-bits out to be of engineering geekiness amusement to me.

If you're going to claim being a certified geek, then put the effort into it the folks over here (http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewforum.php?f=44) are doing, or start adding to the effort RScott is doing on CAN bus analysis, or at least be lazy like JetJock and me, fork out a little cash, and get data pre-digested from a DashDAQ.

Since when do geeks have the RIGHT to know what *any* evil empire is doing to their stuff? Isn't that the whole point of reverse hacking?

P.S. Can you tell it makes me cranky when the home team loses stupid on national TV? :- ]

I have been contacted twice by Volt advisors. My plan is to wait until January. Volt 555 will have 13000 miles on the odometer. Will have the first engine oil chage. And tire rotation. Along with the software update. My Volt should be about 4th or 5th to be updated at Paradise Chevrolet.

I had the software upgrade done on the 2011 about a month ago. No problems. My full charge miles have actually gone up about 3MPC, but the cooler weather here in Texas may be the reason for that.
2011-02499 White "EPOWER"
2012-00444 Red "GO EV"

I seem to agree that since the upgrade range has decreased 10%. I had my upgrade performed at Superior Chevrolet in Lawrenceville, NJ .. Anyone else have problems an upgrade and range decrease from there?

I had an earlier software update done late August and it certainly reset the reported SOC after a full charge. But it was nothing dramatic. Dropped from 41 to 39. But after a few charging cycles, it crept back to 40-41.

I would be curious to know if this observation is only the displayed EV range after a charge. Or was this the actual EV range you got before depletion?

-Venky
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2011 Viridian Joule, Leased 7/5/11, Miles driven=1761, Electric = 1650, 32kWh/100 miles

Basically people's brains are wired to connect dots. That's a great thing but sometimes it takes you down a wrong path. For example, we have lots of customers who claim that an innocuous software update crashed their hard drive. Another example would be what the electrical companies experienced when rolling out smart meters. When they put the new meters in they got a ton of complaints that the new meters were resulting in overcharges. What they found was that the new meters had gone in just as temperatures had risen and ACs were turned on, which meant that bills had gone up from the prior month, but because of increased use of AC not because of the new meters.

I think some of this is happening here. When you have the software update the range estimate gets reset. That leads to the perception that the range has changed. On top of that the weather changes and the range goes down or up. People then connect the dots and decide that the software update has changed their range even though it's unlikely that it has.

Basically people's brains are wired to connect dots. That's a great thing but sometimes it takes you down a wrong path. For example, we have lots of customers who claim that an innocuous software update crashed their hard drive. Another example would be what the electrical companies experienced when rolling out smart meters. When they put the new meters in they got a ton of complaints that the new meters were resulting in overcharges. What they found was that the new meters had gone in just as temperatures had risen and ACs were turned on, which meant that bills had gone up from the prior month, but because of increased use of AC not because of the new meters.

I think some of this is happening here. When you have the software update the range estimate gets reset. That leads to the perception that the range has changed. On top of that the weather changes and the range goes down or up. People then connect the dots and decide that the software update has changed their range even though it's unlikely that it has.This is exactly the case. I wish they had done a "copy & paste" feature into the HPCM2 software that would permit retaining the car's existing statistical data, (like some other instances) but apparently it cannot be. (something to do with memory allocation in that particular module) In the meantime we can merely assure people that any range decreses are NOT due to the software updates which would more than likely IMPROVE range due to improvements in HVAC control routines and had very little bearing on how the Volt estimates range.
WOT

PS>
As MichealH suggested when you pick up your Volt after these updates one should immediately:
1) check that the AUTO HEATED SEATS softkey is still present in your HVAC screen
2) shift into reverse and confirm your back-up camera is working
IF EITHER IS NOT, then immediately alert them that an error was made when programming the radio and that the correct selections for RPO KA1 (heated seats) and RPO UVC (rear-view camera) were NOT made. These types of customizations are not common for radio programming so it's possible the techncian failed to select the correct package. No excuses though , it is a f#$%- up!!

WOT - excellent summary/ checklist for picking up the car post-update.
Thanks!

when you pick up your Volt after these updates one should immediately:
1) check that the AUTO HEATED SEATS softkey is still present in your HVAC screen
2) shift into reverse and confirm your back-up camera is working
IF EITHER IS NOT, then immediately alert them that an error was made when programming the radio and that the correct selections for RPO KA1 (heated seats) and RPO UVC (rear-view camera) were NOT made.

Hmm, so if I want to try to add a backup camera to my cameraless Volt, I should do so before I get the software update.

As MichealH suggested when you pick up your Volt after these updates one should immediately:
1) check that the AUTO HEATED SEATS softkey is still present in your HVAC screen
2) shift into reverse and confirm your back-up camera is working
IF EITHER IS NOT, then immediately alert them that an error was made when programming the radio and that the correct selections for RPO KA1 (heated seats) and RPO UVC (rear-view camera) were NOT made. These types of customizations are not common for radio programming so it's possible the techncian failed to select the correct package. No excuses though , it is a f#$%- up!! Better yet... tell them to have the tech verify these 2 things so if it is wrong then they will fix it faster!

Better yet... tell them to have the tech verify these 2 things so if it is wrong then they will fix it faster!Ummm yea, that was kind of my intent. ;)

Hmm, so if I want to try to add a backup camera to my cameraless Volt, I should do so before I get the software update.Hmmm never hread anyone do THAT yet. Wouldnt say it's impossible but...
WOT

I was notified to have the Volt get a software update. After the update, the EV range wa reduced from 41 miles to 32 miles. What was the reason for the update? to reduce the EV range??

When you got your volt the range estimate is set to 35 miles. Then as you drove it the car figured out you that your range was above the estimate and reacted accordingly. The upgrade resets the range estimation back to the default, which happens to be lower than what you've actually been getting. The range estimate will gradually adjust back up as the algorithm accounts for your actual driving behavior. Note that if the weather turns cold you might not get the 41 miles of estimated range until it gets warmer.

But don't worry, it's just cosmetic.

I was notified to have the Volt get a software update. After the update, the EV range wa reduced from 41 miles to 32 miles. What was the reason for the update? to reduce the EV range??
See this thread. You may have a problem or may not per DonCs points.

My-battery-mileage-per-charge-has-dropped-since-my-computer-update
http://gm-volt.com/forum/showthread.php?9742-My-battery-mileage-per-charge-has-dropped-since-my-computer-update

I was notified to have the Volt get a software update. After the update, the EV range wa reduced from 41 miles to 32 miles. What was the reason for the update? to reduce the EV range??

I wish people would make the distinction between ESTIMATED RANGE and ACTUAL RANGE! As Scott says, it may be a problem, or it may not, but it's too soon for one to start being alarmed.
Also, might I add, that the Chevy dealer's need to do a BETTER JOB explaining the "mileage estimate reset" to people BEFORE and AFTER the job is done!
That seems to be the bigger issue!

I felt we lost range also.. at the least 10%!

I was regularly able to get between 45-47 miles.. even using A/C..

Now lucky to get 40 with nothing on but radio.

It has NOT been that cold either.

I'm getting the update as we speak. I should pick it up in the next 30 mins or so and see what the deal is. If DonC is correct, I'm hoping that by Monday or Tuesday I'll be back in the low 40's since this would be the range I would expect without the upgrade based on the temps forecasted in this area.

Edit: If it is the case that range is actually being affected I think some collective action by those owners that frequent this site would be in order. At a minimum, I would like a clear cut answer on why the "upgrade" diminishes range and why we were told it wouldn't affect range. Yes, it's premature but there are obviously quite a few people who have posted that their range went down and for the people in that group I haven't seen any posts that said, "Oh nevermind, my range is back." But maybe I missed those.

My range seems to be affected as well. Did not want to upgrade as I try to adhere to "if it ain't broke don't fix it". Sent it in and now the range drops off quickly after charging...Currently charging off a 240v podium downtown, yet to determine if I get any better range if I charge off 120V. Volt does seem more responsive in traffic. Not been able to get above 40 miles on a charge and drops off rapidly say 3 miles lost at the .7 mile mark..Not what it used to do...but it is a little cooler now, not over 100 every day. No a/c anymore, and moderate to aggressive driving. Check engine light goes on and off every 2 days or so..no sense to take it in if it won't stay on. On a 39 mile charge only getting about 37.3 or less out of her.

I have noticed in this blog that in stop and go traffic you can get more miles on battery by keeping it in low gear. But when I did that this week my ev range was only 25.1 miles vs I normally get 33-37. I am not sure what happened, I only had it in low when in very slow stop and go traffic, not all day. Any ideas ?

Engineers on the Volt have confirmed that Drive/Low will not change the amount of Regen. Something else caused your AER. Outside temp change is often the culprit.


I have noticed in this blog that in stop and go traffic you can get more miles on battery by keeping it in low gear. But when I did that this week my ev range was only 25.1 miles vs I normally get 33-37. I am not sure what happened, I only had it in low when in very slow stop and go traffic, not all day. Any ideas ?

Engineers on the Volt have confirmed that Drive/Low will not change the amount of Regen.

Actually I think they said you still get regen even in Drive. Others have found that it's possible to get basically the same amounts of regen in drive or low.

But individual drivers may find they get better AER with either Drive or Low, depending on how it affects their driving style. Certainly lot of people have reported better AER with Low for them, and I think it's because it encourages them to let off the accelerator earlier to give the car time to do a continuous slow down in city traffic, versus zoom and brake driving. Others may find they get better AER with Drive, as it lets them coast easier and further. To each their own...

I have noticed in this blog that in stop and go traffic you can get more miles on battery by keeping it in low gear. But when I did that this week my ev range was only 25.1 miles vs I normally get 33-37. I am not sure what happened, I only had it in low when in very slow stop and go traffic, not all day. Any ideas ?

Three most likely reasons are some combination of:
1) mother natures's chill getting you to use cabin heaters (which means time not-in motion is eating more battery per mile)
2) mother natures's chill was sucking on the battery chemistry
3) More agressive starts while in the traffic. (it is more fun to do sport+L :-)

OK, got my SW update on Friday. Only put a few miles on the car but here are my observations:

1. My AER estimate was not affected as far as I can tell BUT it's already been affected by low temps and use of pre-heat. Either that, or the module in charge of estimating was not updated. *shrug*
2. I am 99% sure the transition from regen to hydraulic brakes was changed. I'm imagining some GM engineer somewhere laughing at me for having now idea what I'm talking about but the regen->no regen transition is less abrupt.
3. The updated NAV still has no idea about an intersection near my house modified THREE years ago. DO NOT PAY FOR NAV.
4. Did I just miss "audio cue volume" in the menu before? Or is it new? Way back when, I managed to shut off the hello/goodbye sounds and was never able to get them back.

My charge door was sticking and I had a damaged plug on my EVSE. GM overnighted the parts to my dealer, All-American Chevy in Middletown NJ, and they'll be replacing them today. The service writers there know the Volt pretty well and chatted with me about some of their other Volt customers. They seem to have a dedicated Volt technician, Craig, but I don't think he gets much Volt work. They've sold about a dozen so far.

OK, got my SW update on Friday. Only put a few miles on the car but here are my observations:
2. I am 99% sure the transition from regen to hydraulic brakes was changed. I'm imagining some GM engineer somewhere laughing at me for having now idea what I'm talking about but the regen->no regen transition is less abrupt.That's an intesesting observation, but AFAIK the brake controller wasnt to be programmed as part of the campaign.
Perhaps look at your work order and see if they added an additional line (and OP code) for reprogramming the EBCM...
WOT

That's an intesesting observation, but AFAIK the brake controller wasnt to be programmed as part of the campaign.
Perhaps look at your work order and see if they added an additional line (and OP code) for reprogramming the EBCM...
WOTI'm not above admitting I may be imagining it. I was looking for it because I thought you put the idea in my head, in fact. :) Or was it Rusty?

I was looking for it because I thought you put the idea in my head, in fact. :) Or was it Rusty?

I don't recall, but it's certainly something that needs fixing. The transition from regen to friction at low speeds can be pretty abrupt. It's certainly one of the things I plan on DashDAQing, once I finish characterizing the pre-mod to my satisfaction.

I took my Volt into the dealer and they did the firmware update. But now, I'm very disappointed and wished I never did the update in the first place. The update reduced my electric driving range by ~8-10 miles and reduced fuel economy by ~8-10 miles.

Issue #1
Before the update, with my normal driving style, and usage, I consistently got 37 - 38 miles from the battery before it switches over to the gas generator. My MPG on the generator was about 37-38 MPG.

After the firmware update, I only get 30 miles before switching to the generator/gas. Once on gas, now I'm only getting about 31 MPG.

So the firmware update reduced my electric driving range and reduced my fuel economy. I've completed 6 battery full to empty & switch to gas cycles so far, and the reduced mileage for the battery and gas range is totally consistent.

Before the update, Once the engine turns on, it would be nearly silent most of the time, and when I did need power (to get on the highway) it would rev up as I would expect, then reduce down to a lower RPM. Since there is no RPM indicator (HELLO feature request: RPM indicator), I can only go by what I hear the engine doing. Generally, the engine ran at it’s low RPM setting and I have to listen carefully to tell if the engine is running or now.

After the update, Once the engine turns on, it behaves differently. Mostly it revs up much higher RPM’s in response to using the gas pedal. It’s noisy, and as I said, fuel economy is drastically reduced. The engine quickly rev’s up to higher RPM’s in response to the gas pedal. I noticed that when driving down the hwy, the engine turns off and the car is propelled by the battery only, then it switches back to the engine, which revs up. I suspect the firmware update actually changed the set point for minimum state of charge from zero to 1 mile, and before the update the state of charge set point was at zero. (within the 16 KWh usable battery window). So if the SOC set point is changed to 1 mile SOC, then the gas engine is propelling the car and charging the battery, which explains why fuel economy is reduced.

I think the firmware update reduced the useable battery window to something lower than 16KWh. This would explain the reduced battery range.


Issue #2
Again this is related to Issue #1
The battery indicator on the drivers console before the update normally said I had 37-38 miles range. As I drove it and consumed the energy from the battery, the mileage on the battery went down consistently with actual mileage.

Now after the firmware update, the battery says I have 32 miles range after a full charge. When I leave my house and drive about 1-2 miles, the battery range is reduced down to 25, then quickly to 23. Ultimately, the indicated available range (in miles) and actual driving range before switching to gas is 30 miles.

Conditions:

I always drive in Normal mode. Everything I mentioned in this email is while in Normal mode.
The Volt is always plugged in when it's at my house. I typically use the 110v charger, but I also have a 220 volt Blink charger that came with my Nissan Leaf.
From my house, the highway is 2 miles from my house. Portland is 23 miles away to where I work, so ~3 city miles and 20 highway miles total. I drive this route nearly every day and on the way back (46 miles total round trip) I end up on gas for the last ~7-9 miles.


This all sucks by the way….
-Jim

I took my Volt into the dealer and they did the firmware update. But now, I'm very disappointed and wished I never did the update in the first place. The update reduced my electric driving range by ~8-10 miles and reduced fuel economy by ~8-10 miles.

Issue #1
Before the update, with my normal driving style, and usage, I consistently got 37 - 38 miles from the battery before it switches over to the gas generator. My MPG on the generator was about 37-38 MPG.

After the firmware update, I only get 30 miles before switching to the generator/gas. Once on gas, now I'm only getting about 31 MPG.

So the firmware update reduced my electric driving range and reduced my fuel economy. I've completed 6 battery full to empty & switch to gas cycles so far, and the reduced mileage for the battery and gas range is totally consistent.

Before the update, Once the engine turns on, it would be nearly silent most of the time, and when I did need power (to get on the highway) it would rev up as I would expect, then reduce down to a lower RPM. Since there is no RPM indicator (HELLO feature request: RPM indicator), I can only go by what I hear the engine doing. Generally, the engine ran at it’s low RPM setting and I have to listen carefully to tell if the engine is running or now.

After the update, Once the engine turns on, it behaves differently. Mostly it revs up much higher RPM’s in response to using the gas pedal. It’s noisy, and as I said, fuel economy is drastically reduced. The engine quickly rev’s up to higher RPM’s in response to the gas pedal. I noticed that when driving down the hwy, the engine turns off and the car is propelled by the battery only, then it switches back to the engine, which revs up. I suspect the firmware update actually changed the set point for minimum state of charge from zero to 1 mile, and before the update the state of charge set point was at zero. (within the 16 KWh usable battery window). So if the SOC set point is changed to 1 mile SOC, then the gas engine is propelling the car and charging the battery, which explains why fuel economy is reduced.

I think the firmware update reduced the useable battery window to something lower than 16KWh. This would explain the reduced battery range.


Issue #2
Again this is related to Issue #1
The battery indicator on the drivers console before the update normally said I had 37-38 miles range. As I drove it and consumed the energy from the battery, the mileage on the battery went down consistently with actual mileage.

Now after the firmware update, the battery says I have 32 miles range after a full charge. When I leave my house and drive about 1-2 miles, the battery range is reduced down to 25, then quickly to 23. Ultimately, the indicated available range (in miles) and actual driving range before switching to gas is 30 miles.

Conditions:

I always drive in Normal mode. Everything I mentioned in this email is while in Normal mode.
The Volt is always plugged in when it's at my house. I typically use the 110v charger, but I also have a 220 volt Blink charger that came with my Nissan Leaf.
From my house, the highway is 2 miles from my house. Portland is 23 miles away to where I work, so ~3 city miles and 20 highway miles total. I drive this route nearly every day and on the way back (46 miles total round trip) I end up on gas for the last ~7-9 miles.


This all sucks by the way….
-Jim
Whoa there chicken little.
Most of the reasons why your range estimation went down after the software update have been fully discussed in this thread.
I suggest your actualy READ it in it's entirety.
NONE of the above mentioned issues (OR your wild speculations) were a result of the actual software updates.
More a lack of communication that there will be a total reset of your statisitical baselines for the range estimation algorithms.
GM has recently sent out a bulletin to dealers requesting they better prepare their cutomers for this SHORT TERM event.
But if you dont believe me I suggest you bring your car back to the dealer with your concerns, or call your Volt advisor

They sky isnt falling...
WOT

I noticed that when driving down the hwy, the engine turns off and the car is propelled by the battery only, then it switches back to the engine, which revs up.

Has anyone else noticed this behavior that has the software update installed? I haven't noticed that the gas engine turns on and off after the battery has been depleted and the Volt is in CS mode and the car is traveling faster than say 20 mph. But my Volt did not get the software update yet.

Is there anything good that comes with the software update? I didn't get mine yet and am trying to decide if I want to get it.

My Volt gets at least 10% less range.. This update was no good.. They need to go back to old software or fix current.
If Microsoft gives and upgrade you can usual dig around and find out what they did.

This is totally unacceptable... if this gets out to press it will be a disaster!!!

Hi WOT
What I wrote was about estimated rang AND actual battery range. Both are reduced, and have stayed that way through the last six zero-full charge cycles. I also called the volt advisor, who said that the range estimation will return to normal after 3-4 empty to full charge cycles. So far, nothing has changed for the better. I am stating my experience since the firmware update.
And the Chicken Little comment, real professional.

My Volt gets at least 10% less range

Is this 10% less actual range, or less estimated range?

Are you sure outside temperature is the same, or not? My range has dropped recently, 10%, and I'm in a 2012, no software update, just from the weather. And I'm in the temperate bay area, temperature still in the 50s. But definitely getting less range than a month ago with temperatures in the 65-75 range.

My range is down also with the cooler weather and no update yet. The Volt doesn't like cold weather.

Both CD (EV) and CS (Gas) are down for me as well, 10 miles on EV, maybe 5-6 MPG for CS.
No update yet. (No call from VA or dealer.. but I bought out of state).

Well, I’m not sure what changed, but today for the first time on the 7th charge cycle, doing my normal driving to work & back, I got 35 miles out of the battery, instead of only the 30 miles I got from charge cycles 1-6. When it switched to gas, I went 14 miles and used .36 gallons of gas which works out to 38.8 MPG, instead of 30. 

When I called the Volt advisor (after charge cycle 2), they said go through 3-4 charge cycles and it will all go back to normal.
Since something obviously changed at the end of charge cycle 6, I am optimistic that it will return to 37-38 miles per charge. It’s charging right now, so tomorrow I’ll post any changes.

The weather is colder now, my Leaf is getting a little less range than midsummer, it doesn’t have a heated/cooled battery. But the Volt has a liquid heated/cooled battery system, and is supposed to maintain the battery at a certain temp range when plugged in, and I park-n-plug every time at home. I’m not totally sure about how much affect temp will actually have on the battery.

On a different note, one good thing that I noticed is that before the firmware update, if you unplug the car with the doors locked, the horn went off. I just tested that, and the horn no longer honks if you unplug while charging with the doors locked.
-J

The horn going off when upluging from a locked car is a security feature. Pretty sure there is a config option, and maybe the update just changed the default or reset it.

Well, I’m not sure what changed, but today for the first time on the 7th charge cycle, doing my normal driving to work & back, I got 35 miles out of the battery, instead of only the 30 miles I got from charge cycles 1-6. When it switched to gas, I went 14 miles and used .36 gallons of gas which works out to 38.8 MPG, instead of 30. 
-JBased on your listed location, your low today was 6-8 degrees warmer than the lows last week according to The Weather Channel. Additionally, with only a few exceptions, your lows last week were 10-15 degrees cooler than October. You didn't specify dates but it kind of looks like your SW update coincided perfectly with the temperature dropping.

Do you use the heat?

I only have one day on my updated car so I have no data to offer.

My Volt gets at least 10% less range.. This update was no good.. They need to go back to old software or fix current.
If Microsoft gives and upgrade you can usual dig around and find out what they did.

This is totally unacceptable... if this gets out to press it will be a disaster!!!

Jack Phillips
Hamilton, NJ
Vin # 2501


Hi WOT
What I wrote was about estimated rang AND actual battery range. Both are reduced, and have stayed that way through the last six zero-full charge cycles. I also called the volt advisor, who said that the range estimation will return to normal after 3-4 empty to full charge cycles. So far, nothing has changed for the better. I am stating my experience since the firmware update.
And the Chicken Little comment, real professional. Well myself (and other more experienced Volt owners and enthusiasts) are 100% certain you will eventually come to realize your drop in range had NOTHING to do with the software updates and everything to do with the recent changes in ambient conditions across most of country (including the Pacific NW and Cali) Unfortunately, it's not likely to improve for a duration that would be deemed significant by the range estimation algorithm's statistical routines anytime soon. In fact expect your range to continue to degrade to as low as ~25 miles over the next few weeks and months.
But again this has NOTHING to do with the software updates, just a case of bad timing.
The range would/could only "return" to where it was before (as outlined by your VA) had the conditions remained identical- they have not.Even a few degrees can make a huge difference.
If you dont believe me, that's fine too but you'll likely just be smitten with the winter range blues for the next 4-5 months.
But trust us, come next spring things will be all "rosy" again.

As far as comparing these updates to Microsoft Windows or security updates there is very little in common. These most recent Volt updates were the culmination of a year's worth of data collection and contained efficiency improvements that will positively impact the Volt's EV range performance (under ideal conditions) and improve general driveability, as well as to preventing certain DTCs from setting falsely that could create a "no-go" condition. The software updates have actually been available for a couple months so more seasoned Volt veterans know exactly what they have accomplished. NOTHING was done to alter the Volt's addressable battery capacity or anything that would negatively affect EV range or MPG. But all this is easily confirmed and verified with an MDI scan tool/GDS2 or other CAN data collection tool.So if there's still doubt go purchase these tools and collect and parse meaningful data. Your car's instrumentations alone isn't sufficient to this end.

As far as the Chicken Little comments, it was just an attempt to inject a bit of levity to your calls of fire.
I'm sure it wasn't lost on the regulars around here, especially those that have witnessed all sorts of 1st post atrocities and perhaps especially those 500 or so individuals that actually went through the winter range blues a year ago. Seasoned vets now.
But at the time my comments seemed appropriate if not very professional. (was that expected?)
But my apologies if you took great offence.

But I'll not apologize for defending the Volt AND these forums.
Please remember this IS NOT a forums operated in any way by General Motors Company.
GM-VOLT.COM is NOT associated with GM, although there are a few GM employees, ex-employees, dealership personnel, and even a few members of the current Volt Team that regularly participate here. They do so on their own accord, under no direction from GM.
First and foremost gm-volt.com is a public Volt enthusiast forum where owners can congregate to discuss, debate, and learn more about their cars. It is what Dr. Lyle Dennis envisioned this forum would transition towards as the Volt became a reality, and the owner population began to increase.

Your sensationalistic remarks just were not appropriate for a 1st post here IMO.
We hadn't even had a chance to establish WHO you are and IF you even OWNED a Volt. Because believe me, it would NOT be the first time we had an "alleged" Volt owner come into these forums intent on making false claims, creating obfuscation and spreading FUD.
(only to eventually find there was no Volt, only an agenda)
We routinely ban those "trolls" here.
Quite simply if you're not here to participate, educate, advocate, and help other Volt owners in some way then you're in the wrong forums.
Just let us know.
WopOnTour

Are you sure outside temperature is the same, or not? My range has dropped recently, 10%, and I'm in a 2012, no software update, just from the weather. And I'm in the temperate bay area, temperature still in the 50s. But definitely getting less range than a month ago with temperatures in the 65-75 range.

stephent, same here, I'm also in the bay area and experienced a similar drop over the last week or so. I went from consistent 40-42 mpc (miles per charge) down to about 35. This morning I only got 32 but that's because my feet were cold so I turned on the climate floor heat LOL! Seat heaters weren't cutting it!


Quite simply if you're not here to participate, educate, advocate, and help other Volt owners in some way then you're in the wrong forums.
WopOnTour

WOT great post and certainly what I've strived to do in my short time here, this forum is great - thanks in large part to your presence and participation in particular. Thanks for the support!

I recently took my car in for an update. It seems like I have lost part of the battery life. Is there any way to reset the car? I am now using gas daily. This is what I was trying to avoid.

I recently took my car in for an update. It seems like I have lost part of the battery life. Is there any way to reset the car? I am now using gas daily. This is what I was trying to avoid.

Mr. Ketchem
Welcome to gm-volt.com
Please just be pateint amd give it some time. Keep charging daily and drive as efficently as possible.( I know it's painful to burn fuel)
If you can, try to charge at work. If ambient conditions improve in Cali, and you keep driving efficiently your range WILL come back.
The update merely "zero's" the statistical baselines within the Hybrid Powertrain Control Module and it's starting over from square one.
See above posts for more information.

WopOnTour

From my experience I don't see the software update reducing my range. I got the first update right after it came out and my range didn't go down at all (Late August so temps were pretty constant). When October came around and it started to get cold in MA, my range has gone down by as much as 25% (some mornings we have got down to 18degF). I just got the second software update yesterday and have not seen a reduction in range. The auto seat heaters work again and it actually seems in the colder weather to not eat up as much range than it did last month with the auto temperature control.

Summary: no loss of range from my SW update last Friday, it's the temperature.

50F this morning, the warmest AM temp in the past few weeks. My Volt is parked outside. I pre-conditioned on 120V before I realized it was so warm out. Not sure it fully recovered the charge. The car (updated on Friday) estimated 35 miles. 9.6 miles later, I arrived at work with...35 miles remaining so I'm on track for 44+ miles today.

WOT's post reminded me of the excitement I felt when I almost hit 40 miles for the first time back in early April. By May, I was closer to 50 than 40 every single day. It's just the way it is.

I haven't found anything listing what the software update did, so I asked the Volt adviser when they called to try to schedule me. He rattled off several things, but I recall him saying two things in particular: heat and A/C management *and reduction in mileage in some cases*. Has anyone found or gotten a hold of official documentation on what the software update addresses?

I haven't found anything listing what the software update did, so I asked the Volt adviser when they called to try to schedule me. He rattled off several things, but I recall him saying two things in particular: heat and A/C management *and reduction in mileage in some cases*. Has anyone found or gotten a hold of official documentation on what the software update addresses?I've merged this thread with another older thread where this TEMPORARY decrease in range has been addressed.
WOT

PS>
As MichealH suggested when you pick up your Volt after these updates one should immediately:
1) check that the AUTO HEATED SEATS softkey is still present in your HVAC screen
2) shift into reverse and confirm your back-up camera is working
IF EITHER IS NOT, then immediately alert them that an error was made when programming the radio and that the correct selections for RPO KA1 (heated seats) and RPO UVC (rear-view camera) were NOT made. These types of customizations are not common for radio programming so it's possible the techncian failed to select the correct package.

Well, third time is a charm. After I had the upgrade done in September, I went right back in, before leaving the dealer's property, and had them fix the backup camera problem. I didn't notice the missing auto heated seats icons until I got home and was checking things out in slow time. I went back at the Volt Advisor's advice and had them do "recall" 11264. Still no seats icons. I went back a few days later, they took about 2-1/2 hours, talked to a GM engineer, and still no icons. (The engineer was reported to have said, "huh.") Today, I went back, after the Volt Advisor had again prepped the service department at the dealer as well as the technical team, and the tech had the correct person at GM on the line and they succeeded. Yeah!

It turns out they had to reprogram the radio A-11 with K-A1 option. I guess he was reprogramming something else the first two times after the initial upgrade. You can stop smiling now, WOT. I refrained from telling them, "I told you so."

PS> As the service manager was about to give me my key fob back, he said, "you know the car is a little dirty would you like us to wash it?" That was a nice touch, considering the dealer is 40 miles one way, and I made four round trips total. It's been a good day.

Our 2011 Volt was updated earlier this week with 11137B. Immediately as I started the car for the first time at pickup at the dealership I was irritated by the MUCH louder chime/startup sound. It's probably double the previous volume (using an imaginary 1-10 scale ... it's now 5 rather than 2.5).

And, yes, I already checked, the chime volume level is set to Normal (not "High"). Other than "Config"/"C&C"/"Chime Volume" is there a trick to reduce the volume ?

Have your hand ready on the volume knob. When the chime starts turn the volume down while it's making its sound.

Summary: no loss of range from my SW update last Friday, it's the temperature.

50F this morning, the warmest AM temp in the past few weeks. My Volt is parked outside. I pre-conditioned on 120V before I realized it was so warm out. Not sure it fully recovered the charge. The car (updated on Friday) estimated 35 miles. 9.6 miles later, I arrived at work with...35 miles remaining so I'm on track for 44+ miles today.
I had two more days of almost identical temps and behavior, then the estimated range jumped to 41. Then it got cold again. :)

I had two more days of almost identical temps and behavior, then the estimated range jumped to 41. Then it got cold again. :)Thanks for continuing to provide post-flash data Mike. Your data clearly continues to support the fact that, as perviously stated, the changes will not be to the detriment of EV range.
WOT

PS>Oh and additional thanks to for your continued defence of the Volt in certain 1-sided discussions over in the Priuchat forums.
I know that's some tough sledding! ;)

I gotta say, Like all of you my mileage has gone to hell and today my steadily decreasing "full" SOC, was 33 miles EV.
Used to be 41 sometimes 42. The Chevy folks blew up my phone until I got this update and I must say I regret it.
It stinks. I drive the same way , the same routes, the same terrain and I live in LA so it aint' cold enough to effect the battery performance. (if 50 degrees affects battery performance this much, i pity the folks in the northern states)

WTF already is there a solution?

Thanks:mad:

My experience is that at first my estimated miles drop from 40 to 32. After a few weeks of careful driving, now I have around 38 at 70 degree. (35 at 50 degree)

The Volt software update "resets" the range estimate to a default value. As you continue through the next 10 or so charge cycles, the software will gradually adjust the "estimate" to reflect your recent driving conditions.

If you check the actual miles driven each day, you should see that the mileage is about the same as you were getting before, unless weather has changed since.

I've found being one of those that lives up north, it seems range starts to go down when the temp is below 50. This is just purely based on my daily driving observations but it seems that below 50degF is probably when the car starts heating the battery and that uses a decent amount of power.

I've had the 2nd software update for a week now and seen no degrade in my mileage. All mileage decreases I attribute to the colder winter weather that is upon us.

Bronco, you referenced "2nd software update." Care to explain? I believe the 1st update was 11137. Some have referred to update 11137B. I had a follow-on 11264, but that was just an auto-heated seats icon attempted fix. What are you referencing as 2nd update?

50F sounds about right to notice a difference. I remember noticing that in my last 2 hybrid cars (Accord, Insight) as well. Last winter when it was between 0F and 25F, the fully charged range would usually be in the high 20s (car charged and stored outside).

Bronco, you referenced "2nd software update." Care to explain? I believe the 1st update was 11137. Some have referred to update 11137B. I had a follow-on 11264, but that was just an auto-heated seats icon attempted fix. What are you referencing as 2nd update?

Yes, I had the original 11137 shortly after it was released and then they called to say it was suspended but I already had it udpated. I had been missing my auto-heated seats icons and funtionality since the "1st update" and then just recently go the "2nd update" which the 11264 number sounds right from what my print-out said after the repair.

I live in LA so it aint' cold enough to effect the battery performance.

Unfortunately, it has definitely been cold enough in the LA area of late for the temperature to affect battery performance. Being someone who got my car last winter (Dec 2010), I got used to getting to work in the morning with 0-3 miles of estimated range left on the battery. Boy was I pleasantly surprised when in the summer I was getting to work with 5-8 miles of estimated range left. Starting about two weeks ago, I was back in the 0-3 range again :( In my experience, 50 degrees is definitely about when you start to see a decline in range, although it was in the low 40's a couple of mornings last week, and that really hit my range. I would note that I had the update almost a month back now. I saw no immediate change in range, although the temps have negatively affected range of late.

In my experience, 50 degrees is definitely about when you start to see a decline in range

I also remember seeing a survey from OnStar awhile back asking about AER above/below 50F so they must know that is when the battery conditioning comes on to heat the battery and want to know how people's range is getting reduced.

I had it done several weeks ago and I don't notice any difference at all.

Yes, I had the original 11137 shortly after it was released and then they called to say it was suspended but I already had it udpated. I had been missing my auto-heated seats icons and funtionality since the "1st update" and then just recently go the "2nd update" which the 11264 number sounds right from what my print-out said after the repair.This is essentially correct. Campaign 11137 might have resulted in a loss of your heated seats "AUTO" functionality (missing soft keys) for TWO reasons.
1. Due to an incorrect HVAC software being installed (potentially during 11137, but IFAIK that issue has been rectified) hence 11264
2. Due to an incorrect RADIO software* being installed (also potentially during 11137 or ANY other radio update)
* This might be due to the technician selecting the incorrect KA1 option for heated seats during programming. If this was the case then reprogramming the HVAC as outlined in 11264 WILL NOT reinstate the AUTO heated seat soft key on the HVAC page.
See above post for more information (http://gm-volt.com/forum/showthread.php?9088-2011-Software-Update&p=95754#post95754)

WOT

Unfortunately we did the update. I have gone from 42-44 miles per charge to 35. What kind of a backward update is that?

Al Micucci
Holbrook, NY

Unfortunately we did the update. I have gone from 42-44 miles per charge to 35. What kind of a backward update is that? Al Micucci Holbrook, NY
42-44 is impressive in mid-Nov in NY.

Have you read the threads about this update and have seen the number gets 'factory' reset and will readjust to your driving pattern in the next several days?

42-44 is impressive in mid-Nov in NY.

Have you read the threads about this update and have seen the number gets 'factory' reset and will readjust to your driving pattern in the next several days?

We were originally led to believe that by our Volt advisor. When I contacted him after recharging the battery he said he was sorry if that is what my wife was led to believe! In any case, we have had no better performance from charging the battery since the update and it has been drained (as per their instructions) at least 5 times. This is the first thing I am unhappy about since I have accepted the helicopter noise when the windows are down.

Whenever I turn on the nav the radio comes on and when I turn off the radio the nav goes off.
Also when I turn on the climate control the radio comes on. What's up with that?

We were originally led to believe that by our Volt advisor. When I contacted him after recharging the battery he said he was sorry if that is what my wife was led to believe! In any case, we have had no better performance from charging the battery since the update and it has been drained (as per their instructions) at least 5 times. This is the first thing I am unhappy about since I have accepted the helicopter noise when the windows are down.

It has taken me almost 2 weeks, but my range has returned to 41 MPC after the software update. Al, the 35 is just a starting point as your computer has been reset. Over something like 10-15 drive cycles (from memory), your estimated range will creep back up....assuming of course you aren't flooring it at every stoplight, and assuming it is not getting any colder, etc.

This is the first thing I am unhappy about since I have accepted the helicopter noise when the windows are down.

Crack your back window. Problem solved.

Whenever I turn on the nav the radio comes on and when I turn off the radio the nav goes off.
Also when I turn on the climate control the radio comes on. What's up with that?

That's the way it has always worked. If you want the nav on without the radio, just hit the mute button on the steering column. I do it all of the time. The mute button is in a very convenient position. :)

Crack your back window. Problem solved.

I don't mean to be a wiseguy but...absolutely not. i have tried the windows in every imaginable configuration. Front and rear. If I go above 30-35 mph with the windows open I get the thumping sound.

Thanks. My wife said we got 37 on this charge so maybe it is getting better. It sure is tempting to put it in Sport mode and fly around but it kind of defeats the purpose. We have a "Red Rocket" also. It's a great color!!

I don't mean to be a wiseguy but...absolutely not. i have tried the windows in every imaginable configuration. Front and rear. If I go above 30-35 mph with the windows open I get the thumping sound.

I too like windows open. But the "cracking" needs to be an an asymmetric fashion but not totally on one-side. If both sides of the car are the same you get alternative pressure waves. I open the driver/passenger and crack the side opposite the drive maybe 3" and the one behind the driver 1"

I too like windows open. But the "cracking" needs to be an an asymmetric fashion but not totally on one-side. If both sides of the car are the same you get alternative pressure waves. I open the driver/passenger and crack the side opposite the drive maybe 3" and the one behind the driver 1"

If I understand you correctly, I open the driver and passenger and crack the passenger rear 3" and the driver rear 1"?

I'll admit everything I did was symmetrical. I am consistently amazed at the knowledge of the people that own this car. I am starting to get an inferiority complex.

Thank you for the help. It's bit cool in NY this weekend but we will button up the coats and give this a go!

This is the first thing I am unhappy about since I have accepted the helicopter noise when the windows are down.
Crack your back window. Problem solved.
I don't mean to be a wiseguy but...absolutely not. i have tried the windows in every imaginable configuration. Front and rear. If I go above 30-35 mph with the windows open I get the thumping sound.
I too like windows open. But the "cracking" needs to be an an asymmetric fashion but not totally on one-side. If both sides of the car are the same you get alternative pressure waves. I open the driver/passenger and crack the side opposite the drive maybe 3" and the one behind the driver 1"
If I understand you correctly, I open the driver and passenger and crack the passenger rear 3" and the driver rear 1"?

I'll admit everything I did was symmetrical. I am consistently amazed at the knowledge of the people that own this car. I am starting to get an inferiority complex.

Thank you for the help. It's bit cool in NY this weekend but we will button up the coats and give this a go!
Bit of a thread jack of the software page guys but just to add some closure:
There's talk of an upcoming accessory kit to address the buffeting noise. It looks like during the kit installation they replace the "skull caps" and bezels on the mirrors. Not sure exactly what is different with them, or if they are just painted flat black like the bottom half (or you have to have them painted to match) OR if they have any affect on range or mpg.

However if they ARE in fact an accessory kit, it usually means it won't be a warrantable item but an "owner pays" change (or dealer goodwill) kind of like the shorter air-dam. (I'll either start another thread or search for another "buffeting" thread when I know more)
Stay Tuned!
WOT

I don't mean to be a wiseguy but...absolutely not. i have tried the windows in every imaginable configuration. Front and rear. If I go above 30-35 mph with the windows open I get the thumping sound.

You're welcome ... Absolutely not.

Heeeeyyyyy y'all ...

I just read through 40 freaking pages of discussion about the 2011 software update, including this thread. Man, am I beat :)

I've been too busy to bother getting the update done on my early Volt, but will be able to do it in December. Thanks WOT for your summarizing post (http://gm-volt.com/forum/showthread.php?9088-2011-Software-Update&p=95754#post95754) a few pages back; I've added it to the FAQ.

To all those whining about decreased range (estimated or actual), know that my Volt's range made a pretty quick drop from 35 miles to 30 miles about a month ago when we entered the cooler fall weather. I have not yet had the software update. I'm expecting it to slide further to as low as 25 miles over the winter, because that's what happened last winter (this will be my second winter with my Volt #284 :) ). My ranges already tend to be on the low side because I drive with a lead foot and happily abuse the HVAC system. EDIT 28-Nov: one user here did in fact lose some actual range at first, and he showed that it was not due to colder weather, but the range came back after a week or so. More about that here (http://gm-volt.com/forum/showthread.php?9088-2011-Software-Update&p=101102#post101102).

I'm disappointed to hear that the update does not include the kWh consumed reading on the display; I was really looking forward to that.

The other key thing I want, need actually, is the ability to turn off the alarm when removing the charge cord, and a post here has implied that that feature (in the config menu) made it into this 2011 update. Hooray! This is critical for sharing public charging stations -- I'll be putting a sign on my dash saying "go ahead and unplug me if you need it".

One thing that wasn't clear from all the commentary hear is the numbering of the updates. There was the original 11137 update, and 11137A and 11137B are just tweaks of that big update. Then there's the "recall" 11264 which takes care of the heated seats icon problem. The 11264 update does not replace the 11137 update, it just adds to it. (edited: thanks MichaelH for the clarification below)

I want to be as prepared as possible for this because it is a real ordeal for me to get out to the dealer. So, to digest all this information, when I get my update done next month here is what I will do:

1. Make an appointment with the dealer for the 11137 update and ask for a loaner vehicle; if no loaner then call VA for assistance in getting one (GM will pay dealer for it)
2. Prep: bring 110V charger cordset, take pictures of radio presets, take pictures of tone settings
3. Dropoff: set to immediate charging before releasing to dealer (so they might charge it for me)
4. After update, before leaving dealer, check on:
- heated seats auto button? Apply "recall" 11264 and the tech needs to select the RPO KA1 option; aka "reprogram the radio A-11 with K-A1 option"
- rear backup camera working as expected?
5. Finish up: reset radio presets, reset volume levels (e.g. startup whoosh), reset tone settings

For the record, here is a post that describes the differences between 2011 and 2012 Volts. Note that this is NOT a listing of things that change with the 2011 software update, just the model year changes. It's a useful reference to see all the things that the 2012s are getting that us 2011s aren't, in particular that kWh reading ... :
http://gm-volt.com/forum/showthread.php?9826-differences-between-2011-and-2012-model-year-Volts&p=97439#post97439

For the record, the other (much smaller) threads that touched on this 2011 update were:
http://gm-volt.com/forum/showthread.php?8580-Volt-software-updates
http://gm-volt.com/forum/showthread.php?9549-Software-Upgrade-available-for-the-2011-Volt
http://gm-volt.com/forum/showthread.php?8864-New-software-upgrade-for-2011-Volts

... but this is certainly the big one and I encourage commentary to stay in this thread.

One thing that wasn't clear from all the commentary hear is the numbering of the updates. There was the original 11137 update, then I saw mentions of 11137A and 11137B. Finally there's the "recall" 11264 which takes care of the heated seats icon problem. Does the 11264 update replace the 11137 update, or just add to it?

Hi, Chris. Update 11264 is just for the heated seat icon problem. You will be going in for 11137. I believe 11137B is just the latest version of 11137. WOP can weigh in.

Update 11137B caused range to drop 7 miles and battery no longer goes to 100% Charge. More on this later. This is not just the readout. It switched over to gas for the first time since I have owned the car on my 30 mile trip to work. I got the car on Dec 15, 2010 and this has not happened before.

Jim K.

Update 11137B caused range to drop 7 miles and battery no longer goes to 100% Charge. More on this later. This is not just the readout. It switched over to gas for the first time since I have owned the car on my 30 mile trip to work. I got the car on Dec 15, 2010 and this has not happened before. Jim K.
Yes please provide as much details as you can about the before and after for these things: temp, predicted range, climate usage. As a very early adopter who had their car for almost an entire years cycle and in the winter/Dec your situation may be telling.

My beginning range estimation is about 35 right now so if I got the update I would expect it to be the same (35=factory) all other things being equal. My 2011 update has not been done yet. Rusty was going to do some measurements before/after using his device.

Update 11137B caused range to drop 7 miles and battery no longer goes to 100% Charge. More on this later. This is not just the readout. It switched over to gas for the first time since I have owned the car on my 30 mile trip to work. I got the car on Dec 15, 2010 and this has not happened before.

Jim K.Yes, the update temporarily creates this issue, but it is just temporary. After 10 -20 drive-charge cycles your range will return (assuming identical ambient conditions and geography)
WOT

After 10 -20 drive-charge cycles your range will return

Is that because it's doing a battery recalibration? I think this is the first I've heard there's a re-learn, and the temporarily reduced driving range isn't just the weather.

Yes, the update temporarily creates this issue, but it is just temporary. After 10 -20 drive-charge cycles your range will return (assuming identical ambient conditions and geography) WOT
Here is my confusion. Can you expand on that a little more as I understand the start of day range estimation changing but I would highlevel/logically expect the actually range to be the 'same'.

Assuming temp, climate controls, drive to work is the exact same in all 3 days below.
Example using hypothetical numbers (25,30,35,40) for simplicity:
* N-3 days ago starting estimated range is 40 and actual range driven in CD is 30 before switching to CS
* N-2 days ago software update is done
* N-1 days ago starting estimated range is 35 (factory reset) but actual range driven in CD is down to 25 before switching to CS
* N-0 days ago (today) sell Volt and buy Chevy's latest and greatest described here (http://gm-volt.com/forum/showthread.php?10144-GM-Introduces-Chevy-Petro-ERICE&p=100391#post100391)

So I don't really care about starting estimate range because that gets reset to factory 35. I'm confused about how actual range changes and what examples of software heuristical learning will change actual range.

Scott,

I can tell you that actual range was always greater than 30 miles per charge from Dec 15, 2011 when I got the car until I got the upgrade at the end of last week.

I have a 30 mile commute to work. I leave the car on charge whenever it is not in use both at home and at work. The car was always at 100% charge when I left for work in the morning and was always at 100% charge when I left from work in the evening. I have always been able to make that 30 mile commute on all electric regardless of the weather.

Last Winter the range was always just a little over 30 miles. I would get to work with somewhere between 2 and 10 miles left according to the display. It never switched over to gas on a normal commute. Average outside temperature was 30F.

Last Spring the range was always between 40 and 47 miles. I would get to work with somewhere between 10 and 17 miles left according to the display. Average outside temperature was 70F

Last Summer the range was always between 38 and 43 miles. I would get to work with somewhere between 8 and 13 miles left according to the display. Average outside temperature was 78F

This Fall the range was always between 40 and 47 miles again. I would again get to work with somewhere between 10 and 17 miles left according to the display. Average outside temperature was again 70F.

It had been on the cool side the few days before the upgrade and the range was indicating 40 miles.

Right after the upgrade the range indicated 35 miles. I expected this based on what I had read on this thread. The display was very Wonky after this and jumped from 35 to 45 miles after only traveling 1 mile. Again I expected this as the car had to relearn the range. What I did not expect was the gas engine to switch on before I got home. The gas engine has switched on every time since then on this 30 mile commute (about 6 complete cycles of the battery). Estimated range is showing about 30 miles now. I am sure that estimate will go down further when it realizes it has not actually been getting 30 miles on a charge. Temperature today was 58F when I drove to work and 57 when I drove home. It normally got pretty good range at that temperature. The engine switched on 3 miles before I got home. Also, the battery only shows 99% charge when it is fully charged vice the 100% charge that it showed before.

Another thing I have noticed is that the climate control does not work near a well as it did before. When set to auto is use to be very quiet and keep the car very comfortable at all times. Now with the same auto setting the climate control seems to be much more aggressive and the fan runs much faster, much louder and will even blow cold air on me now.

The bottom line is I have had this car for almost a year now and been incredibly happy with it before this firmware upgrade. I am so upset with it now that I would not recommend it to anyone and if they can not get it back to where it was, I will try to get rid it.

WOP please tell me they can load the old firmware back into this and make it functional again.

I recommend that if anyone has not had this upgrade yet ,don't let them do it.

One very unhappy Volt Owner,

Jim K.

Breathe. It's going to be ok, so no need to be a drama queen. You'll regret it later.

Even if the Volt only gave 27 miles and you had to manually set your climate control, it's hard to imagine you would hate a car that has you on electric for 90% of your commute. But relax, they will get your other miles back...




Scott,

I can tell you that actual range was always greater than 30 miles per charge from Dec 15, 2011 when I got the car until I got the upgrade at the end of last week.

I have a 30 mile commute to work. I leave the car on charge whenever it is not in use both at home and at work. The car was always at 100% charge when I left for work in the morning and was always at 100% charge when I left from work in the evening. I have always been able to make that 30 mile commute on all electric regardless of the weather.

Last Winter the range was always just a little over 30 miles. I would get to work with somewhere between 2 and 10 miles left according to the display. It never switched over to gas on a normal commute. Average outside temperature was 30F.

Last Spring the range was always between 40 and 47 miles. I would get to work with somewhere between 10 and 17 miles left according to the display. Average outside temperature was 70F

Last Summer the range was always between 38 and 43 miles. I would get to work with somewhere between 8 and 13 miles left according to the display. Average outside temperature was 78F

This Fall the range was always between 40 and 47 miles again. I would again get to work with somewhere between 10 and 17 miles left according to the display. Average outside temperature was again 70F.

It had been on the cool side the few days before the upgrade and the range was indicating 40 miles.

Right after the upgrade the range indicated 35 miles. I expected this based on what I had read on this thread. The display was very Wonky after this and jumped from 35 to 45 miles after only traveling 1 mile. Again I expected this as the car had to relearn the range. What I did not expect was the gas engine to switch on before I got home. The gas engine has switched on every time since then on this 30 mile commute (about 6 complete cycles of the battery). Estimated range is showing about 30 miles now. I am sure that estimate will go down further when it realizes it has not actually been getting 30 miles on a charge. Temperature today was 58F when I drove to work and 57 when I drove home. It normally got pretty good range at that temperature. The engine switched on 3 miles before I got home. Also, the battery only shows 99% charge when it is fully charged vice the 100% charge that it showed before.

Another thing I have noticed is that the climate control does not work near a well as it did before. When set to auto is use to be very quiet and keep the car very comfortable at all times. Now with the same auto setting the climate control seems to be much more aggressive and the fan runs much faster, much louder and will even blow cold air on me now.

The bottom line is I have had this car for almost a year now and been incredibly happy with it before this firmware upgrade. I am so upset with it now that I would not recommend it to anyone and if they can not get it back to where it was, I will try to get rid it.

WOP please tell me they can load the old firmware back into this and make it functional again.

I recommend that if anyone has not had this upgrade yet ,don't let them do it.

One very unhappy Volt Owner,

Jim K.

Is it possible that the update is doing some type of battery leveling? The fact that its only showing 99%charge may mean that some cells are (possibly intentionally) not being allowed to charge as far to keep them within range. Maybe as the other cells become more balanced it will return to normal. With 100's of cells its not hard to imaging some getting out of range and the update could be doing a little bit of wear-leveling which may take many trips to balance out? This might also explain why some people see no difference and others are seeing more.. those that had more imbalanced cells are seeing real range being impacted while those with naturally balanced cells don't see much of a change (besides the reset in estimation).

Temperature today was 58F when I drove to work and 57 when I drove home. It normally got pretty good range at that temperature. The engine switched on 3 miles before I got home. Also, the battery only shows 99% charge when it is fully charged vice the 100% charge that it showed before.

Another thing I have noticed is that the climate control does not work near a well as it did before. When set to auto is use to be very quiet and keep the car very comfortable at all times. Now with the same auto setting the climate control seems to be much more aggressive and the fan runs much faster, much louder and will even blow cold air on me now.

The bottom line is I have had this car for almost a year now and been incredibly happy with it before this firmware upgrade. I am so upset with it now that I would not recommend it to anyone and if they can not get it back to where it was, I will try to get rid [of] it.

Thanks for the long and detailed response. I've had my Volt since the end of Feb and living in Chicagoland get some temp ranges. My numbers jive with yours tho. In the high 50's I get 40.

I've read quite a few post on all of these issues. My work only direct commute is only 24 RT but I have various excursions and sports so I used my max range a lot.

Still the range seems to be very sensitive to two things: Outside temp < 50F and climate settings. I guess they go fairly hand in hand if you are on AUTO. I use to only use ECO and AUTO but as I'm trying to stretch my miles lately I've been doing ECO and manual controls of the fan and location (defrost and feet).

A couple days ago I purposely used COMFORT, 74, and head seats (L). It was 40F that day. I used an "extra 6-7 EV" miles on that 12 mile ride home.

If they changed the climate controls for AUTO to be more aggressive then perhaps that is making a large difference. With your 30 mile trip in cool weather you were on the edge to begin with it seemed.

Food for thought. Keep us posted as you do more cycles. If you manually change CLIMATE controls as an experiment jot them down.

I just had the software upgrade performed a few days ago, and then spent 10 hours in the car driving on the freeway to pick up my daughter for the holidays. This is the first out of town trip in over a month. Before leaving, I noticed a slight drop in predicted battery range, which doesn't worry me much since I expect it to improve with future recharge cycles. I also got blasted by the high sound level settings, but that was easy to correct.

First of all, I do notice a slight difference in how the brakes feel and work. With the original software, the brakes were soft, stopping was linear and consistent, except for the last 3 mph to 0 mph, when they would release a bit. I learned to anticipate the last minute release, and I was easily able to stop the car so smoothly a passenger could not feel the actual stop.

After the software update, the braking action is more aggressive, bordering on "grabby". When i just barely touch the brake pedal, almost breathing on it, the car immediately starts to slow down so much I can feel it. And at the 3 mph to 0 mph portion, they grab a little more and bring the car to a definite everyone can feel it stop. When I read others say they did the software upgrade and notice no difference, it makes me wonder if other factors like mechanical unit to unit variation are in play over and above the software changes. The change in brake characteristics for my car is so noticeable it is almost like driving a different brand of car. I liked the original performance characteristics better.

There is one other thing I have noticed after the upgrade. The car occasionally "jerks". It is very subtle, but I do notice it. Almost like an automatic transmission down shift in an old car. Speeding up from 60 to 70, then quickly hitting the brake to slow down a bit. (however pausing two seconds before braking it is always smooth) Coasting and slowing down from 60 to 50 (no braking). These while the gas generator is running in MM. Finally, stop and go throttling between 3 mph and 25 mph in CD mode. The car didn't jerk before. Ever. Now it does intermittently. Is this a sticky clutch? Which raises the question, is the upgrade accompanied by anything mechanical like an adjustment to something. Since my paperwork only says 11137, with no A or B, how do I find out what is actually loaded into the car?

Since I have only driven the car twice since the upgrade was performed, I need to get more experience behind the wheel to determine if it needs to be looked at. The car still runs well overall, but I no longer feel it is Rolls Royce smooth "perfect" like it once was.

I just had the software upgrade performed a few days ago, and then spent 10 hours in the car driving on the freeway to pick up my daughter for the holidays. This is the first out of town trip in over a month. Before leaving, I noticed a slight drop in predicted battery range, which doesn't worry me much since I expect it to improve with future recharge cycles. I also got blasted by the high sound level settings, but that was easy to correct.

First of all, I do notice a slight difference in how the brakes feel and work. With the original software, the brakes were soft, stopping was linear and consistent, except for the last 3 mph to 0 mph, when they would release a bit. I learned to anticipate the last minute release, and I was easily able to stop the car so smoothly a passenger could not feel the actual stop.

After the software update, the braking action is more aggressive, bordering on "grabby". When i just barely touch the brake pedal, almost breathing on it, the car immediately starts to slow down so much I can feel it. And at the 3 mph to 0 mph portion, they grab a little more and bring the car to a definite everyone can feel it stop. When I read others say they did the software upgrade and notice no difference, it makes me wonder if other factors like mechanical unit to unit variation are in play over and above the software changes. The change in brake characteristics for my car is so noticeable it is almost like driving a different brand of car. I liked the original performance characteristics better.

There is one other thing I have noticed after the upgrade. The car occasionally "jerks". It is very subtle, but I do notice it. Almost like an automatic transmission down shift in an old car. Speeding up from 60 to 70, then quickly hitting the brake to slow down a bit. (however pausing two seconds before braking it is always smooth) Coasting and slowing down from 60 to 50 (no braking). These while the gas generator is running in MM. Finally, stop and go throttling between 3 mph and 25 mph in CD mode. The car didn't jerk before. Ever. Now it does intermittently. Is this a sticky clutch? Which raises the question, is the upgrade accompanied by anything mechanical like an adjustment to something. Since my paperwork only says 11137, with no A or B, how do I find out what is actually loaded into the car?

Since I have only driven the car twice since the upgrade was performed, I need to get more experience behind the wheel to determine if it needs to be looked at. The car still runs well overall, but I no longer feel it is Rolls Royce smooth "perfect" like it once was.A or B is is essentially meaningless as the service programming system will just automatically install the most recent versions of the software. (the technican is not in control of that and cannot put an older version of the software into the car)
Not too sure what to say about the braking or "downshifting" as... neither the brake control module or transaxle control module was part of the update! (and there's no menchanical adjustments)
Hmmm
Guess we need a control group with a placebo?? lol
WOT

WOP, you were 100% correct. On the 6th charge cycle after the update the range was 27 miles. On the 7th charge cycle after the update the range was 40 miles. Temperature in both cases was 58F outside. Under normal circumstances temperature seems to be the main factor that affects range. Although the actual range changed instantly from the 6th to the 7th charge cycle, the estimated range indicator on the dashboard changed gradually.

FACT: In my case range dropped significantly after the firmware update for the first 6 charge cycles and returned to normal on the 7th charge cycle. In my case the charge indicator on the iphone would only go up to 99% for the first 6 charge cycles and returned to 100% on the 7th and subsequent charges.

HYPOTHESIS: The firmware update caused the vehicle to enter a battery calibration mode which, in my case, completed after 6 charge cycles. I almost wonder if GM has the ability to initiate and terminate this battery calibration mode remotely via OnStar because it was the very next charge cycle after I called the Volt Advisor and Dealer to complain about the range that the range returned to normal.

kmg, I wonder if maybe part of what you are experiencing is because the car is running in ICE mode. In ICE mode the gas engine can assist in driving the wheels. Both the gas engine and electric motor are both connected to the wheels via a planetary gear arrangement. Normally the gas engine is locked out from turning the wheels. At certain higher speeds the gas engine is allowed to assist in driving the wheels in a series arrangement with the electric motor. This changes the gear ratio between the electric motor and the wheels. When it does this it feels like a gearshift (actually it is a gearshift) and can shift both up and down. Also, the load change can cause the gas engine to speed up or slow down at times.

kmg, Although, I have not noticed any change in the way the break pedal works, I have noticed that when I take my foot off the accelerator, the regeneration appears to be a little more aggressive now causing the vehicle to slow down faster.

A Very Happy Volt Owner Again,

Jim K.

Is there a way to tell what version of software the car is running? And, if it is current?

Jim... I've been so angry and upset at GM, the Volt advisor and my dealership as they can't or aren't able to get my Volt back to where it was before the software upgrade.

In 30-40 degree temperatures last April-May I was getting consistently 38-40 miles of EV range (indicated on the display and actual driven miles). Then when it warmed up from May-August I was getting 41-44 just about every single day.

I got the software update in late August (temps still 70's and 80's) and my EV mileage plunged to 36-38 miles. I drove it through a dozen depletion/recharge cycles and it has only gotten worse.

Temperatures have been in the 40's and high 50's and I can't get past 28 EV miles. It's a total sham and I'm pissed because I'm using gas every single day whereas in the spring during colder temperatures than now I was getting in the mid to high 30's.

Quite frankly I feel as though the software update has stolen a good ten miles of EV range from me and I want it back. I can no longer recommend this vehicle because I am no longer satisfied with it.

You couldn't get me to say enough good things about it before the August update and now I can't say a good thing about it period.

I want my EV range back! DON'T GET THE SOFTWARE UPDATE.......DON'T DO IT!!!!!


Scott,

I can tell you that actual range was always greater than 30 miles per charge from Dec 15, 2011 when I got the car until I got the upgrade at the end of last week.

I have a 30 mile commute to work. I leave the car on charge whenever it is not in use both at home and at work. The car was always at 100% charge when I left for work in the morning and was always at 100% charge when I left from work in the evening. I have always been able to make that 30 mile commute on all electric regardless of the weather.

Last Winter the range was always just a little over 30 miles. I would get to work with somewhere between 2 and 10 miles left according to the display. It never switched over to gas on a normal commute. Average outside temperature was 30F.

Last Spring the range was always between 40 and 47 miles. I would get to work with somewhere between 10 and 17 miles left according to the display. Average outside temperature was 70F

Last Summer the range was always between 38 and 43 miles. I would get to work with somewhere between 8 and 13 miles left according to the display. Average outside temperature was 78F

This Fall the range was always between 40 and 47 miles again. I would again get to work with somewhere between 10 and 17 miles left according to the display. Average outside temperature was again 70F.

It had been on the cool side the few days before the upgrade and the range was indicating 40 miles.

Right after the upgrade the range indicated 35 miles. I expected this based on what I had read on this thread. The display was very Wonky after this and jumped from 35 to 45 miles after only traveling 1 mile. Again I expected this as the car had to relearn the range. What I did not expect was the gas engine to switch on before I got home. The gas engine has switched on every time since then on this 30 mile commute (about 6 complete cycles of the battery). Estimated range is showing about 30 miles now. I am sure that estimate will go down further when it realizes it has not actually been getting 30 miles on a charge. Temperature today was 58F when I drove to work and 57 when I drove home. It normally got pretty good range at that temperature. The engine switched on 3 miles before I got home. Also, the battery only shows 99% charge when it is fully charged vice the 100% charge that it showed before.

Another thing I have noticed is that the climate control does not work near a well as it did before. When set to auto is use to be very quiet and keep the car very comfortable at all times. Now with the same auto setting the climate control seems to be much more aggressive and the fan runs much faster, much louder and will even blow cold air on me now.

The bottom line is I have had this car for almost a year now and been incredibly happy with it before this firmware upgrade. I am so upset with it now that I would not recommend it to anyone and if they can not get it back to where it was, I will try to get rid it.

WOP please tell me they can load the old firmware back into this and make it functional again.

I recommend that if anyone has not had this upgrade yet ,don't let them do it.

One very unhappy Volt Owner,

Jim K.

In 30-40 degree temperatures last April-May I was getting consistently 38-40 miles of EV range (indicated on the display and actual driven miles). Then when it warmed up from May-August I was getting 41-44 just about every single day.
How were you getting those really high numbers of 38-40 EV miles in 30-40 degree temps?!? That seems really high? What exact climate settings were you using? Hills or flat? Did you recover a lot in regen? Those numbers seem really high by comparison to my flat land driving in those temps (and others I've read about). I would expect pretty low 30s at 30-40F.

You quoted Jim's initial response. Did you see this one?

Range Returned to Normal and charge went to 100% on 7th charge cycle

I'm not saying you are confused or misleading anyone. I'm just saying you seem to have a very unusual situation by comparison to others who have gotten their updates.

You're welcome, drama queen!


WOP, you were 100% correct. On the 6th charge cycle after the update the range was 27 miles. On the 7th charge cycle after the update the range was 40 miles. Temperature in both cases was 58F outside. Under normal circumstances temperature seems to be the main factor that affects range. Although the actual range changed instantly from the 6th to the 7th charge cycle, the estimated range indicator on the dashboard changed gradually.

FACT: In my case range dropped significantly after the firmware update for the first 6 charge cycles and returned to normal on the 7th charge cycle. In my case the charge indicator on the iphone would only go up to 99% for the first 6 charge cycles and returned to 100% on the 7th and subsequent charges.

HYPOTHESIS: The firmware update caused the vehicle to enter a battery calibration mode which, in my case, completed after 6 charge cycles. I almost wonder if GM has the ability to initiate and terminate this battery calibration mode remotely via OnStar because it was the very next charge cycle after I called the Volt Advisor and Dealer to complain about the range that the range returned to normal.

kmg, I wonder if maybe part of what you are experiencing is because the car is running in ICE mode. In ICE mode the gas engine can assist in driving the wheels. Both the gas engine and electric motor are both connected to the wheels via a planetary gear arrangement. Normally the gas engine is locked out from turning the wheels. At certain higher speeds the gas engine is allowed to assist in driving the wheels in a series arrangement with the electric motor. This changes the gear ratio between the electric motor and the wheels. When it does this it feels like a gearshift (actually it is a gearshift) and can shift both up and down. Also, the load change can cause the gas engine to speed up or slow down at times.

kmg, Although, I have not noticed any change in the way the break pedal works, I have noticed that when I take my foot off the accelerator, the regeneration appears to be a little more aggressive now causing the vehicle to slow down faster.

A Very Happy Volt Owner Again,

Jim K.

Drama queen #2!


Jim... I've been so angry and upset at GM, the Volt advisor and my dealership as they can't or aren't able to get my Volt back to where it was before the software upgrade.

In 30-40 degree temperatures last April-May I was getting consistently 38-40 miles of EV range (indicated on the display and actual driven miles). Then when it warmed up from May-August I was getting 41-44 just about every single day.

I got the software update in late August (temps still 70's and 80's) and my EV mileage plunged to 36-38 miles. I drove it through a dozen depletion/recharge cycles and it has only gotten worse.

Temperatures have been in the 40's and high 50's and I can't get past 28 EV miles. It's a total sham and I'm pissed because I'm using gas every single day whereas in the spring during colder temperatures than now I was getting in the mid to high 30's.

Quite frankly I feel as though the software update has stolen a good ten miles of EV range from me and I want it back. I can no longer recommend this vehicle because I am no longer satisfied with it.

You couldn't get me to say enough good things about it before the August update and now I can't say a good thing about it period.

I want my EV range back! DON'T GET THE SOFTWARE UPDATE.......DON'T DO IT!!!!!

I cannot comment on Kevmark's, but I routinely get 37-41 on my commute, at temps between 28-40. Last week I did my best EVmiles==Temp day ever, at 43miles on a 43degree day. (Though 20 or so of those were on side roads at 45-55mph as I knew it was going to be a > 40mile day).

I cannot comment on Kevmark's, but I routinely get 37-41 on my commute, at temps between 28-40. Last week I did my best EVmiles==Temp day ever, at 43miles on a 43degree day. (Though 20 or so of those were on side roads at 45-55mph as I knew it was going to be a > 40mile day )Wait a second. What exact climate settings were you using? Hills or flat? Did you recover a lot in regen?

Wait a second. What exact climate settings were you using? Hills or flat? Did you recover a lot in regen?


I used heated seats, for climate. (I walk a mile or so a day after I park my Volt, so I have a reasonable coat for CO weather). I do lots of outdoor stuff (snowboard etc) and I don't feel much from "cold".

I don't usually precondition.

My drive is quite hilly, 800' down to work in 15miles, and 800' back home in 17miles. (errands tend to the on relatively flat roads).

I'm quite good at regen and coasting (in D). I can leave for work with say 40AER showing, and get off the highway 12miles later with 38 or 39AER, (all while traveling at 70 to 65mph). Climbing the hills and city driving to work (3 more miles) and I end with 32-35miles AER.
On bad days (traveling 75, rushing stop/starts and not costing/regen), I can arrive at work with only 27-28AER.

Is there a way to tell what version of software the car is running? And, if it is current?Unfortunately not without special tools and access to GMs Sevice Programming System (SPS). It's actually quite complex because there are so many modules involved and each can have 5-10 seperate sets of customizable software/firmware. So the technican connects the car to the SPS, the exisiting levels are checked and compared to a database of levels "preferred" for your VIN, the each can be downloaded to the car. The technician can't pick and choose the software (other tha those that are option code specific like with or without heated seats) as only the most recent software release is selectable.
HTH
WOT

Certainly it's possible that there's something else wrong with your car. I'm just 100% certain it had nothing to do with the actual software updates as outlined in the recall, assuming they were we all actually installed. That is because there's nothing there that would be to the detriment of EV range. The dealer is telling the truth that there's no way for them to return your software to it's pre-August state. That is how the Service Programming System works, and it prevents letting dealers putting any sort of software they choose. The most recently available packages are available for installation ONLY.

So I suggest you simply put the fact the YOU think it was the software's fault out of your head, and instead simply bring your car to them describing your "reduced" range concern- and leave it at that. That way they can reassess the car's condition, look for OTHER items that might be contributing to your range issue, and also determine whether there's been any errors made in the software levels that have been installed. (or not installed).
They will also certainly put the car through a few charge-drive cycles and see what kind of range THEY get and factor that against the "THREE Ts" - Temperature, Terrain and Technique. If there IS a problem with your range they will be able to verify it and work with Volt techncial assistance to remedy it.

Hopefully they will find something that somehow slipped through the cracks.
WopOnTour

Jim... I've been so angry and upset at GM, the Volt advisor and my dealership as they can't or aren't able to get my Volt back to where it was before the software upgrade.

In 30-40 degree temperatures last April-May I was getting consistently 38-40 miles of EV range (indicated on the display and actual driven miles). Then when it warmed up from May-August I was getting 41-44 just about every single day.

I got the software update in late August (temps still 70's and 80's) and my EV mileage plunged to 36-38 miles. I drove it through a dozen depletion/recharge cycles and it has only gotten worse.

Temperatures have been in the 40's and high 50's and I can't get past 28 EV miles. It's a total sham and I'm pissed because I'm using gas every single day whereas in the spring during colder temperatures than now I was getting in the mid to high 30's.

Quite frankly I feel as though the software update has stolen a good ten miles of EV range from me and I want it back. I can no longer recommend this vehicle because I am no longer satisfied with it.

You couldn't get me to say enough good things about it before the August update and now I can't say a good thing about it period.

I want my EV range back! DON'T GET THE SOFTWARE UPDATE.......DON'T DO IT!!!!!

Thanks jimcking for your reports here about the apparent calibration/leveling phase, and in particular thanks for coming back and saying that it appears to now be resolving itself.

I've just now called my dealer and scheduled my update for this Wednesday. I'll survive if I lose some range for a week, as my daily commute is under 20 miles, even with side errands.

And a reminder for anyone new to this thread: in my FAQ below is a link to a post (http://gm-volt.com/forum/showthread.php?9088-2011-Software-Update&p=100093#post100093) where I list the various other gotchas associated with this update. You just need to be vigilant and make sure that they've fully applied the latest update before you leave the shop.


... drama queen ...

voltage692, cut it out. This is useful information and a constructive dialog that we are having to get to the bottom of it. And please stop quoting huge tracts just to add one sentence of commentary.

OK, some good news. I repeated the same 10 hour trip yesterday that I did the day after my software upgrade. This time the trip took 8 hours instead of 10, because there was a lot less traffic. The temperature on the original trip was in the high 40s, yesterday it was in the 80s. The brake feel in the car yesterday was soft and smooth, the way I like it. I must conclude that the subtle change in brake feel I experienced on the original long trip was due to the temperature change, not the software update.

Some not so good news. The intermittent very occasional lurches I experienced on the original trip were noticed on the second trip as well, so that is not temperature related. I need to qualify that these only occur after I had been driving the car for over 6 hours in CS MM mode, so it is something that a dealer would not be able to easily reproduce. I have gone around town in CD mode only for the last few months, which does not seem to initiate this problem. Yesterday after being on the road for 7 hours, I had one very noticeable lurch and an audible clunk occur when coasting from 65 to 0, and it occurred at about 3 mph. Seems to me that is when the MG should be disengaging or discontinuing mild regen braking. This happened without the brake pedal being touched.

I talked to the service rep on the phone today, he suggested I contact OnStar to run diagnostics and see if any codes are showing up. I will do that today.

2011 upgraded, uneventful, reset radio stations, time, and a few settings. Mile estimates coming back already up to 40.

2011 upgraded, uneventful, reset radio stations, time, and a few settings. Mile estimates coming back already up to 40.

Is anything better then before???

Is anything better then before???

Not noticed much change at all. The mileage estimates dropped a bit but as expected it is coming back. This time of year we don't even run the climate system at all. Jeez it is 75F here already today and suppose to be 80F tomorrow.

My point is to keep it to the useful stuff and save the "I can no longer recommend this car, and now I hate everything about it because I am getting less range" drama queen stuff. Just can't tolerate adults talking like they/re in day care (which many of them on here may be in some form of day care come to think of it...)


Thanks jimcking for your reports here about the apparent calibration/leveling phase, and in particular thanks for coming back and saying that it appears to now be resolving itself.

I've just now called my dealer and scheduled my update for this Wednesday. I'll survive if I lose some range for a week, as my daily commute is under 20 miles, even with side errands.

And a reminder for anyone new to this thread: in my FAQ below is a link to a post (http://gm-volt.com/forum/showthread.php?9088-2011-Software-Update&p=100093#post100093) where I list the various other gotchas associated with this update. You just need to be vigilant and make sure that they've fully applied the latest update before you leave the shop.



voltage692, cut it out. This is useful information and a constructive dialog that we are having to get to the bottom of it. And please stop quoting huge tracts just to add one sentence of commentary.

Still waiting to hear what is better after the update, my car is working fine.

Here is a good thing..... On road trips long before the update I was averaging 42 mpg while in CS mode driving 60 to 65. Yesterday after the update a week ago, the traffic was going 70 to 75, and I averaged 44 mpg while in CS mode. That is the highest mpg for gas power I have seen since I got the car 9 months ago. Was the improvement due to the software update? Maybe, maybe not, who knows....

Needless to say, my OnStar diagnostics check came out clean. For those who have not asked OnStar to do this for them, it was a very pleasant experience. Turn the car on, press the OnStar button, I got a nice chap to answer in three seconds flat, he ran the diagnostics and gave me the results in about a minute.