GM Volt Forum banner

Volt Gave Me a Scare

16K views 45 replies 28 participants last post by  Wolfman 
#1 ·
A few days ago I went out to my garage (on some random errand) and found my Volt running on the ICE. The garage itself was filled with exhaust and the Volt was plugged into the 120v charger still (and charging).

I was able to pop open the garage door quickly, and (after 2 tries since I didn't have my keys on me) get the car moved out to the driveway and off.

I have since decided that I probably left the car on when I parked it a few hours earlier, and have been unable to reproduce the problem (ie ICE engine starting while plugged in) over the last few nights. What is confusing me is that when I first got into the vehicle (engine running but no keys), the dash showed the estimated time to full charge screen but no other displays, suggesting that the car was 'off'. It also would not let me move the vehicle or turn it off because there was no key present.

Has anyone else had a similar issue? Did I just leave it on? And even if I did, why would the ICE be running while it was on the charger (I don't recall if the battery was full or discharged after I got it started up afterwards)?

Suggestion to GM: If the car is charging and the main battery is discharged, TURN OFF THE VEHICLE instead of running the ICE to maintain charge!!!!

I am just thankful that I needed a beer and happened to need a trip to the garage, esp with my 2 year old sleeping in the room above (no exhaust smell in his room, but we opened a few windows just to be sure). Remember kids, beer saves lives so drink often!
 
See less See more
#2 ·
I suggest you contact OnStar and your Volt advisor to see if they can aid in finding out what happened.
 
#5 ·
I spent some time with the OnStar rep while sitting in the driveway the night it happened. Unfortunately, they said they could not determine what had happened or why, and had suggested that I call my dealer. I am however loath to be without my car for a few days while they try to reproduce the issue which may have just been me being overly distracted 8/.
 
#6 · (Edited)
I don't think the car can charge while it is turned on, so if it truly was charging and the engine was on, that fact alone merits further investigation.

Edit: I may have lied. You can turn on the Volt while it is charging, and it will continue to do so. I don't think you can start charging if the vehicle is turned on, though. Pretty sure the light just stays amber.
 
#7 ·
I need to make a point here. The exhaust on this car cannot kill anyone. I may be "somewhat harmful" to breathe the fumes for hours on end, but ya ain't gonna die!
That being said, see if you can find out how much fuel was burned durning the ICE start up. Most owners report that about .3 gallons being burning during maintenance mode.
So Volt owners.... Doesn't the car give you any indication that it's powered on when you plug it in? If it doesn't, it should!
 
#10 ·
I need to make a point here. The exhaust on this car cannot kill anyone. I may be "somewhat harmful" to breathe the fumes for hours on end, but ya ain't gonna die! ...
How can that be? There's gotta be some CO. At the very least oxygen will be depleted in a closed garage.
 
#9 ·
Was he engine hot? Did the Volt take on any additional range (was it charging?) this is very peculiar indeed. Ive never heard of a volt ice running more than a few minutes all by itself... I know you didn't pop the hood earlier that day, right? We can rule out some sort of "engine start due to raised hood" right?
 
#11 ·
Yeah I did not pop the hood.

I can say that the Volt was in CS mode when pulling into the garage, so its possible that if I left it on it would need to run the ICE periodically to maintain the min state of charge. It was plugged into a 120v charger, so if left on there may not have been enough draw to offset the climate controls (again, assuming it was left on).
 
#14 ·
This is why the keyless operation feature many newer cars have that people seem to love so much is not always a good thing. It is much more obvious you left your car on when the key is sitting in the ignition.

At any rate, I believe if you leave the car on and walk off WITH the keyfob, the car stays on. This is bad. If the car is in Park and the keyfob wanders off, the car should shut itself off. IMO.
 
#15 ·
This is why the keyless operation feature many new cars have that people seem to love so much is not always a good thing. It is pretty hard to not notice you left your car on if the key is still in the ignition.

I believe if you have the car on and leave the area WITH the key fob, the car stays on. This is bad, IMO. If the car is in Park and the keyfob wanders off, the car should shut itself off. But it doesn't.
 
#17 ·
I did this with my wife's Prius a couple of times. I can see it happening here, especially if you are distracted when exiting the car.
 
#21 · (Edited)
Or I guess the core question is will the Volt initiate a charge when the car is ON?
Mine doesn't, even when in CD mode. You have to shut it off before charging will begin.

This is pretty much a daily routine for me.
  1. Arrive at office and park near outlet. NOTE: Leave car "ON" but put into Park.
  2. Open charging door and set to "Charge Immediately" for next charge (Normally this is "Delayed - Rate & Departure Time")
  3. Remove seat belt, open drivers door and step outside. (NOTE: do not shut driver's door or the next step is difficult)
  4. Lower left rear window 50-80%
  5. Reach inside and grab extension cord. Plug extension cord into outlet.
  6. Reach inside and grab J1772 connector and attach to vehicle.
  7. Raise window with foam pipe insulation installed to weatherseal window while not crushing cables.
  8. Shut car off.
  9. Close driver's door.

The yellow light comes on after step 6. The "I'm charging NOW" beep happens after step 8. The "I'm locked" beep happens well after step 9, depending on how long it takes to get the rest of my crap out of the car. On those days I neglect to do the second part of step 2, I get either 2 or 4 beeps. Either way, it's not 1 beep so I disconnect and reconnect the charge cord and wait for the beep. Repeat if it's not 1 beep.

I also believe that a message appears on the DIC saying something like "Charge cord connected" when the car is on and the charge cord is connected.
 
#29 · (Edited)
While clean as these things go, yes, certainly you can suffocate from the CO2 alone, which can build up past lethal levels long before enough oxygen is used up to kill the engine - it only takes 1% CO2 to put you in danger, and a few percent will kill you dead as a box of rocks. The one good thing - you can tell with CO2, you feel like you're suffocating. With CO, which the Volt engine also makes (lots less, though) - you just get sleepy...which is why it gets more people and more bad rap - and with CO, the lethal levels are parts per million, not single digit percents.

Wonder if his hood latch reported open hood - that system has been a little flakey on mine, and that makes the engine run if the car was on no matter what else is happening. I use this to preheat mine in winter when I lack enough solar power to do it that way, and don't want to waste charge in the batteries. It will add some charge to them instead of eating a ton like that stupid "engine block heater" does. This year I will have an 800w ceramic heater running off an inverter connected to the 12v to try instead. It works, but now I don't need it.

Jeffhre - I hope you have a good lawyer. Telling people something is safe that clearly isn't makes you a lawsuit target for some dumb a55. And someone will. This is why all instruction books now have 20 pages of "don't do something stupid you can't even do with this product" and 1 page of how to do things. People get tired of getting lawyer-ripped so you have to say things are dangerous that aren't just in case. And no, in a garage, even a leaky one, there's not anywhere near enough air exchange to make running an engine safe with you in there for long. If you can see an inch of light between every wooden slat, then maybe, but who has that garage these days?
Most engines use in the hundreds cubic feet a minute air to run....that's a pretty large fan, you know.
 
#33 ·
While clean as these things go, yes, certainly you can suffocate from the CO2 alone, which can build up past lethal levels long before enough oxygen is used up to kill the engine - it only takes 1% CO2 to put you in danger, and a few percent will kill you dead as a box of rocks. The one good thing - you can tell with CO2, you feel like you're suffocating. With CO, which the Volt engine also makes (lots less, though) - you just get sleepy...which is why it gets more people and more bad rap - and with CO, the lethal levels are parts per million, not single digit percents..
50 ppm (55 mg/m3) OSHA TWA
200 ppm (229 mg/m3) OSHA ceiling
 
#30 ·
Remote starters and cars left running in the garage has lead to a few deaths at my in-laws retirement community. Folks go in the house, and either don't turn off the car or hit the remote start and it causes problems. There was a girl in the Tampa area that died because her neighbor's car was left running (common wall I guess). Here's some links
http://www.news4jax.com/news/Carbon...Woman/-/475880/1945114/-/mexl5rz/-/index.html
www.wral.com/news/local/story/8589199/
http://davidsonnews.net/blog/2012/03/21/police-say-pfeiffer-professor-died-of-carbon-monoxide/

Something to think about and a good reason to have a CO detector.
http://www.secondchancecoalarms.com/
 
#32 ·
@ Silidus,

Could you please send me a PM with your VIN and a date and time of the incident? Also can you let us know the battery state of charge in your last drive cycle and about how long after you plugged it in did you discover the incident?
 
#35 ·
I know that I left mine on once, but it was in an underground lot. As I walked away I looked in to see the dash glowing. That got me back to the car and turned it off. Even though it was in CS mode before that, once you stop the engine turns off so it was quiet.

I've since gotten into the habit of ensuring it's off by checking the dash to ensure it's off and this drive's totals are shown.

I do think that if you leave it on for more than an hour, say, it should just shut off if the fob is not in the car.
 
#36 · (Edited)
Fact- If you have the Amazing Chevy Volt still booted up ( On/ Running ), with battery range left, you step out of the car, close the door and plug in the charge cord, the dash reader light will glow orange and nothing will happen. Still plugged in, get back into the car and shut down. After a few seconds the dash light will turn green and the horn will give its familiar toot.

If I wish to, I can boot the car back up and while on, the battery will continue to charge as normal although the "Full" estimator will average boot up draw, demand, and extend the normal charge time in anticipation of shared use of the 110 draw.

So, to conclude, the Volt will NOT initiate a charging sequence a if the system is up and running- Booted Up-

Sididus- You pulled into your driveway in full CD mode having run out of battery on the way home. At some point, in your garage, distracted, you did not shut the volt down. You must of missed the sound of the air conditioner still running and not seen that your headlights were reflecting against the back wall, or assumed delay shut off. You plugged in the 110 charge cord and failed to realize that the light remained orange.

As you had run out of normal battery before your arrival in your garage, the generator( ICE ) had been demand running on and off, you pulled into your garage and, distracted, left your car on, ( ICE off )-( running on regen battery power ) and walked away. If you walked into the house with your keys, the Volt systems would continue on as they are designed to. Yes, this included the ICE engaging as the systems SOC depleted- as it is designed to do.

I hate to push the point but a child playing with a key fob has been known to set off a horn, lock a cars doors and quite possably remote start a vehicle. With the battery depleated the ICE will engage as designed-

This is why remote start can be turned off in system controls-


Zete- "I do think that if you leave it on for more than an hour, say, it should just shut off if the fob is not in the car."

The RKE Transmitter can be read by the Volts systems for up to 195 feet away- MY2012 Manual- Pg 2-2/ MY 2011 Manual- Pg 2-3. Drivers within this range may unknownly signal the car to stand by-


Best!
 
#37 ·
Sounds like you left it on with the climate on and the 120v current wasn't enough to heat or cool the cabin so the ICE came on. This can happen if you pre-condition while charging and it's 25F in your garage or less...

MrEnergyCzar
 
#38 ·
Actually, if you leave it on, it'll never pull power from the wall. For whatever reason, the Volt doesn't do the ~five second "qualify" process if it is on - the light stays yellow, and the charger stays disabled. The charger can run with the car on, if it has already qualified the A/C source (as in, you turn it on while still plugged in,) but you can't initiate a charge without the car being shut off first, for at least a few seconds. Not sure if there's a good technical reason for this or not...
 
#39 ·
After reading all of the comments IMHO the OP should follow through on the request to begin a dialog with GM through Trevor. I think the general agreement is that the Volt was probably left in the ON status. So now the discussion should address what is an appropriate automatic action to be taken by the Volt software.

At first blush, my vote goes for automatically shutting down the Volt when the EVSE is connected and then initiating a charge per the selected method. I say this because I don't see any reason to leave the car ON when you start a charge cycle. Obviously you are not planning on going anywhere since you just connected the EVSE. Anyone else?

VIN # B0985
 
#41 ·
I disagree. Behavior should be like when you leave your lights on and open the door or something similar.

If you plug the car in and the car is on, it should beep every couple of seconds until you turn it off. Even more so, the yellow/green dashboard light should blink red like crazy, so you'll know you're doing something that doesn't make much sense.

Note that if you leave the key inside the car and close the door, the car will sound it's horn several times. Why not do the same (or something similar) if you plug the power on while it's still on?
 
#40 · (Edited)
He means CO (Carbon monoxide) where the spell corrector might have replaced with CO2.
The bodies blood system likes CO better then O2 which is not good BUT the O2 level in the AIR is not the factor that will kill you.
(There have been a few deaths in the news about CO2 from leaking beverage tanks)

A short wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbon_monoxide_poisoning



Concentration Symptoms
----------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
35 ppm (0.0035%) Headache and dizziness within six to eight hours of constant exposure
100 ppm (0.01%) Slight headache in two to three hours
200 ppm (0.02%) Slight headache within two to three hours; loss of judgment
400 ppm (0.04%) Frontal headache within one to two hours
800 ppm (0.08%) Dizziness, nausea, and convulsions within 45 min; insensible within 2 hours
1,600 ppm (0.16%) Headache, tachycardia, dizziness, and nausea within 20 min; death in less than 2 hours
3,200 ppm (0.32%) Headache, dizziness and nausea in five to ten minutes. Death within 30 minutes.
6,400 ppm (0.64%) Headache and dizziness in one to two minutes. Convulsions, respiratory arrest, and death in less than 20 minutes.
12,800 ppm (1.28%) Unconsciousness after 2-3 breaths. Death in less than three minutes.


the main point in the link :

Modern cars with electronically controlled combustion and catalytic converters produce so little carbon monoxide that this is much less viable ( ie self-death by car). We do need alert but it's not like the movies.
 
#46 ·
Yes it can. This was how I discovered that I was sent home with a key fob that did not belong to my car.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top