Gear Shifter Broke Off

[bethkmi]

I drive in D & downshift to L for braking. Today when i did this approaching a light, the shifter appeared stuck in D & wouldn't downshift, so i just used the brakes. To try to fix it, while stopped at the light, i put it in P momentarily, then it was stuck in P & would't budge. Stuck in the middle of the road, I phoned OnStar & they were going to call police & a tow...but eventually i was able to jerk it into D & drive my 83 year old mother back home. I drove to the dealer without shifting again. When I got to the dealer & attempted to show the service manager what was going on, the whole head of the shifter lever came right off the base in my hand. It positioned back on & it seemed to be in the same condition as before.

Anyone else experience anything like this?? I thought it was safe to switch between D & L while driving. How could this have broke it?

[saghost]

I drive in D & downshift to L for braking. Today when i did this approaching a light, the shifter appeared stuck in D & wouldn't downshift, so i just used the brakes. To try to fix it, while stopped at the light, i put it in P momentarily, then it was stuck in P & would't budge. Stuck in the middle of the road, I phoned OnStar & they were going to call police & a tow...but eventually i was able to jerk it into D & drive my 83 year old mother back home. I drove to the dealer without shifting again. When I got to the dealer & attempted to show the service manager what was going on, the whole head of the shifter lever came right off the base in my hand. It positioned back on & it seemed to be in the same condition as before.

Anyone else experience anything like this?? I thought it was safe to switch between D & L while driving. How could this have broke it?

There's no safety preventing shifting between D & L when driving at any speed - because it doesn't change anything except the accelerator pedal map.

There's another thread from a few months back where an improperly installed retainer clip on the shifter itself caused something kinda similar - they couldn't shift that car into L or into P. Dealer replaced the entire shifter module to be sure:

http://gm-volt.com/forum/showthread....to-park-or-low

[DonC]

As Walter says shifting between "D" and "L" wouldn't bother anything. Seems more like a problem with the shifting mechanism not the handle. Can't remember anything remotely like this being reported.

[Steverino]

the whole head of the shifter lever came right off the base in my hand.

How many G's where you experiencing when this happened? I try to hold the steering wheel when under that kind of acceleration :-)

[bethkmi]

How many G's where you experiencing when this happened? I try to hold the steering wheel when under that kind of acceleration :-)

HaHa :-) That was actually when I was parked in the service bay...was quite a shocker

[Selling Volts At Sundance]

Well maybe............................................. ........

[Bob_Livonia]

That's why I use the brake pedal instead of the shifter. Contrary to popular opinion, you get regenerative braking using the brake pedal just like you would using low; the amount of difference is not practically significant. The car is so smooth, unlike cars with multi-speed transmissions; why would I want to get the jerkiness when I let off the accelerator? Constantly tugging on the shifter is going to cause stress and the potential for failure on any car, although like others, I haven't heard of similar reports.

[Chevrolet Customer Svc]

Sorry to hear about his bethkmi. It is safe to shift between D & L while driving, but I definitely have not heard of an issue like this before. Is your Volt still at the dealer right now?

[bethkmi]

I picked it up from Serra Chevrolet Southfield this morning. They sent a design engineer out who said it wasn't properly seated at the factory & they just reset it. They also mentioned something about the clip. It's working fine now. Glad to have my car back!!

[Chevrolet Customer Svc]

@bethkmi,

Excellent! Happy to hear it's working properly and you have it back!