Is Chevy investigating seat complaints?

[Bacardi]

As Chevy LIQUIDATES their rotting U.S. Bolt EV inventory...

Absurd hyperbole.

Unless it isn't...I know of a lot people do not like to hear this but it was just reported 80% of all EV transactions lease vs buy so lease deals are more important than purchase deal...First month of Bolt EV deliveries, Dec '16 through all of Q1 '17 GM did not offer a single incentive beyond a $250 discount for employees, all other GM vehicles including the Z06 qualified for incentives, the Bolt EV was event excluded from the 2016 Costco program...Jan 1162 deliveries, feb 952 and mar 978...Then in April '16 they opened it up the incentives...July they started to offer $3000 private offers...Fast forward to Q4 and they greatly lowered the lease MF (interest) and there were some incredible leases, most dealers were only ordering LTs with $750 DCFC so their cheapest Bolts were $38,2XX...With expensive CA tax, 36 month sign and drive lease deals were going for $0 out of pocket at drive off which pushes the first months payment to the remaining 35 months and monthly payment including all fees and taxes to $245/mo to the lender (you still can qualify for additional incentives/rebates that GM is not tied to) yet, they also offered a $1500ish discount for a single pay lease...Put it all together, $245 x 35 = $8575 or $7K-ish for single pay and deduct the DMV and sales tax which would be about a $1000 and GM's lender, GM Financial, was willing to lease their $38,2XX Bolt EV for about $6K...The dealers who offered this lease deal ran out of them...So leasing a $38K vehicle for $6K ($7K lease, $1000 to TTL) is far from absurd hyperbole...

Proof of the lease deal: https://leasehackr.com/blog/2017/10/16/bolt-ev-never-been-better-138-month-0-down

 

[Bacardi]

Minor update to the seats...

Two sources, both at the other bolt forum, one who's a mod over there stated they bumped into someone who works at GM stated 2018 seats are "updated"...This is hearsay but what could give it some additional weight is that Maven and Lyft rent these out along with GM creating self-driving Bolts to Cruise Automation where backup human drivers job could be to sit in the car for 40 hours a week, week after week...Overall point being they maybe getting blitzed with complaints from sources other than current owners...

Hopefully we won't have to wait too much longer to find out and hopefully it's a substantial "update" and not a minor tweak such as using slightly firmer foam...If the seat does indeed change, don't expect any "deal" from GM (standard practice industry wide) but you're welcome to reach out to GM to try your luck...My best guess is the facebook Bolt group will create a petition or something...

 

[EldRick]

Absurd hyperbole.

 

[Tttait]

It would be absurd if they did not update the part. The most basic problems of the seat are based around a really cheap and poorly specified single piece molded foam seat pad. It costs GM less than $5. By changing the spec on the foam stiffness, perhaps the thickness, etc the foam pad could easily be updated for no real change in the price. Yes the lumbar support sucks too, but that could mean addressing a $8 piece of foam, so that will never happen.

It could have been handled by putting a summer intern at GM on the project, and have him/her talk with the supplier about what variables could be tested, and asking for 5 different samples to be sent to the design center. Pull 5 seats out of stock (probably the biggest expense of the endeavor) and get 50 people in the design center to comment on them, then swap the two winning seats into employee cars for longer term testing.

What GM does isn't magic, it's similar to what each of us has to deal with day to day in our jobs. Someone is telling them not to spend a lot of money, someone is getting some flack for making noise and saying it needs to be fixed, and some lacky is doing the actual leg work to find a solution that won't upset boat.

We are talking about updating a $5 part. If it doesn't happen it's going to be because someone is covering their butt and trying to look like they didn't drop the ball on this 2 years ago. With any luck the original engineer has moved on to another department. Maybe they work for Takata now doing next gen airbags, or are overseeing production of the Model 3.

 

[Bacardi]

I posted in the other thread that it in pictures the MY17 and MY18 seat and in particular the side plastic seat trim do not appear to have changed but that isn't to say the MY18 seats have some less visible changes such as more/denser foam...Now some are claiming that the MY18 will be an extremely short production run and the MY19 will go on sale this year so it's still possible changes are coming...

Let's look at 2018 Bolt EV sales, Jan sales 1177, when Dec was 3227...Wonder why the sales tanked? Monty Fool has an theory that's a lot like Deja Vu by which many on here won't like..."GM has been offering generous incentives on 2017-model-year Bolts since last fall"

https://www.fool.com/investing/2018/02/02/chevrolet-bolt-us-sales-january-2018.aspx

 

[Gatedad]

The reason for the drop off was the fact that people will have to wait over a year for their Federal Tax rebates...

 

[SeanNelson]

Let's look at 2018 Bolt EV sales, Jan sales 1177, when Dec was 3227...Wonder why the sales tanked?

January sales are almost always below December sales across the whole industry - the Bolt's results are nothing special. Partly it's about an end-of-the-year push to boost the sales numbers for the annual reports, coupled with the lack of any such incentives in January. For the Bolt, there's an added factor that the 2017 models are drying up and the 2018 models haven't really rolled out very much yet.

 

[WetEV]

The reason for the drop off was the fact that people will have to wait over a year for their Federal Tax rebates...

And the fear in December that there wouldn't be Federal Tax credits next year.

 

[Evoforce]

The reason for the drop off was the fact that people will have to wait over a year for their Federal Tax rebates...

And the fear in December that there wouldn't be Federal Tax credits next year.

I concur!

 

[LeftieBiker]

I almost leased a Bolt myself, for that very reason.

 

[Bacardi]

The reason for the drop off was the fact that people will have to wait over a year for their Federal Tax rebates...

The GOP tax bill where some were uncertain if the EV tax credit would remain surely inflated the some of the sales Nov & Dec...However, there was an IEV article that stated that 80% of all EV owners lease (55% of PHEV lease) so this end of year theory only applies the 20% minority...

The "lease hacker" Bolt EV lease deal went viral, every lease number including the deep incentives, dealerships who participating in the deal and sales people were made public...Very easy to go to any California dealer, show the lease hacker deal, tell them to match or you're walking...

 

[LeftieBiker]

The GOP tax bill where some were uncertain if the EV tax credit would remain surely inflated the some of the sales Nov & Dec...However, there was an IEV article that stated that 80% of all EV owners lease (55% of PHEV lease) so this end of year theory only applies the 20% minority...

No. Lessees would still have gotten $2500 of the $7500 credit as a CCR. Crappy but better than nothing. I was one of the ones considering the Bolt in December if the Federal credit was ended. I was about to sign a lease on a Premiere, actually...

 

[GetOffYourGas]

How did a thread on complaints about seat comfort devolve into a debate on why sales dropped in January (like they do every year)?

Ah, the internet.

 

[Evoforce]

How did a thread on complaints about seat comfort devolve into a debate on why sales dropped in January (like they do every year)?

Ah, the internet.

My only excuse is that the Bacardi did it!

 

[GetOffYourGas]

:lol:

 

[Bacardi]

Lol...Looking at a MY18 in pictures, it appears there were no changes for the MY18 seats, in particular the side trim looks like it can still "pinch"...I'd guess people are driving around in them now can confirm that either is or is not the case...Furthermore, there are unconfirmed rumors the MY18 production is going to be very short which one source claiming two months only and MY19 production could start as early as April...Some believe major changes are coming to the MY19 and while I could see a slight range bump and updated seats, some believe an 80kWh battery and supercruise...I believe only minor changes will be in Bolts futures for its entire generation...GM has announced that two EVs with Bolt drive-train are coming within 18 months (roughly announced six months ago) then another 18 (or 20 total) by 2023...We know one of the two using the Bolt's drive train is the Buick Encore which will remain FWD only and despite a higher price tag will have less range than the Bolt so that's why I don't think the Bolt won't gain another 20kWh...Majority of GM's EV efforts are spend on the next 20 EVs...

 

[SeanNelson]

...MY19 production could start as early as April...Some believe major changes are coming to the MY19 and while I could see a slight range bump and updated seats, some believe an 80kWh battery and supercruise...

As best I can tell the 80kWh rumour came from someone who interpreted the overly-optimistic European NEDC rating as meaning there was a range increase over the rating that had been given by the EPA. They then reverse engineered the supposed battery pack size based on this (imaginary) range increase.

In other words: move along, nothing to see here folks.

 

[SparkE]

As best I can tell the 80kWh rumour came from someone who interpreted the overly-optimistic European NEDC rating as meaning there was a range increase over the rating that had been given by the EPA. They then reverse engineered the supposed battery pack size based on this (imaginary) range increase.

In other words: move along, nothing to see here folks.

Wait ... I can't believe everything I read on the internet?!!? :shock:

 

[SeanNelson]

Wait ... I can't believe everything I read on the internet?!!? :shock:

Nope. Just as in "real life", when consuming media, talking to friends, etc. - you need to have a bit of a skeptical mind. Many of the woes of the world stem from the fact that too many people are easily influenced because they accept information without question.

 

[Bacardi]

...MY19 production could start as early as April...Some believe major changes are coming to the MY19 and while I could see a slight range bump and updated seats, some believe an 80kWh battery and supercruise...

As best I can tell the 80kWh rumour came from someone who interpreted the overly-optimistic European NEDC rating as meaning there was a range increase over the rating that had been given by the EPA. They then reverse engineered the supposed battery pack size based on this (imaginary) range increase.

In other words: move along, nothing to see here folks.

Yeah, that's my best guess...I believe we'll see the MY19 this fall, its just extremely strange they kept the MY17 Bolt EV running until the end of the 2017 but also produced the MY18 Volt during the fall...Supposedly, to quality for ZEV credits, it ignore model years and sales, it's only the date the vehicle was produced...So perhaps we'll only have to wait another 8-10 months to see if the MY19 has improved the seats...