What is the best year for the Chevrolet Volt?
No official dataset can support one universal best year. Use the table to compare complaint patterns and EPA figures, then open the shortlisted years for recall campaigns and exact specifications.
Model-year matrix
Chevrolet Volt
which year?
Compare every Chevrolet Volt model year the EPA recorded, 2011 to 2019. See complaint patterns, fuel economy and configurations side by side, then open any year for recall campaigns and the full dossier. Confirm against the official NHTSA recall search.
Evidence-led answer
Looking for the best Chevrolet Volt year—or years to avoid?
The official records cannot honestly name a best, worst or most reliable year. Complaint totals have no sales, mileage or age denominator. They can show where more reports were filed and which components were named, giving you years to investigate more closely before checking the exact car and its VIN.
Which Chevrolet Volt years should you avoid?
The records cannot justify a blanket avoid label. Years with more reports are surfaced below as research priorities, not predictions about every car from that year.
01 · More reports to inspect2017
695 indexed complaint reports; electrical system is the most-reported component label.
Open the 2017 dossier →02 · More reports to inspect2013308 indexed complaint reports; air bags is the most-reported component label.
Open the 2013 dossier →03 · More reports to inspect2012245 indexed complaint reports; air bags is the most-reported component label.
Open the 2012 dossier →Do not read this as an avoid list. Older and higher-selling model years usually accumulate more reports. A low count can also mean a newer, rarer or poorly matched vehicle—not a safer one.
Complaint totals are counts of owner-submitted allegations, not confirmed defects, and they carry no denominator: they are not adjusted for how many cars were sold, how old they are, how far they are driven, or how much publicity a fault received. A high-volume or older year will usually show more reports than a rare or recent one. The site does not convert these into a reliability score, because the data needed to do that honestly is not in the public record.
Direct comparison
Compare two Chevrolet Volt model years.
Choose any two years. The URL keeps the pair so you can return to the same comparison. Every figure below is an observed official record or EPA estimate—not a reliability score.
2018 Chevrolet Volt
- NHTSA complaint allegations
- 220
- Combined EPA economy
- 42 mpg/MPGe
- EPA configurations
- 1
- Annual EPA fuel-cost estimate
- $1,450
- Fuel labels
- Regular Gasoline
Most-reported component labelselectrical system 86power train 83fuel/propulsion system 70
Open the 2018 evidence dossier →2019 Chevrolet Volt
- NHTSA complaint allegations
- 34
- Combined EPA economy
- 42 mpg/MPGe
- EPA configurations
- 1
- Annual EPA fuel-cost estimate
- $1,450
- Fuel labels
- Regular Gasoline
Most-reported component labelspower train 16electrical system 11unknown or other 8
Open the 2019 evidence dossier →Observed complaint-record difference
2019 has 186 fewer indexed complaint allegations than 2018.
This is not a rate or reliability finding. The counts have no sales, mileage, age or exposure denominator, and newer years have had less time to accumulate reports.Side by side
Chevrolet Volt by year.
Complaint bars are scaled against this model’s own highest year, so they compare years with each other and with nothing else.
| Year | Complaints | Most-reported components | Combined MPG | EPA configs | Annual fuel cost | Dossier |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 34 | power train 16electrical system 11unknown or other 8 | 42 | 1 | $1,450 | Dossier → |
| 2018 | 220 | electrical system 86power train 83fuel/propulsion system 70 | 42 | 1 | $1,450 | Dossier → |
| 2017 | 695 | electrical system 313fuel/propulsion system 233power train 219 | 42 | 1 | $1,450 | Dossier → |
| 2016 | 169 | electrical system 77fuel/propulsion system 63power train 51 | 42 | 1 | $1,450 | Dossier → |
| 2015 | 44 | electrical system 18fuel/propulsion system 11engine 8 | 37 | 1 | $2,050 | Dossier → |
| 2014 | 93 | air bags 32electrical system 27fuel/propulsion system 19 | 37 | 1 | $2,050 | Dossier → |
| 2013 | 308 | air bags 161electrical system 63fuel/propulsion system 53 | 37 | 1 | $2,050 | Dossier → |
| 2012 | 245 | air bags 87electrical system 87fuel/propulsion system 37 | 37 | 1 | $2,050 | Dossier → |
| 2011 | 49 | electrical system 23air bags 8fuel/propulsion system 6 | 37 | 1 | $2,050 | Dossier → |
Evidence snapshot generated . “Not indexed” means NHTSA holds no complaint record matching this exact year, make and model — not that no fault occurred. Recall campaigns are not summarised here: NHTSA publishes no bulk recall dataset, and fetching them per year would take longer than the page should. Each year’s dossier shows its recalls in full, live from NHTSA.