BOLT SEAT ISSUE - no DATA thread

I used a Champion C9 exercise mat (from Target) trimmed to 13" x 13.5" with a slit for the center of the rear edge aprox 4" long to accommodate the seat heater cable inside the cushion. I didn't mind the seat before but have to admit it is even better now.

currypotter said:

Sorry GM, lost sale.

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That's maybe a little dramatic at this point.

I agree GM has supplied a crappy seat, I think they will revise them, but if you can't wait, fixing the seat takes 15 minutes and a few bucks in materials. If you can't do it yourself any upholstery shop can if you print out the thread. Don't let them charge you a thousand, it's an EASY and cheap fix to get the seat however you like it.

If you like the car, get it, and tune it to your liking. I'm very happy now, happier than if I bought any other car. You can be too.

fixing the seat takes 15 minutes

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That's fixing the bottom cushion padding. There isn't a fix yet for back padding, and you can't fix the too-small-for-many seat dimensions. Someone should force-feed that lead design engineer donuts and margarine for two moths, and then force him to drive in one of his seats for 12 hours straight. ;-(

Do not know whether anyone else on this forum received one, but I received a survey from GM asking me for feedback about the Bolt. Here's the opening statement: "Please allow me to introduce myself. My name is Peter Thom, and I am responsible for Quality at GM in North America. Our goal at GM is to provide our valued customers like yourself with nothing less than the best ownership experience." I answer the survey and talked a lot about how crappy the front seat is, how terrible my experience was dealing with the dealer from whom I leased the car and with GM Customer Service to address the seat issue, how I had to go to another dealer to swap out the seat, and how crappy the suspension is on the car (on a road with the slightest of bumps, you must slow down significantly or it's like a ride at Disneyland!).

Perhaps if enough of us answer these surveys, GM/Chevy will take some action. If you get one, be very frank. I was.

+1

Ignoring the fact that after spending 47k Canadian on a car, i have to "fix" the drivers seat. If only it was just a 15 minute fix. As already mentioned the seat back is a problem nobody has come up with a solution for and the overall issue is the seat is simply too narrow in the base and seat back. No amount of extra padding in either base or seat back solves that design fault.
I accept also that some people find the seat ok but many do not and Chevy are at best silent on it. People have taken the plunge and invested in their venture. They should at least show some kind of support for those people who have committed to being the early adopters of their venture.

Yesterday I did the Chevy test drive where they bring a Bolt to your house for a 30 minute drive. I'm in the market because I have a lease that expires at the end of the summer. We have a BMW i3 under lease so we already have a level 2 charger and I am familiar with electric cars.

This program is a very smart move by Chevy. The car was the top trim, fully loaded- something you'd expect when they are showing off what the car can do. The gentleman that brought it was very knowledgable about the car and most of the competitors. I was able to drive it on the streets I'm most familiar with.

Having read this forum a ton I was very interested in how the seats felt. And I'm forced to say the seats were terrible. I'm 6'2" but thin and I could feel the side bit digging into my hips. The lower part of the seat back was also not comfortable after 20 minutes in the car. Perhaps that could have been adjusted away. I didn't have time to try.

Just based on the seats I would not buy a Bolt.

Other than the seats the only negatives I could see where that the touch screen is a bit laggy, something I find common in automotive touch screens, and that it is front wheel drive with the resulting torque steer if you hammered it. The interior is not as nice as what the i3 has but our similarly equipped i3 stickers $12,000 above the top end Bolt so that is not really a fair comparison.

On the plus side I thought it had plenty of power. Handling was good for a front wheel drive platform. The Bose sound system had promise and was doing a lot right. The overall package is pretty good for a small car. But they really need to do something with the seats. They are not acceptable in an 80 mile ranged EV and certainly not right for one that can do 238 miles.

EVs are very niche vehicles at this point, and I suspect the average EV purchaser is doing WAY more research into his/her purchase than a typical ICE buyer (although the average buyer does, um, ZERO research into their next car so that may not be saying much). Regardless, I have to believe the whole "seat issue" is going to start showing up in miscellaneous Google searches for the Bolt and stain the car...tick, tock GM...tick tock.

tirpitz said:

Yesterday I did the Chevy test drive where they bring a Bolt to your house for a 30 minute drive. I'm in the market because I have a lease that expires at the end of the summer. We have a BMW i3 under lease so we already have a level 2 charger and I am familiar with electric cars..

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Wow, Tirpitz, I didn't even know Chevy had a program where you could drive the Bolt for 30 minutes. How did you find out about it? The dealer didn't tell me about that option before I began my lease. Is Chevy telling the dealers about this option? Thanks!

If you live in Los Angeles or other major cities you can rent a Bolt by the hour. It's available on Maven which is like zipcar.

I took one for the day, decided I didn't like it. It cost me maybe $100 but it saved me three years of driving a car I didn't like.

michael said:

I took one for the day, decided I didn't like it. It cost me maybe $100 but it saved me three years of driving a car I didn't like.

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What didn't you like about Bolt besides the seats? Please post the rundown.

michael said:

If you live in Los Angeles or other major cities you can rent a Bolt by the hour. It's available on Maven which is like zipcar.

I took one for the day, decided I didn't like it. It cost me maybe $100 but it saved me three years of driving a car I didn't like.

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Terrific, advice, Michael! Thanks so much. It will be really helpful for next time as I have never heard of Maven.
The Bolt is only the 3rd car I've ever owned. For most of my life, I didn't need one and took public trans or did a car-share program like Zipcar.

DoninLAlaland said:

tirpitz said:

Yesterday I did the Chevy test drive where they bring a Bolt to your house for a 30 minute drive. I'm in the market because I have a lease that expires at the end of the summer. We have a BMW i3 under lease so we already have a level 2 charger and I am familiar with electric cars..

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Wow, Tirpitz, I didn't even know Chevy had a program where you could drive the Bolt for 30 minutes. How did you find out about it? The dealer didn't tell me about that option before I began my lease. Is Chevy telling the dealers about this option? Thanks!

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I don't remember where I heard about it.

https://www.testdrivemyway.com/

Some dealers have it on their sites (Mark Christopher in Ontario did/does) but I suppose most of them don't. They'd rather have you deal exclusively with them.

I went down to my Chevy dealer today to investigate seats (and do yet another test drive). Here are my opinions.

I would rate the leather seat as somewhat more comfortable than the cloth seat. Not a huge difference, but noticeable.

I think that I'd find either seat OK for an hour or so, but I'd get fidgety thereafter. This personally isn't a deal-killer for me but it's a definite negative. Both the Volt and the i3 have much better seats.

It's odd that I didn't really notice the seats on my first 2-3 times in the Bolt. Maybe it was just the novelty and excitement of the car. This observation probably explains why many people buy the Bolt and then discover seat discomfort after the sale. That's a real downer.

Allelectric said:

Ignoring the fact that after spending 47k Canadian on a car, i have to "fix" the drivers seat. If only it was just a 15 minute fix. As already mentioned the seat back is a problem nobody has come up with a solution for and the overall issue is the seat is simply too narrow in the base and seat back. No amount of extra padding in either base or seat back solves that design fault.
I accept also that some people find the seat ok but many do not and Chevy are at best silent on it. People have taken the plunge and invested in their venture. They should at least show some kind of support for those people who have committed to being the early adopters of their venture.

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So I now have the same issue as other posters have, with the seat padding coming away from the frame on the drivers seat back . I also have a loud knocking/clicking type noise when I lean any weight against the seat back near the top. I do this on a regular basis when I'm in the car as I try to get comfy in the seat. I can reproduce this by simply squeezing the top corner of the seat with one hand. I have called my dealer and been told I would get a call back from the service manager to set up a warranty appointment. That was 4 days ago and no call back. Called again today and could only leave a message as service was closed. I have also emailed GM Canada with my concerns and await a reply.
The car has done almost 8000 Kms but almost all of those have been with my much smaller wife driving so the seat should not be anything but like new. She hates the seat also by the way, but she is putting up with it as she finds it just "very uncomfortable", as opposed to painful for myself.
The seat in this car is nothing short of terrible. Even if you do fit in it and find it OK, it is so poorly made that it is/or will be a problem for us early adopters at some point.
I can honestly say that if Chevy doesn't come up with a better 2018 seat, that can also be put into a 2017 car, I will be forced to get rid of this car. I say that in all honesty even though I love everything else about the car. I simply cannot drive it any distance with the current seat design.
Great car, terrible seat !

Went to dealer today. Service manager said he would at the very least need to take the seat back apart and was going to order a new cover as he believed that was going to be needed. He said that it is the first Bolt he has had in the shop (no surprise there around here). I told him my problems with the seat in general and that I had already read that there seems to be a variation in seat construction/padding. He said he would discuss the comfort issue with Chevy Canada. He also said it was the first complaint he had heard about seat comfort but again that is not surprising for here. There were no Bolts to compare to at the dealer.
I am leaving the car with them next week as I go away for 5 weeks to Europe. I will update once I get it back.
The guy was great to deal with but I don't expect anything other than the seat back repaired or replaced and that will do nothing to solve the issues I have with the seat to be honest.
I have also had a reply from Chevy Canada. It is a generic "thanks for sending us feedback" stock email that doesn't even refer to the specific issue. I will contacting them again to let them know I'm not leaving at that.

Very very bad service on gm when it come to the bolt I am up to 10 000 km or 6200 miles no cal
Every time you phone them gm it is very bad service my dealer have no installed the charger even after 2 months
Great car but bad services on gm services bad bad bad to day the least
No understanding what an electric car is abput

Marcellaflamme said:

Very very bad service on gm when it come to the bolt I am up to 10 000 km or 6200 miles no cal
Every time you phone them gm it is very bad service my dealer have no installed the charger even after 2 months
Great car but bad services on gm services bad bad bad to day the least
No understanding what an electric car is abput

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Sorry to hear you are not happy with GM but I'm thinking it is the dealership that you are not happy with ?
So far I cannot complain about the dealership as they are fresh into my seat issues. When I bought the car I expected that any problems I encountered would be new to them, and the manager has at least said this up front, but has begun to do what I would expect without question. So far as much as I could ask.
I am however very disappointed that GM have failed to step up so far to address the general seat problems, for what is more than a few people, who have invested in them as early adopters. The seat is poorly designed for anyone of a larger frame, and seems to at best fragile and/or not up to the task of daily use. The first reply I received from Chevy Canada when I contacted them recently was at best a "cookie cutter" thanks for letting us know generic letter. Not impressed so far and have written back to let them know.

I test drove 4 different Bolts and I think that the cloth seats are only slightly more comfortable. However, they are still so uncomfortable that it is a deal breaker for me (I am 5' 10", 140 lbs). I was also looking to lease a Bolt and do not feel comfortable modifying the seats as suggested elsewhere.

Are there any aftermarket fixes for this that don't require you to modify the seats which actually work? For now I am waiting until an official fix is released by GM.

Been trying to get more attention directed at the seat issue. Tweeting at analysts and journalists to bring it to their attention. Got a tweet back from the Senior Auto Analyst from the investing service The Motley Fool. Said he would dig into the seat issue more.

https://twitter.com/john__rosevear/s...28630419492866

Keep up the pressure everyone we can get Chevy to take note if we keep pressing the issue.

Tweet, retweet, keep moving the chains.