Used Chevrolet Volt, Bolt EV and Nissan Leaf: the years to avoid

The three most common used plug-in cars each have a clean record with one bad patch, and the patches do not overlap. The Chevrolet Volt is a BUY in six of its nine years and an AVOID in one: the 2017 car, with 695 complaints and a score of 47, against 93 complaints and a score of 94 for the 2014. The Chevrolet Bolt EV scores 80 in 2021 and 2023 but only 56 in 2020, the year at the centre of its battery recalls. The Nissan Leaf is a BUY in every scored year except 2015, which has 109 complaints, 85 of them on the brakes.

The Volt: a first generation that settled, and a second that did not

The first-generation Volt runs from 2011 to 2015. The 2011 car has 49 complaints and a low-evidence score of 93; the 2012 has 245 and scores 80; the 2013 has 308, the most of the generation, and scores 68 with a CAUTION verdict. Air Bags is the top component on the 2013 car at 161 complaints, more than half its total, and the recall record explains why: 23V516000 (27/07/2023) recalls the 2013 Volt's driver-side air bag inflator, which may explode on deployment. The 2013 car also carries 18V397000 (14/06/2018), for a control module update that disabled battery cell balancing, and, with the 2011 and 2012 cars, 15V145000 (13/03/2015), for a battery that can drain if the driver leaves the car without switching it off. Three campaigns and 308 complaints make 2013 the first-generation year to skip.

Then the generation matured. The 2014 Volt has 93 complaints, 7.8 per year on road, no recalls and the nameplate's best score, 94. The 2015 car has 44 complaints and scores 92 on low evidence.

The second generation arrived for 2016 with a 53-mile electric range in place of 38, and began well: 169 complaints, a score of 82. The 2017 car is a different vehicle in the record. It has 695 complaints, 77.2 per year on road, more than four times the 2016 car's 16.9. Its components are Electrical System at 309, Fuel/Propulsion System at 233, Power Train at 219 and Engine at 181, a propulsion-system pattern rather than a single part, and there is no recall campaign on the 2017 car at all, so owners were reporting something that never became the subject of a federal remedy. The 2018 car cuts the count to 222 and scores 63; its two campaigns, 18V673000 and 18V576000, are for rear seat belt retractors and rear brake calipers. The 2019 car has 34 complaints and scores 89, on low evidence.

The Bolt EV: a battery recall that defines the record

The Bolt EV's record is short and dominated by one campaign, repeated. The 2017 and 2018 cars have no complaints on file and are DATA PENDING. The scored record starts with 2019: 175 complaints, six recalls and a score of 66. The 2020 car has 172 complaints, eight recalls, five of them safety-critical, and the nameplate's worst score, 56. Electrical System is the top component in every Bolt year, 85 on the 2019 car and 93 on the 2020, and the recalls explain it. Campaign 20V701000 (13/11/2020) covers the 2019 car for a high-voltage battery that could catch fire when charged to full; 21V560000 (23/07/2021) recalls the same cars again; 21V650000 (20/08/2021) extends the battery recall to the 2020 to 2022 cars; and 24V481000 (27/06/2024) and 24V812000 (31/10/2024) recall those cars twice more because the diagnostic software installed under 21V650000 may have failed. Alongside the battery there is 22V930000 (15/12/2022) and its follow-up 23V845000 (14/12/2023) on every Bolt from 2019 to 2023, for a seat belt pretensioner exhaust that can ignite carpet fibres after a crash. Steering is the second component on the 2019 car at 45 complaints, but there is no steering recall on the Bolt, so I describe it as a symptom pattern rather than a cause.

The 2021 car scores 80 on 67 complaints and the 2023 scores 80 on 59; the 2022 sits between them at 72 on 59, and its seven recalls include two air bag campaigns, 21V517000 and 23V567000. The 2023 car's 19.7 complaints per year on road is higher than the 2021 car's 13.4 despite the same score; it is young, and its evidence is medium.

The Leaf: a cold-weather brake problem and not much else

The Leaf is the calmest of the three, with 442 complaints across its whole record. The 2011 car scores 87 on 95 complaints; the 2012 scores the nameplate's best, 94, on 57. The 2015 car is the exception: 109 complaints, 85 of them Service Brakes, and a score of 65 with a CAUTION verdict. Service Brakes is the top component on the 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015 cars, and the recall that matches it is 16V119000 (29/02/2016), covering the 2013 to 2015 Leaf for a relay inside the electronic brake booster that may freeze in very cold temperatures. The 2014 car has two campaigns of its own, 14V192000 for missing structural welds and 14V263000 for an inverter that may fail, but its 34 complaints show that neither became a pattern.

The second-generation 2018 car scores 78 on 66 complaints, with Service Brakes at 19, Electrical System at 18 and Forward Collision Avoidance at 13, and none of its four recalls is safety-critical. Two rearview camera campaigns, 19V654000 and 24V071000, and 23V494000 (17/07/2023), for unintended acceleration if the driving mode is changed after cruise control is disengaged, cover the 2018 to 2023 cars. The 2017 and 2023 cars score 89 and 88 with no complaints on file and low evidence; the 2024 and 2025 cars are DATA PENDING. Range matters more on a Leaf than on the other two, and the EPA figures step up through the record: 73 miles in 2011 and 2012, 84 in 2014 and 2015, 107 in 2017, 151 in 2018 and 149 in 2023.

Ranking the three

• Nissan Leaf, first. Every scored year except 2015 is a BUY and no year exceeds 109 complaints. Buy a 2012, 2014 or 2018; avoid the 2015.
• Chevrolet Volt, second. Scores of 92 and 94 in 2015 and 2014 are the best in this group, but the 2017 car's 695 complaints and the 2013 car's 308 are the two worst years here. Buy 2014, 2015 or 2019; avoid 2017; treat 2013 and 2018 as the CAUTION verdicts they are.
• Chevrolet Bolt EV, third. No AVOID year, but no year scores above 80, and the 2019 to 2022 cars have each been recalled for the battery two or three times. Buy 2021 or 2023 with the recall work documented; the 2020 car, with eight recalls, is the one to be most careful with.

What to check before you buy

• On any 2019 to 2022 Bolt EV, run the VIN through the NHTSA recall lookup and ask for the dealer printout showing 20V701000 or 21V650000 closed, and on a 2020 to 2022 car 24V481000 or 24V812000 as well. A battery remedied once may still be open under the later campaign. Confirm the pretensioner campaigns 22V930000 and 23V845000 too.
• On a 2017 or 2018 Volt there is no recall to check, so ask for service records covering the propulsion system, charging faults and any reduced-power warning, since Electrical System, Fuel/Propulsion System and Power Train account for most of the 695 complaints. On a 2011 to 2013 Volt, confirm 15V145000 was completed, and on a 2013 the air bag inflator under 23V516000.
• On a 2013 to 2015 Leaf, confirm the brake booster relay campaign 16V119000 was completed, and try the brake pedal on a cold morning if you can. On a 2018 or later Leaf, check 23V494000.
• On all three, ask for a battery state-of-health reading from the dealer's diagnostic tool; the record cannot tell you how much range a particular car has left.

Summary

The Leaf is the one to buy on the record: a 2012, 2014 or 2018, and avoid only the 2015. The Volt is excellent in 2014, 2015 and 2019 and should be avoided in 2017, with 2013 and 2018 as CAUTION years. The Bolt EV is a BUY from 2021 onward once the battery recall paperwork is complete; the 2019 and 2020 cars are CAUTION on the same recalls.