— All Chevrolet Bolt owners in Canada and the U.S. are warned to park outside and away from anything that could burn as General Motors announced another Bolt recall, this time to include every 2017-2022 Chevy Bolt EV and EUV.
All Bolt drivers are also warned not to charge their cars overnight.
The U.S. Chevy Bolt fire recall now includes 50,932 model year 2017-2019 Bolt electric cars and 59,392 model year 2019-2022 Bolts.
The newest recall was ordered because cars are catching fire after previous recall repairs were performed.
"After further investigation into the manufacturing processes at LG and disassembling battery packs, GM discovered manufacturing defects in certain battery cells produced at LG manufacturing facilities beyond the Ochang, Korea, plant. To provide customers peace of mind, batteries with these new modules will come with an 8-year/100,000-mile limited warranty (or 8-year/160,000 km limited warranty in Canada)." — General Motors
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is aware of at least one fire that occurred in a Chevrolet Bolt after the interim recall repair had been performed. And another three car fires have been reported in Bolts that had the primary recall repairs performed.
The interim repair included General Motors dealers updating software so the batteries couldn't be charged to 100% capacity. This limited the charging capacity to 90% because the Bolt battery fires seemed to occur when the batteries were fully charged.
Additionally, 2017-2018 Chevy Bolt owners were told to switch to the "Hill Top Reserve" option, and 2019 Chevrolet Bolt owners were told to change the settings to 90% "Target Charge Level."
A driver who isn't comfortable making these necessary charges should head to a GM dealer immediately to have the mode changed.
The final Chevy Bolt battery fire recall repair included dealers using diagnostic tools to search for battery problems and if needed, dealers were told to replace the battery module assemblies.
New software was also supposed to detect battery problems before fires could occur, but apparently the idea didn't work.
Chevrolet Bolt owners should recharge the batteries after each use and never wait until the battery is below 70 miles (113 kilometers) of remaining range.
Model year 2017-2022 Chevy Bolt owners may call 833-EVCHEVY or contact a local GM dealership.
You can read more about what is happening with Chevy Bolt battery fires, including about class action lawsuits:
- Chevrolet Bolt Class Action Lawsuit Says Battery Defective
- Chevy Bolt Battery Recall Too Late, Alleges Lawsuit
- Chevy Bolt Fire Recall Decreases Battery Range: Lawsuit
- Chevy Bolt Class Action Lawsuit Filed Over Range
- Chevy Bolt Fire Hazard Warning: Park Outside
- Chevy Bolt Fire Recall Issued After Repairs Failed
- Chevy Bolt Recall Fix Announced
