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GM is announcing today that it is initiating a voluntary recall of 68,667 2017-2019 model year Chevy Bolt EV electric cars due to a potential fire hazard. There have been 5 reported fires in nearly 70,000 vehicles produced.
What you need to know if you are a 2017-2019 Bolt owner:
- There have only been 5 fires on nearly 70,000 cars on the road in 3.5 years
- GM recommends that you do not park your car in a fully loaded garage.
- GM recommends that 2017-2018 Bolt owners set the state of charge to “Hilltop” or that 2019 owners manually set 90% when charging. Instructions are below. Certain 2019 bolts were made from LG cells made in Holland MI and these are not affected by this recall.
- Chevy dealers will put a 90% upper limit on the amount of the charge (there is no OTA) until a long-term solution is found. You can enter your Bolt VIN here to start the process.
Last month, we reported that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) was investigating three cases of fires originating from Chevy Bolt EV vehicles with no impact from accidents.
The news came as Hyundai began to recall all of its Kona electric vehicles due to a potential fire hazard.
The Kona EV and the Bolt EV both use LG Chem pocket battery cells. Other EVs use LG Chem pocket cells built during this time.
Today, GM announced today that it is in fact recalling almost all 2017, 2018 and 2019 Bolt EV vehicles, representing 68,667 vehicles worldwide, including more than 50,000 in the United States.
The 2020 Chevy Bolt EVs, which are equipped with updated 66 kWh LG Chem battery cells, are not affected by the recall.
On a media call before the notice was sent to NHTSA and customers, GM appeared to blame LG Chem – GM’s battery cell partner.
GM mentioned that there were 5 known cases of Bolt EV fires, 2 more than the NHTSA’s investigation.
The automaker is introducing a temporary solution by locking down the capacity of 10% of the battery packs.
Tesla is believed to have used a similar tactic in earlier Model S and Model X vehicles – but without telling customers. Tesla used an OTA update that reduced the range of these vehicles. GM cannot do this via OTA, they confirmed with Electrek.
2017-2018 Bolt EV owners can do this on their own by activating the ‘Hilltop reserve’ feature in the charging settings, but 2019 Bolt EV owners apparently have to do it manually.
In certain 2019 Chevy Bolts, cells from Holland, Michigan (not South Korea) were used. These vehicles as well as the 66 kWh Bolt electric vehicles of the 2020 model year are DO NOT affected by this recall and can continue without any modification.
GM is expected to implement a more permanent fix by the end of the year and in the meantime it is asking owners not to park their cars in garages.
To be fair, there is no statistical evidence that shows electric vehicles catch fire at a higher rate than gasoline vehicles. There are over 200,000 gasoline vehicle fires reported each year in the United States alone
However, as electric vehicles are an emerging technology, there is a lot of caution around the technology and a lot of interest when such incidents do occur.
Update: GM has produced a press release and video below:
As you may be aware, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has launched an investigation into a few reports the agency has received from Chevrolet Bolt EV owners regarding potential fires. GM had already investigated these reports before this announcement, in cooperation with the NHTSA.
We wanted you to hear directly from Chevrolet about your vehicle and what you can expect from us. General Motors and Chevrolet have decided to voluntarily recall certain 2017-2019 model year Chevrolet Bolt electric vehicles with high voltage batteries produced at LG Chem’s factory in Ochang, Korea, which may present a fire hazard when ‘they are loaded to full capacity or very close to full.
The safety of our products is the top priority of the entire GM and Chevrolet team. We are working tirelessly on our continuous investigation.
We will be providing our dealers with a software update effective November 17, 2020 that will limit the charges for all vehicles in this population to 90% while continuing to investigate the cause of these incidents. In the meantime, we know that the safety of our owners and their families is paramount, which is why we are asking owners to take the following actions now which will limit the load capacity to 90% and reduce the risk of fire.
If you own a 2017 or 2018 model year Bolt EV:
• Change the vehicle charge parameters to use the Hill Top Reserve option
If you own a 2019 model year Bolt EV:
• Change the vehicle charge settings to activate the target charge level at 90%
To learn how to enable these settings, please watch the video above.
If you are unable to make these changes successfully or if you do not feel comfortable making these changes, we ask that you do not park your car in your garage or carport until you have visited your dealership. .
We recommend that you make an appointment with your dealer from November 17 to update the vehicle’s battery software to automatically limit the maximum state of charge to 90%. Our engineers are working around the clock to identify a permanent fix and we intend to roll out one final remedy to remove the 90% limit as quickly as possible after the first of 2021.
For 2017-2018 Chevy Bolt: Hilltop reserve energy parameters
To view and change energy settings, tap Energy, then tap Energy settings. Use the arrows to scroll through the list. The following list of menu items may be available :. Location Based Charging This function stores the charging parameters at the level of the GPS coordinates recorded for the home location. See “Location Based Charging” in Programmable Charging 0 124 .. Hill Top Reserve: Select Off, On, On – Home Only, or On – Away Only. See “Hill Top Reserve” in Regenerative Braking 0 212
For the 2019 Chevy Bolt skip to 2 minutes in the next video to set to 90%. From the manual:
2019 page 138 Target charge level This mode allows you to set the charge range of the vehicle according to what is needed. When a public pay station is not needed and a full charge is not needed, the target charge level can be set to get only the range needed. If you are driving on an incline, the target charge level can be set to stop charging before the battery is full to allow room for regenerative braking energy when descending a hill. There is a minimum target charge level. Once this level is reached, – will be grayed out. Tap the Target Charge Level tab on the charge screen.
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