GM recalls Chevrolet Bolt electric vehicles over fire hazards in federal investigation

General Motors is recalling tens of thousands of Chevrolet Bolt electric vehicles due to fire hazard.

The Detroit automaker said on Friday it was recalling 68,667 cars worldwide from the 2017 to 2019 model years, including nearly 51,000 in the U.S. The recall includes certain vehicles used by GM’s majority-owned autonomous vehicle subsidiary, Cruise.

GM has confirmed five cases of fires that “could be related to high-voltage batteries” in vehicles, according to Jesse Ortega, chief executive engineer of the Chevrolet Bolt EV.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration opened an investigation in October into three reported fires involving Chevrolet Bolt electric vehicles. The automaker is cooperating with the Federal Vehicle Safety Agency, Ortega said.

According to Ortega, GM has a dedicated team of engineers and experts working to determine the cause of the fires. They have so far found that common factors in the fires included vehicles were at or near full charge and had batteries produced between May 2016 and May 2019 by GM’s partner LG Chem in South Korea.

GM doesn’t expect a complete solution to the problem until next year. In the meantime, GM is asking Bolt EV owners to make an appointment with a Chevrolet dealership starting Tuesday. The dealership will reflash and update the car battery software to limit the maximum vehicle charge to 90%.

Until customers receive the software update, GM is asking owners to change their vehicle’s settings to reduce its load capacity. He posted a video on Friday on how to do it. If customers are “uncomfortable” with changing settings, GM said they should avoid parking vehicles in garages or shelters until the software update is received.

The NHTSA probe covered 77,842 Bolt electric vehicles from the 2017 to 2020 model years. GM said it was not recalling the 2020 model year vehicles because their batteries had a different formula than previous unrelated models. ‘fire.