GM warns some Bolt homeowners to park outside resulting from hearth threat

General Motors is telling homeowners of some older Chevrolet Bolts to park them outside and to not cost them in a single day as a result of two of the electrical automobiles caught hearth after recall repairs have been made.

The firm mentioned Wednesday that the request covers 2017 by means of 2019 Bolts that have been a part of a bunch that was recalled earlier resulting from fires within the batteries.

The newest request comes after two Bolts that had gotten recall repairs caught hearth, one in Vermont and the opposite in New Jersey, GM spokesman Kevin Kelly mentioned.

Owners ought to take the steps “out of an abundance of caution,” he mentioned. The steps must be continued till GM engineers examine and develop a restore, he mentioned.

“We are moving as quickly as we can to investigate this issue,” GM mentioned in an announcement.

In April, GM introduced that it had developed diagnostic software program to search for anomalies within the batteries of 69,000 Bolts worldwide. If issues are discovered, the corporate will substitute defective elements of the battery.

Kelly mentioned homeowners who have not had the recall repairs finished ought to nonetheless take their automobiles to sellers to get the fixes.

In November, GM recalled the electric vehicles after getting studies of battery fires. Two folks suffered smoke inhalation and a home was set ablaze.

At first the corporate did not know what was making the issue, but it surely decided that batteries that caught hearth have been close to a full cost. So as a brief repair, homeowners and sellers have been instructed to make software program modifications to restrict charging to 90% of a battery’s capability.

GM traced the fires to what it referred to as a uncommon manufacturing defect in battery modules. It could cause a brief in a cell, which might set off a fire. Under the treatment, sellers have been to put in software program designed to warn homeowners of issues, and any defective cells have been to get replaced.

Each Bolt has 288 battery cells, and engineers labored to research information from a whole lot of 1000’s of cells, Flores mentioned.

The recall got here after the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration opened an investigation into the fires final 12 months. The company mentioned in paperwork that the fires started below the rear seat whereas the automobiles have been parked and unattended.

Engineers decided the fires occurred in Bolts with battery cells made at an LG Chem manufacturing unit in Ochang, South Korea, from May of 2016 to May of 2019.

Some 2019 Bolts and all 2020 and 2021 variations have cells made at an LG Chem plant in Holland, Michigan, and usually are not included within the recall.

Once the ultimate recall repairs are made, the Bolts’ full vary will probably be restored. Older Bolts can go about 238 miles (383 kilometers) per cost.

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