Bolt owners advised not to leave their cars charging overnight unattended and there is still no product recall from Chevrolet.
Another worrying news about electric vehicles (EV) and battery charging. News just in shared says that General Motors (GM) is advising owners of the Chevrolet Bolt model which is sold between 2017 to 2019 NOT to park their battery powered cars indoors or leave them charging overnight unattended.
This means, you are not to plug in your Bolt EV and leave it to charge without a watchful eye and not to park your car in your own garage like any normal petrol or diesel car.
This warning by the manufacturer comes amidst two recent cases where this battery powered hatchback caught fire, with one even belonging to a state legislator of Vermont in America.
Rather alarmingly too for GM, both these cars that burned to the ground in recent time have already been recalled before back in November 2020, to remedy a production fault that caused these Bolts to catch fire. Adding these two most recent cases into the tally, a total of 9 of these Chevrolet EVs have since self-combusted.
General Motors has stated that it is still investigating the fault that caused these two Bolts to catch fire, and has not issued another recall notice yet. The American auto giant however is strongly urging owners of these 2017 to 2019 all-electric Chevrolets who have yet undertaken the original battery recall to do so immediately, out of an abundance of caution.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is urging owners of select Model Year 2017-2019 Chevrolet Bolt vehicles to park their cars outside and away from homes due to the risk of fire.
Owners of these vehicles should park their vehicles outside away from homes and other structures immediately after charging and should not leave their vehicles charging overnight, according to General Motors.
The vehicles that should be parked outside are those that were originally recalled in November 2020 for the potential of an unattended fire in the high-voltage battery pack underneath the backseat’s bottom cushion.
The affected vehicles’ cell packs have the potential to smoke and ignite internally, which could spread to the rest of the vehicle and cause a structure fire if parked inside a garage or near a house. This recall affected 50,932 MY 2017-19 Chevrolet Bolt vehicles.
Vehicles should be parked outside regardless of whether the interim or final recall remedies have been completed. NHTSA is aware of two recent Chevrolet Bolt EV fires in vehicles that received the recall remedy.
NHTSA opened an investigation (PE 20-016) in October 2020, continues to evaluate the information received, and is looking into these latest fires.
Vehicle owners can visit NHTSA.gov/recalls and enter their 17-digit vehicle identification number to see if their vehicle is affected under this recall. If it is, vehicle owners should call their nearest Chevrolet dealership immediately to schedule a free repair. For more information on this recall, visit www.chevy.com/boltevrecall.
Owners can also download NHTSA’s new SaferCar app for Apple or Android. Enter the vehicle, tires, car seat, or other vehicle equipment, and the app will push a notification if a recall is issued.
