RECALL

[Lumpy12]

Has anyone heard how many cars caught on fire?

 

[charge]

Has anyone heard how many cars caught on fire?

5 out of 69,000 worldwide .. Seems only the Korean made batteries are the issue. The latter half of the 2019 model year up to present day are not under the recall, as they have American made batteries.

That's not many, about 1 in 11,000 odds, and about on par with some gasoline cars. Just enough to scare us.

Charging up to 90% "should", they think, lower the risk even further, so don't charge past 90% for now.

 

[trevmar]

So, by this time next week we should know..........

"A final remedy for this recall is anticipated for April 2021"

 

[marspilgrim]

I'll prefer they finish getting the update through QA rather than rush it to meet an estimated deadline set some months ago. Supposedly some of us will be notified around now and the rest in mid-May. For any individual car it should show up in the app or website under the recall section after the notice went out to that owner.

 

[cwerdna]

Has anyone heard how many cars caught on fire?

It's stated in https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/rcl/2020/RCLRPT-20V701-6414.PDF which is 1 of 19 docs at https://www.nhtsa.gov/vehicle/2017/CHEVROLET/BOLT/4%252520DR/FWD#recalls. Still waiting for it to grow beyond 19.

 

[cwerdna]

https://my.chevrolet.com/how-to-support/safety/boltevrecall got updated on 4/29/21.

 

[cwerdna]

https://www.nhtsa.gov/vehicle/2017/CHEVROLET/BOLT/4%20DR/FWD#recalls grew to 20 and in the past day, 27 associated docs.

From docs like https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/rcl/2020/RCSB-20V701-4039.pdf and https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/rcl/2020/RCSB-20V701-4039.pdf, the final remedy has only been made available for '19 Bolts and not yet '17 and '18. So, the stop sale on the '17 and '18 Bolts can't be lifted yet.

 

[trevmar]

See also this latest fire reported....

https://insideevs.com/news/505346/chevy-bolt-ev-blaze-ashburn/

 

[cwerdna]

https://www.nhtsa.gov/vehicle/2017/CHEVROLET/BOLT/4%20DR/FWD#recalls grew to 20 and in the past day, 27 associated docs.

From docs like https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/rcl/2020/RCSB-20V701-4039.pdf and https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/rcl/2020/RCSB-20V701-4039.pdf, the final remedy has only been made available for '19 Bolts and not yet '17 and '18. So, the stop sale on the '17 and '18 Bolts can't be lifted yet.

I hadn't noticed until tonight that https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/rcl/2020/RCSB-20V701-5306.pdf was one of the added docs w/the actual procedures for dealer techs to follow for recalled '19 Bolts.

 

[wwhitney]

I hadn't noticed until tonight that https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/rcl/2020/RCSB-20V701-5306.pdf was one of the added docs w/the actual procedures for dealer techs to follow for recalled '19 Bolts.

The interesting part is below, it involves checking whether any modules are 80 mV or more below average while the SOC is between 30% and 50%. Is there an easy way for an owner to download this info directly from the car without going to the dealer?

Cheers, Wayne

3. Vehicle ON, use GDS2 to view the following data screens while connected to the vehicle:
• From Module Diagnostics, select Hybrid Powertrain Control Module 2.
• Data Display Folder
• Data Display Icon
• Voltage Data
• Observe and record the parameters
Hybrid/EV Battery Voltage Sensors Average and Minimum Hybrid/EV Battery Module Voltage.
Hybrid/EV Battery Voltage Sensors Average (Value A) :___________
Minimum Hybrid/EV Battery Module Voltage (Value B) :___________
4. Subtract the minimum voltage from the average voltage.
Value A – Value B : ___________
• If the voltage difference is less than or equal to 0.08V, proceed directly to Procedure 3: Software Flashing Procedure.

 

[marspilgrim]

Maybe, but what does that get you? You still need the service department to run the diagnostics first before the update is applied. I for one plan to drop my 2017 off with about 45% charge and let them check it all they want so they find as many bad cells as possible if there are any.

 

[trevmar]

I don't see the significance of the 80mV drop. Why not 79 or 81mV?

Or 5mV?

Cells made at the same time from the same raw materials should all have the same OCV IMO

And it would be better to know which way the OCV is trending over time, rather than just relying on one reading.

In my book, a battery with 12.8 volts OCV that is still showing 12.8 a week later is healthier than one that gives 12.95 today and 12.75 a week later

 

[wwhitney]

Maybe, but what does that get you?

Some peace of mind as to the urgency of the recall work. Also, an expectation as to whether the work will just take 1-2 hours, or whether you'll have to leave the car there longer.

Cheers, Wayne

 

[marspilgrim]

As to the urgency, since there was just another fire supposedly with the temp fix in place, I'd get it scheduled the moment your model year can be worked on.

From what I've seen in some posts, it appears to take a few hours for the diagnostic tool to run so if there are no issues with the pack expect half a day. If bad cells are found then it could be a couple days depending on parts availability but they are supposed to provide a loaner if needed. I would guess that even if there is no issue, that whatever the book time is that the dealer will use all of it for some extra income from GM.

 

[cwerdna]

As I posted at MNL but with some minor edits:
The final procedure for covering all the recalled vehicles (all '17 and '18 + subset of '19) is up at https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/rcl/2020/RCSB-20V701-3618.pdf. As usual, there was a lag before appearing at NHTSA. The '17 and '18 final remedy came out on 5/26.

https://www.nhtsa.gov/vehicle/2017/CHEVROLET/BOLT/4%252520DR/FWD#recalls grew from 29 to 34 associated docs sometime a few days back.

https://gm-techlink.com/?p=14834 explains the new DTC and diagnostics.

I don't see the significance of the 80mV drop. Why not 79 or 81mV?

Or 5mV?

Cells made at the same time from the same raw materials should all have the same OCV IMO

As a Leaf driver who can see voltages including the delta between min and max cells or modules via Leaf Spy, there's always a bit of imbalance, but they're under some load when the car's on in READY mode. Max delta is usually no more than 20ish or 30ish mV, IIRC and sometimes in the single digits.

https://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?p=457964#p457964 was an example of a Leaf w/a bad module showing 164 mV delta between min and max at pretty low SoC. In Leaf-land, Nissan has a CVLI test: https://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?t=16070.

I've never run my Leaf to super low but the author of Leaf Spy told me about the delta being hundreds of mV when his '11 is close to dead: https://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?p=516652#p516652.

I think it's a good guess that GM believes these diagnostics and thresholds + new/updated DTCs are sufficient to identify cells w/latent defects (alluded to near the end of page 1 of https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/rcl/2020/RCLRPT-20V701-7407.PDF).

 

[trevmar]

Since "The '17 and '18 final remedy came out on 5/26." I have heard nothing from GM, yet previously I got many notifications about the 90% charge limit recall for my 2017 Bolt

Anybody else been contacted yet?

 

[cwerdna]

If you haven't gotten snail mail, you should be able to put in your VIN into https://www.nhtsa.gov/recalls and https://my.chevrolet.com/recalls to check about your open recalls. All '17 and '18 Bolts + a subset of '19 were under the potential fire battery recall. There's no need to wait to be contacted.

There are plenty (35+) associated docs at https://www.nhtsa.gov/vehicle/2017/CHEVROLET/BOLT/4%252520DR/FWD#recalls for this recall.

 

[marspilgrim]

Yes, I just made an appointment at the area Bolt-certified dealer but then got my notice in the mail a few days later. They're working on it today.

 

[WaywardBolt]

How was your experience with the ‘final fix’? I had my 2017 done last week. It took a bit longer than estimated, but all the cells checked out okay so with the new diagnostics I should be (theoretically, at least) good to go.

While I was there I looked at the only 2022 Bolt they had on the lot (out of a total of maybe 15 new cars total on the lot - supply chain issues must really be affecting production). It was an LT, and very nice. The changes made in the refresh seem to be very focused on addressing things that owners complained about (like the seats), with very little change for the sake of change. I liked it, but I’m keeping my car - at least until I get a good look at the EUV.

 

[marspilgrim]

No issues found with my 2017 (26K miles). I suspect they aren't finding very many given the handful of cars that burned. Other than needing to fix a lot of my settings once back from the dealer it is back to normal and I can charge away from home again. With the temp fix, communication problems prevented that. News Coulomb feels that we now have more of a taper than a stepdown during charging so that would be nice since I'm wanting to try some longer distances.

I have seen some online rumors of a couple Bolt's warning/bricking after the the final fix and needing to be towed to a dealer where bad modules were found and replaced. So the software appears to be doing its thing. I don't put on many miles these days so I'm just keeping the battery between 50-80 percent charge to maximize long term pack health.