Last week, GM warned owners of 2017-2019 Chevrolet Bolts not to park their vehicles in their garage as it investigated two new reports of fires. Today, a recall has been announced for nearly 69,000 Bolts worldwide.
This recall follows another in November 2020 over a fire risk. The solution to that fault was a software update, but at least one vehicle with the update (located in Vermont) caught fire, per GM, leading to this second recall.
GM is still recommending that Bolt owners get the first recall fix because the automaker and its battery supplier, LG Chem, “have identified the simultaneous presence of two rare manufacturing defects in the same battery cell as the root cause of battery fires in certain Chevrolet Bolt EVs.”
Read More: After Fires, GM Warns Certain 2017-2019 Chevy Bolt EV Owners Not To Park Inside
As part of the recall, GM will replace the defective battery modules, which were produced at LG Chem’s Ochang South Korea plant, and will notify owners when replacement parts are ready. The automaker is also asking that its owners take the following three steps to help reduce a fire risk.
First, whether or not they have received the software update from the November recall, owners shouldn’t charge their vehicle past 90 percent. They can get help with this by using the Hilltop Reserve mode (2017-2018 models) or the Target Charge level (2019 models) to automatically stop the car from charging when it reaches a certain level.
Second, GM is asking that owners charge their Bolt after each use and avoid depleting their battery past 70 miles (112 km) of remaining charge whenever possible. And third, the company still ask its customers to park their vehicles outside and avoid charging their vehicles overnight.
According to the Detroit Free Press, of the roughly 69,000 Bolts involved in the recall, nearly 51,000 reside in the United States.
