General Motors issued a recall last fall for its 2017-2019 Chevy Bolt EVs over concerns about a risk of them bursting into flames if fully charged. Now the company's pretty sure it has a fix, according to an announcement Thursday.
The fix is a little more complicated than simply ripping out battery packs en masse and bolting in new ones. Instead, GM technicians will use newly created diagnostic equipment to quickly detect battery modules that aren't behaving correctly so that only replaces the batteries that need it get replaced.
GM is even going a step further, though, by installing advanced onboard diagnostics so the vehicles can self-monitor for battery anomalies and flag them before they become actual faults. It all sounds pretty cool, and what's cooler is that GM will be rolling out that advanced diagnostics package to all Bolt owners soon. It will also be standard on all 2022 Bolts and Bolt EUVs.
Once a Bolt owner visits their friendly local Chevy dealer and gets the fix, the dealer will remove the previous 90% charge limitation, and the car can once again charge to 100%. Owners of 2019 model Bolts can now get the fix performed on their vehicles, but for some reason, 2017 and 2018 Bolt owners have to wait until late May.
