Hundreds of thousands of electric cars could catch fire due to an unexpected error
Usually, the battery is the first part that comes to mind when talking about the risk of electric vehicle fires. However, this case is not related to the battery.
General Motors' electric vehicle division has been "working overtime" all last year because of a battery system defect that caused the Chevrolet Bolt to catch fire. Now, Bolts from the 2017 to 2023 model years are being recalled for the same fire risk, but not because of the battery.
In this case, the fire risk did not come from the battery pack or the fact that the Bolt is an electric vehicle, but from the seat belts and the surrounding floor mats.
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GM has recorded three cases of floor mat fires near the seat belt tensioner of a Chevrolet Bolt after a crash (Photo: Chevrolet). |
GM is recalling about 140,000 Chevrolet Bolt EVs in North America, including 111,242 in the US. However, the US automaker said only 1% of the vehicles actually have the problem.
Bolt electric vehicles manufactured between July 26, 2016 and October 25, 2022, are equipped with seat belt tensioners. In some cases, documents filed with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) show that the tensioner’s exhaust pipe can send sparks into the floor mats on the B-pillars, causing a fire.
After receiving information about a Bolt car catching fire after an accident in which the fire broke out from under the B-pillar, the American automaker opened an investigation into the issue in October, and the results showed that the cause was the seat belt tensioner.
GM's solution was to install metal plates to prevent the risk of fire.
