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Unlucky Chevy Bolt EV Is Also a Fire Risk Because of Seat Belt Defect

The Chevrolet Bolt EV became the U.S. electric car bargain after a massive battery pack recall made its prices drop considerably. A manufacturing defect could set them on fire: LG Energy Solution spent almost $2 billion replacing the faulty components. Now that everything seems to be fixed, the EV faces another fire risk, this time involving the exhaust gases of the pretensioners – call that an example of bad luck.
Chevrolet Bolt EV faces new fire risk: now it comes from pretensioners 40 photos
Photo: GM
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CBS News reported earlier that General Motors included model years 2017 up to 2023, reaching 140,000 cars.The Bolt EUV and Cruise units were not included in the recall, but CBS did not inform why. After the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) website released the Part 573 Safety Recall Report 22V-930 document, we could answer that: a design change was implemented on October 24. The Bolt EUV has a different design. Instead of 140,000 cars, the number of affected units is actually 111,242. There is no word about Cruise autonomous vehicles in the document, but that probably has to do with GM taking care of them without having to contact anyone. After all, GM owns Cruise.

Pretensioners are mechanisms that tighten and lock seatbelts in a way that makes car occupants be as close to the seat as possible. They do that with the help of small explosive charges, just like airbags. In the Chevy Bolt EV, what happens is that the exhaust gases may get into contact with carpet fibers close do the B-pillar. We had the impression that automotive carpets were designed to be not flammable, but that is apparently not the case.

The deal is that these extremely hot exhaust gases can light up carpet fibers and provoke a blaze. GM disclosed that the first case happened in South Korea with a 2018 Bolt EV. After investigating the situation, the automaker found three reports of fires that could have been caused by the defect, which seems to be a design flaw.

The correction involves installing a metal foil along the carpet close to the pretensioners’ exhausts. GM also told CBS News that some vehicles may get a pretensioner cover, but it is not clear why that will happen to some cars and not to others. At first, all Chevrolet Bolt EVs should be exactly the same. It must have to do with some version differences, but we wonder what they could be.

There were rumors that the Bolt EV would be killed by the Equinox EV, but the new sales surge for the older model may have convinced GM it would be worth keeping it alive as a cheaper option to the Equinox EV, which is pretty feasible.

Currently, the cheapest Bolt EV has a price tag of $25,600. The Equinox EV is expected to start at around $30,000, which was the price the older electric car used to have before its battery pack recall. The main question here is if GM can still sell the Bolt EV at a profit or if its lower price is just a way to keep it going while the Equinox EV does not arrive. With 2023 just around the corner, it will not take us too long to figure that out.
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Editor's note: NHTSA released the main document about the recall, which helped us fix some data in our article. It is already corrected.

 Download: Part 573 Safety Recall Report 22V-930 - Chevrolet Bolt EV seatbelt recall (PDF)

About the author: Gustavo Henrique Ruffo
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Motoring writer since 1998, Gustavo wants to write relevant stories about cars and their shift to a sustainable future.
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