Where did you see this?

Also, what is a "100% EV trained" tech? I assumed all of them had to be that? I guarantee my dealer is not this trained, so we have to bring our vehicles potentially to a dealer outside of where we reside? WTF?

 

Also, what is a "100% EV trained" tech? I assumed all of them had to be that?

I'm not sure what GM's exact definition may be, but I'm guessing it's something along the lines of what I experienced a couple of years back when my battery pack was changed because of the cells with low, out of spec voltages issue. When I brought the car in, they did the initial diagnostic and confirmed the pack needed to be changed, but the tech wanted to delay the service, as his training was on the Volt and wanted to wait for the dealership's Bolt trained tech to come back from vacation (two weeks later).

 

Great to hear they are moving faster this time around. Curious about the highest priority group, presumably 2019 models.

 

I got a screen shot of the whole bulletin.

Edit: And confirmed that the "100%" does pertain to GM's EV certification training.

 

I got a screen shot of the whole bulletin.

Did you get the attached letters? When I spoke to my GM contact they did tell me they would be mailing this out next week, it would be interesting to see what they say and who will be getting which letter.

 

Thank you for your post.

 

Alright. Managed to get my hands on the letters. I think you are going to like this...

 

Thanks for the updates and all the details. Good to see they are planning on replacing all the modules. I will be curious to see how they pick the priority group versus the rest. I'm assuming it will be similar to the first attempt, 2019s first and then 2017s and 2018s after.

 

I would be much happier if the letters actually said ALL. It does not. I see how the language lets one assume that but I still am leery. Still the news is getting better.

 

Thanks for the updates. Docs were attached to the Timeline Post and an entry for this development added. For those looking for some history, the timeline thread is a good summary.

 

Here is the latest on the battery recall.


"General Motors wants to provide our Chevrolet EV Certified Dealers with an update regarding previously announced Bolt EV safety recall N212343880. We informed dealers of this recall on July 23rd, 2021, at which time vehicles involved in this recall were placed on stop delivery.



We have been working very diligently over the past weeks on a recall remedy plan. We are rapidly approaching the release of a final remedy bulletin N212343881. Initially, this bulletin will only be applied to a sub-set of highest priority vehicles. When the final remedy bulletin is released, we will send a Global Connect message informing dealers. We expect the final remedy bulletin to be released late this month. When the final remedy bulletin is released, the high priority sub-set of VINs will be closed in N212343880 and moved into N212343881. In addition, the status will be changed to “open" on the Investigate Vehicle History (IVH) screen in Global Warranty Management.



In the meantime, we are in the process of sending owner letters to the customers involved in this recall. PDF versions of two different owner letters are attached to this Global Connect message for your reference.

The “Advisory" letter will be sent to all vehicle owners not initially included in the highest priority group.

The “Remedy" letter will be sent to all vehicle owners included in the highest priority group. The “Remedy" letter informs owners they can begin contacting their Chevrolet EV Certified Dealer on or after August 23rd to begin scheduling appointments.

Please do not schedule any appointments earlier than the week beginning August 30th.

If you are a Chevrolet EV Certified Dealer, but DO NOT have at least one technician 100% EV trained, all necessary tools to remove/install a Bolt EV battery, and a functional level 2 fast charger, you are NOT eligible to perform this repair."

Probably a two person job so second tech will be recruited from the floor. How good will the supervision be?
You probably do not want to be their first victim.

 

In my not typical case GM is insisting that only 100% qualified techs touch the car. My smaller local dealer only has one 100% qualified tech but that is good enough for GM, implying that a single tech can perform the service, though perhaps taking more clock time than two techs working together.

 

The letter to the dealers also says, you must have "all necessary tools to remove/install a Bolt EV battery, " It does not say module or section, which would require more tools.

 

I have been attempting repurchase of my 2018 bolt. They keep stringing out the process and changing my concierge. The last one told me that since I did not bring my car in lat November (I just put the car in hilltop reserve as directed), they will use my more recent recall miles. She gave me an equation for the price which is (purchase price)x miles/12000. This makes no sense as the repurchase/trade amount would go up along with miles. I e-mailed and called back, but of course it’s radio silence. Does anyone know what the actual equation is??

 

I was told the usage fee is $0.21/mile.

 

The purchase price is reduced by (current miles / 120000). So at 30000 miles it would be three-quarters of the original price, at 60000 it would be half, and so on.

 

That makes more sense. Thanks! I’m thinking I want to get rid of this vs just swapping a battery. What are others doing?

 

I notice the recall # on myChevrolet for my 2018 is the ...880 notice, which corresponds to the lower priority draft notice. So, like with the last round, apparently the 2019 models are the most critical, and records should show the ...881 recall for these.

Until we see the remedy, it is all speculation. But maybe they swap out packs on the 19s, repack those with the newer MI made cells, then swap those into the 17-18s.

As I said before, we should know more by the end of the month.

BTW, I just got off the phone with my dealer, inquiring why the last recall isn't showing completed. The guy knew very little, but did acknowledge seeing the bulletin today, so he knows it is coming soon.

 

I notice the recall # on myChevrolet for my 2018 is the ...880 notice, which corresponds to the lower priority draft notice. So, like with the last round, apparently the 2019 models are the most critical, and records should show the ...881 recall for these.

Until we see the remedy, it is all speculation. But maybe they swap out packs on the 19s, repack those with the newer MI made cells, then swap those into the 17-18s.

As I said before, we should know more by the end of the month.

BTW, I just got off the phone with my dealer, inquiring why the last recall isn't showing completed. The guy knew very little, but did acknowledge seeing the bulletin today, so he knows it is coming soon.

"But maybe they swap out packs on the 19s, repack those with the newer MI made cells"
That's what I've been told to expect when I bring the car in next week

 

I want to make a special request for the first people on this forum who take their Bolts in to have the module replacement done. Before you take the car in, put some sort of special identifying mark on the battery case, maybe a little nick or (less good) a piece of tape somewhere. Or maybe even just clean some part of it. Enough so that when you get the car back you can tell if it's the same battery case or not. And then let us know what you found, that'll tell us something...

 

My good relationship with my local dealer got even better when I asked GM to arrange to have the service performed there. After it's done I'm going to ask the service manager what, exactly, they did.

 

I have an email from a district service manager saying the replacement "will extend your warranty another 8/100k." So that's also good news.

 

That's what I've been promised, along with increased range which would be consistent with replacing Korean cells with Michigan cells. It's increasingly sounding like GM's planning to offer all the recalled owners exactly the same deal that they offered me, just a few weeks or a few months later as parts become available.

 

I talked to my concierge today. I submitted 3 emails with the repurchase/swap data they wanted within hours of the ask, then followed up with a 'What is the timeline on hearing back?', she said: due to technical difficulties, we cannot provide a resolution timeline'

hmmm....

my dealer is so incompetent ( the valet Brought my car to me with the tire FLAT, and in one rotation service they forgot to change the tire location... I have more stories) that I will not bring it to them... if they cannot rotate tires correctly...

I'm feeling not complete transparency by chevy... at my age I was planning this to be my last car... maybe not...

 

Two forum members, @knoepler and @ModelRocket, have 2019s, and are already part of the pilot program. At least one 2017 owner @Drixanator, whose battery failed, has been told they will receive all new battery/modules and a new warranty now, instead of the older replace the bad section fix.

This suggests the priority cars will be 2019, followed by 2018, followed by 2017...just as was speculated as the order of concern by @Telek months ago.

 

Two forum members, @knoepler and @ModelRocket, have 2019s, and are already part of the pilot program. At least one 2017 owner, whose battery failed, has been told they will receive all new battery/modules and a new warranty now, instead of the older replace the bad section fix.

This suggests the priority cars will be 2019, followed by 2018, followed by 2017...just as was speculated as the order of concern by @Telek months ago.

It wasn't clear to me from @ModelRocket's post that he's in the pilot program, but if he is he'll know it. If so it might be helpful if we both report back about our experiences. When I bring my car in for the cell replacement surgery on Tuesday I may ask if they know when my car's battery was manufactured - I've heard that a disproportionate number of the fires have been in batteries that came off the line in October 2018. The speed with which GM has rolled this thing out - the first fire in a post-final remedy car was barely 6 weeks ago - suggests that GM was actively making contingency plans even as they were building and installing the "final remedy" software.

 

Yep 3 1/2 hours, Have watched multiple videos on Bolt battery removal..it really isn't that big of a deal to pull and replace.. The IMPORTANT stuff is teaching the TECHS about all the High Voltage stuff, to many old and Young know it alls...pretty easy for one of them to get the zap of their life... their one Life.

 

Not just battery removal, they have to open the case, replace all the cells, hook up sensors and wires to the BMS,
test all the voltages at the BMS (hopefully that is just one plug in), reseal, smoke test put back in car, refill coolant,
mess around with the computer, test drive and document all work done. Then they have to box up all the old cells and prep them for shipment back to the mother ship. I honestly do not believe that can be done in
3.5 hours. Maybe 2 techs at 7 hours. I suppose we will see.
A straight pack swap might take 3.5 hours.

 

Congratulations Chevrolet.. New Battery and I will cancel my Ioniq 5 reservation , well at least until next year.

 

If they can replace my battery in the next 3 months I will cancel my buyback. Car is almost paid off and I would prefer to keep it.

 

Thanks for the update and the letter! GM still hasn't even notified me that there's a problem

 

Spent some time at my Chevy dealer, checked out the 2022 Bolt LT2, nice job on the interior.

The sales guy I spoke with owns a 2019 Bolt LT. So very knowledgeable. He said they are starting to hear what the final remedy will be, certainly for the 2019s, he is convinced it will be a full pack swap. He wasn't sure about the 17 & 18 models, but seemed to think we may also be getting new packs, just after the 19s are cared for. He said they will know more in a week.

 

I can’t imagine that applying a different remedy for 17 and 18 models versus 19 models would pass GM’s legal department’s muster. This is because all three model years have been impacted by fires.

I am increasingly optimistic and happy to wait it out for a few months.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

 

I saw @Telek post on Reddit and he seems to think it's not full packs but still modules.

But the service time of 3.5 hours is nowhere close to what even a single module replacement will take (minimum was 5 hours for a single module).

I guess we'll find out on Tuesday.

 

Maybe GM is saying 3.5 hours so it doesn't have to pay the techs as much? Wouldn't be the first time.

 

Emphasis on no errors .
When I went for free check back in 2018, The air was leaking water on the passenger side after leaving.
Took it in for the water and it was returned with non functioning air, which worked driving in. The wanted to keep it for days and would even drive me home. NO NO and NO. Took it home removed styrofoam from drain and reconnected wire hanging loose on blower. Flawless operation ever since.
Now they will dismantle and reassemble my battery!!!
Double Yikes.

 

Any clue how they are going to identify the first batch of high priority?

 

My guess would be on all or a subset of the 2019s with Korean packs since there has been at least an order of magnitude more fires in the 2019s vs 2017-2018s. I have a 06/2019 pack and I will chime in as soon as I get my letter. Hopefully, we canadians don't have to wait til the end...

"I would think a a GM Shop with 2 techs should be able to do 2 of these a day."
This is consistent with what I've been told to expect on Tuesday. The shop has a single "100% EV qualified" mechanic and is estimating that he'll be finished by the end of the day.

For sure, the first few packs will take longer but after a few weeks of 1 or 2 a day, they should have the procedure down pat...

 

I've also been pursuing a buyback/MSRP swap and GM's been absolutely terrible to deal with. My 2019 with the Korean battery has only 8,500 miles on it, but GM told me that they'd use 4,869 miles for their offer - I think that might have been the mileage when I brought it in for the main fuse recall. They won't give me any numbers and when I asked if I could pursue both a buyback and an MSRP swap, my rep said "No." My MSRP was $38,245, but I paid $29,730 out the door taxes included.

I have no idea what my offer will be. Any advice would be appreciated.

 

gm flat out refused any buy back discussion because of state SC and because they are providing a fix.
Tough