General Motors has issued a recall for the Chevrolet Bolt EV hatchback due to an issue with the vehicle’s front left brake caliper.
The problem: vehicles involved in this recall campaign have an improperly cast front left brake caliper that can fracture during a high-pressure raking event. A fracture of the brake caliper can result in a loss of brake fluid in half of the vehicle’s braking system and reduce brake performance. If the front left brake caliper fractures and brake fluid is lost the vehicle may experience reduced brake performance increasing the risk of a crash.
The hazards: a fracture of a brake caliper can result in a loss of brake fluid in half of the vehicle’s braking system and reduced braking performance. If the front left brake caliper fractures and brake fluid is lost, the vehicle may experience severely reduced brake performance, increasing the risk of a crash.
The fix: dealers will inspect the casting lot number on the front left brake caliper. If the caliper is from the same lot of suspected faulty units, the dealership will replace the caliper. These repairs will be performed at no cost to the vehicle’s owner.
Affected components: front left brake caliper, brake fluid.
Affected vehicles:
- 2020 Chevrolet Bolt EV
Owners should: GM will notify Chevrolet Bolt EV owners by mail and instruct them to take their vehicle to a dealership for repairs. If owners are unsure whether or not their vehicle is affected, they can visit my.gm.com/
Contacts:
- GM Recall Number: N202321400
- Chevrolet Customer Service: 1-800-222-1020
- NHTSA Toll Free: 1-888-327-4236
- NHTSA (TTY): 1-800-424-9153
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Comments
Wow, constant recalls in the auto industry.
Every manufacture has them.
Wait until you see how many recalls (airworthiness directives) airplanes have. And there, once the warranty expires, you pay for it yourself.
In a vehicle, nearly everything has a safety impact.
gm closed their brake plant in saginaw mi in 2014 to out source parts. They’ve now had more recalls in the last 16 years for brakes than they had in the previous 60 years. Out sourcing maybe good for the bean counters but it’s not for the customers.
GM’s supplier apparently found an issue with the metallurgical composition of the castings of the left front brake caliper installed on a small number of Chevy Bolts. The affected parts would have been installed on some Bolts assembled in October 2020.
It is not a design issue, but rather a quality control problem. The potential problem was identified by the supplier before any customers were affected by component failures.
None the less these sorts of recalls sometimes have a way of expanding, so it would be smart for Bolt owners to keep an eye on this issue. Not criticizing here; I have a 2017 Bolt and I still like it. The Bolt has been more reliable than most other cars I’ve had in the last 40+ years.
Edited: improve grammar
I’ve had both front calipers fail on my 2019 Chevy Bolt. The first one, passenger front, locked up last year. The replacement caliper is totally rusted on the outside. The second, driver front, locked up last month and it looks like an aftermarket caliper was installed. The blind spot monitor is adhered to the vehicle with buytl tape and is not covered once out of warranty. Nice to know they tape the car together instead of using a bolt or screw. The Bluetooth drops a few times each time I go for a drive. To get the update to fix this is also out of warranty so will cost to fix. If it’s a software bug it’s not a warranty issue it’s a manufacturer issue. Last Chevy I’ll purchase!
I am pretty sure the Bluetooth connection drops are caused by Keypass. I started having issues with the audio system Bluetooth not staying connected about a year ago. I did some trouble shooting and it appears something changed in Apple iOS approximately with iOS 16. It looks like the car tries to reconnect Keypass every few seconds and frequency of the reconnection eventually causes problems with the phone. The fix is to remove Keypass from the list of Bluetooth devices on the phone and to shut Keypass off in the car’s settings.
Since I have turned off Keypass, I haven’t had any problems with an iPhone staying connected to the Bolt’s audio system.
I don’t have Android for testing, but it would not surprise me if Android has Bluetooth issues with the Bolt, it is the same cause.
Keypass seemed to be of minimal value anyway. If I understand the manual correctly, Keypass’s main function is owner approach detection and as a courtesy turn on exterior lighting. I believe GM deleted Keypass on newer model Bolts.