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GM Hit With Chevy Bolt EV, Bolt EUV Class Action Lawsuit In Canada

General Motors is facing a new class-action lawsuit in Canada over allegations that it knew the battery packs in the Chevy Bolt EV and Chevy Bolt EUV compact cars were defective.

A Bolt EV fire that occurred in Georgia

This lawsuit was filed in the Supreme Court of British Columbia by a plaintiff who owns both a 2017 and a 2018 model year Bolt EV. The plaintiff claims GM has been aware of potential defects with the Chevy Bolt EV’s battery pack “since at least 2018,” and knowingly marketed and sold affected vehicles anyways. The automaker recalled all 140,000 examples of the Bolt EV and the closely related Bolt EUV last summer after it received numerous reports of owners of the vehicle’s battery packs suddenly overheating and/or catching fire.

This lawsuit also claims GM purposefully wasted time by attempting to fix the Bolt battery problems via a software update despite knowing the problems would require a battery replacement. These software updates changed some of the operating software for the battery management system in the vehicle, limiting its capacity to 90 percent and reducing the chances of it suddenly catching fire. The automaker also developed software that it said would be able to “diagnose potential issues with the battery packs early and restore 100  percent charge capability,” before later committing to replacing affected vehicles’ batteries. The battery fires have since been traced back to a problem wherein a torn anode tab and a folded separator are located within the same battery cell.

“GM and GM Canada were enriched by the inflated prices of the Class Vehicle and the delayed recall which resulted in increased revenues for GM and GM Canada,” this lawsuit also claims, as quoted by Car Complaints.

This class-action was filed on behalf of all Canadian consumers who purchased or leased a 2017 through 2022 model year Chevy Bolt EV and/or a 2022 Chevy Bolt EUV. GM is also facing similar lawsuits in Canada over the Chevy Bolt EV and Bolt EUV battery recall, including one filed in the Northern District of California and another filed in the Eastern District of Michigan.

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Sam loves to write and has a passion for auto racing, karting and performance driving of all types.

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Comments

  1. Of Course GM Knew They Are Defective…

    GM used to only design and manufacture defective cars to Kill Americans; seems GM is branching out. GM didn’t dare try their Killing in other markets. GM’s Killing spree actually started by Killing brand such as Oldsmobile, Pontiac, Saturn, Opel, SAAB, etc., but soon Killing brands was no longer satisfying so GM commenced Killing Americans, far more rewarding to GM.

    GM’s 10-year Killing spree in America was the highlight of GM engineering. GM’s Killing could not be stopped for over 10 years because of their ingenuity.

    Reply
    1. It seems you have a problem.

      Reply
    2. WOW: Mary Barra Fan Club

      Suggest that you seek Neuro Psychiatric treatment.

      Reply
    3. Wow – your a brave guy with your unsubstantiated claims!

      Reply
      1. Not hard find proof that GM takes short cuts that put lives in danger.

        Reply
    4. Ah the former head of GM who hid that GM’s effort to save .25 for each ignition switch produced led to 31 crashes and the deaths of 13 people who invested thousands into GM products with the belief they were safe for them and their families.

      GM saved .25 per switch and people died.

      Reply
  2. I hope those that sue get every bit of money they deserve. This, I’m sure, will be the first of many lawsuits against EV bc there will be plenty more fires with them before it’s over. Anyone who buys them is asking for trouble and is very naive to think these will replace gas engines bc you will never travel as far in an EV as you will a gas engine. I’m not surprised GM waited so long to do anything about the issue. I purchased a 2014 Chevy Malibu in 2019 that had a problem with the mechanism that oils the rocker arms. I forget the exact name of it but I had to file a lemon law suit to get it fixed, and I did, for something i read online was a common issue in 2014-15 Malibu’s and Impala’s that should’ve been recalled in 14-15. Luckily when I got it fixed it still had factory warranty on it and then after it was fixed it was laughable when I got a recall letter from GM stating the issue would be fixed in the future at no cost to me. Sure as soon as lawsuits are filed they decide to fix things. Typical of all auto manufacturers bc all they care about is how many and how fast they can build them regardless of errors but it’s never their fault.

    Reply
    1. A Better Call Saul type lawyer in Canada is filing this complaint on a contingency fee basis in the hope of a fat pre trial settlement from GM, to make the bad publicity go away.

      This event in unfortunate to all parties. I know that GM as an engineering and manufacturing company tried their best in designing and making the Bolt. Shxt in life unfortunately happens.

      Reply
  3. GM lost many of its best electrical engineers when it shut down Delco Remy. Those Delco engineers were very good at designing, not only products, but also reliability testing stations that would likely have caught this problem at the manufacturing site.
    GM’s top management seems to be so short sighted. If this battery problem is not solved for now and the future, future sales are in serious jeopardy.
    BTW, those same Delco engineering developed the low/no maintenance lead calcium battery back in the sixties.

    Reply
  4. Maggot product liability lawyers are a dime a dozen. They take these cases on a contingency fee basis.
    ” BETTER CALL SAUL “

    Reply
  5. Weird that the plaintiff is claiming GM knew about the defect in 2018 when the fires were almost all confined to 2019 model year…

    I don’t mean to minimize the issue for owners, because this has definitely been painful, but from everything I’ve seen GM did everything they could based on the best information they had at the time.

    Reply
  6. This will be a hard law suit to win, normally you have to show that you suffered a loss. With GM doing the right thing and replacing all batteries, and with a longer range and full warranty, I struggle to see how a loss would be claimed?

    Reply
  7. I am just wondering how many haters are true anti law suit persons which also means pubs cause you know the so called lovers of EVs must be liberals and defending GM and Mary…….if you believe that thinking. GM did the right thing on a full recall if they plan to exist long term selling only EVs. To say they knew it was happening…well time will tell with an insider blowing the whistle IF it were true. Moving on.

    Reply

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