GM Releases Fix For Cadillac Lyriq 12-Volt Battery Drain
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Just last month, GM Authority reported on an issue affecting the Cadillac Lyriq (as well as several other GM vehicles) wherein an over-the-air (OTA) software update would leave the vehicle’s infotainment system hanging, draining the 12-bolt battery. Now, GM has issued a new Customer Satisfaction Program intended to address the 12-volt battery drain issue affecting the Cadillac Lyriq.
The new Customer Satisfaction Program is tagged with bulletin number N232416980, and affects the 2023 and 2024 model years for the all-electric Cadillac Lyriq luxury crossover.
GM stipulates that the battery drain issue is not directly related to any over-the-air updates, per se. Rather, the issue is a glitch that leaves the downloaded update hanging. The new Customer Satisfaction program indicates that certain 2023 and 2024 model year Cadillac Lyriq vehicles may have a condition where the 12 volt battery has almost discharged or is at an increased risk of accelerated discharge.
In order to address this issue, dealers are instructed to disconnect, then reconnect the 12-volt battery, then reprogram the serial data gateway. Only Cadillac dealers who have met EV Readiness Requirements are allowed to complete this Customer Satisfaction Program, while the technician must have successfully completed the required training.
Last month, GM Authority covered how several Cadillac Lyriq owners have reported that the 12-volt battery in their crossover was turning up completely drained. The issue is similar to that reported by 2023 Chevy Colorado and 2023 GMC Canyon owners, once again likely the result of a failed software update.
GM Authority reached out to GM for an explanation, and in response, a Cadillac spokesperson issued the following response:
“Our engineering team is working to learn more about and diagnose the issue to minimize any further potential impact to Lyriq customers. As part of regular vehicle care, Cadillac recommends Lyriq customers keep their vehicles charged to a minimum of 20 percent High Voltage state-of-charge (SOC) and plug their vehicles in to their home charging unit overnight to help maintain 12V battery health.”
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GM engineers must program the BCM to monitor that 12v AGM battery and do some action, such as warn the owner, disconnect the battery completely, or activate the DC to DC converter so it charges from the HV battery while parked.
Then Cadillac must replace that AGM battery with a new LFP battery with a built in BCM to disconnect the battery when voltage drops. A new charge voltage will reactivate it. This is a necessity for all luxury vehicles, gas or electric.
Haha !!! Fat Chance !!!!
Let’s take the ongoing Silverado and Colorado dead battery troubles, and Infotainment memory failures.
It only took GM’s Crack Engineering team of 100s a quick 3 years (!!!!) to figure out the vehicle’s ECM does not do much good using up 12 volt juice when the driver walks away from the car…
A single back yard mechanic with a clamp on DC ammeter could have figured that out himself in a few hours, as no doubt many dealership mechanics had already done.
It is overly complicated – and superfluous schemes – which cause the trouble in the first place. The radio problems with the trucks that lose their memories and restart at FULL BLARING VOLUME could have been solved during manufacture of the radios for under a dollar – to just keep the memories intact during a few seconds of low voltage during starting the engine.
There is ANOTHER problem I have related here with my 2023 LYRIQ that GM is unaware of, although I have told my sympathetic Sales Manager at the dealership. It is that the car will discharge its 12 volt battery even when the vehicle is on – if you take power from the ‘official’ plus and minus take off points…
I don’t want GM to know about this problem since I’ve found an EASY to implement work around – and any official solution from GM would only take months or years and would no doubt make the overall trouble much worse.
So whether the Crack Engineering team is up to doing ANYTHING useful, or just ON CRACK, I have yet to experience any unexpected trouble with my LYRIQ due to the fact that I am allowed to IGNORE all updates the car constantly wants to do.
In a perfect world, GM would engineer a trivially simple 12 volt system that just works. Seeing as they didn’t do that over multiple car models over several years, both ICE and EV in effect means – Don’t Hold Your Breath for any elegant solutions.
I like my workarounds the best as it keeps the car functioning just fine with little to no effort.
I’m of course referring to the ongoing Silverado and Colorado troubles.
Not happy at all. Loved my Lyric until today when it left me stranded 30 miles from home.. if this is electric driving then no thanks! 70 k for a new vehicle that leaves you on the pavement!
Leonard :
Hi !
Have you done the software updates the Car constantly wants to do? I’ve NEVER done any of them and have had no unexpected trouble. I say that since there are plenty of things that I don’t like about the new fangled dashboard, but fortunately, that is just the ‘expected’ trouble.
And gas vehicle has never left anyone stranded with a dead battery?? Come on!!!
Hi C….
Has any gas vehicle left anyone stranded ?
Of course! Namely the brand new Silverados and Colorados.
Now if you want a vehicle that runs on both Electric and/or Gasoline that NEVER has any 12 volt battery troubles, its the VOLT both generation 1 and 2 and the sister Caddy ELR. My Tenant’s 2012 VOLT had an almost 12 year old battery in it (vehicle manufactured in 2011), when it was t-boned last week. My 2019 VOLT (about 4 3/4 years old) has never had any trouble either, other than expected Oil and
Filter changes every 24 months. My 7 year old ELR which I traded in for the LYRIQ never had a dead 12 volt battery either.
Not a brand new vehicle with 500 miles!!!! And with a price tag near 70k
I’m up to receive my 2024 Lyriq next month. Should I take a hard pass and put my $70K towards a different EV or Hybrid?
Still a beautiful car. How do you know you are receiving it next month?
I’m number one to receive the 2024 in Birmingham, Al. Production date is the 24th, so I’ve been told delivery sometime in September. I’ve had it on order for over a year.
Lisa, it’s hard to say. As you can see, there are a lot of production issues within GM along different lines of vehicles. I’m sure if you would check other forums that would be complaints and issues as well. Ford Lightnings and Mach E have heating and cooling issues with their batteries, Rivian has issues with tire wear and power distribution. ICEs are always in the news about recalls even though they may be minor. I would say lease if you could.
I would take a pass.. I waited more than a year to get my ordered car and it never came. Then another dealer had 3 Lyrics on the lot so I jumped at the chance. Now my new car leaves me stranded? How do I trust this vehicle on a road trip ever again???
I know there are bugs in a new car but electric cars are now not exactly new. Software engineers everywhere. Steal some from Tesla and let’s get going.
Our delivery of a 23 DE edition was delayed for 6 months since built as
We were told they were updating software and fixing Bugs and glitches
Fixes before releasing. Well, they missed a few.
This happened to me while my LYRIQ was plugged into the charger overnight…
So, their keep it charged statement is not valid.
Russ:
Yeah they give you the standard answer of ‘Leave your car plugged in’ – which has nothing to do with the problem. In my ‘unknown’ problem, the high voltage battery was fully charged, so that obviously has nothing to do with it.
My work around fix had nothing to do with keeping the car plugged in.
But what do you expect from GM who promotes Marketing people to engineering.
The old joke, “Yesterday I didn’t know how to spell inginear but today I are one.” Fully applied here.
If you want to see real technical competence, try calling the Cadillac Lyriq Concierge sometime.
Bill, you it nailed again.
Toolmaker:
Thanks.. I just viewed the Blazer police vehicle ‘ppv’ video that seems refreshingly more serious than typical marketing fare.
They mention that as part of the package they will have several 12 volt relay controlled circuits as well as an uncommitted 100 amp 12 volt power point.
The former BOLT police package was quite lacking in that regard, it only having a 120 amp alternator replacement.
When I was figuring out how to fix my almost dead battery with a 156 amp drain from my inverter I noticed that when I finally got my battery charging again (the workaround), the almost dead 12 volt battery recharged quickly as the inverter current slowly dropped back to 130 amps due to the quite quickly increasing battery voltage. I estimated the alternator replacement to be around 200 amps in the Lyriq.
This would also seem the exact same unit is used in the Blazer ev, since they are making the above mentioned 12 volt access work, which would require worst case around the same 200 amps.
Hi Toolmaker..
So did u decide how you want to set up your garage for an ev?
I used to drive an ELR and this happened to me. I couldn’t even open the doors when the battery died. I just bought a Lyriq in April and last week this same thing happened. Luckily the car was parked in my garage when I noticed I was unable to open the car and the battery was dead. I called onstar on my phone and they had the car towed to the nearest dealership. I was able to pick the car up 4 hours later.
Demetri:
I have heard of a few people having trouble with volt type products… I had only one – which was so trivial I hadn’t mentioned it yet…
When plugging in the charging cord, the car would sometimes turn on its yellow warning light and say ‘unable to charge. ‘..
Opening and closing the driver’s door a few times would solve the problem and the car would start charging.
I was left stranded 180 mi away from home. GM authorized the reimbursement of a rental vehicle while my Lyriq was being repaired/updated. Has anyone had their super cruise fixed? I also believe that the sound system software isn’t properly configured. Although it was frustrating, I haven’t given up on the idea of EVs or my beautiful vehicle.
With the new electric Escalade coming out, I will definitely wait for generation 2 or 3 before purchasing/leasing.
Maybe now they can release some of the Lyriqs sitting at the factory. Or at least I hope they were waiting for a fix before releasing them.
The infotainment system draw might overwhelm a 12v battery pack, but that 12v battery is sitting on a 102kWh battery pack. Why isn’t the 12v given access to that power source when it is being drained given you could have a fully charge Lyriq that won’t start bc the 12v is dead.
In Colorado’s and Silverados the nearly dead batteries commonplace in those vehicles underwhelms the radio and it forgets, because stupidly the radio designs depended on flawless batteries.
Ray, as I’ve stated before there are times when there is no 12 volts manufactured when the car is fully on.
It shouldn’t come as a great surprise that there is none manufactured when it is off.
The same designer Genius “ON” team is likely identical to the genius “OFF” team.
My 2023 Cadillac Lyriq was towed to a GM dealer and has been there two weeks because they can’t figure it out regarding the batteries. It’s only supposed to be a problem with the 12 volt battery because of constant updates, but I believe there is a problem with the big battery not being installed properly, and I’m a woman who knows nothing about mechanical, engines, or batteries. I’ve just been reading about all these electric car problems. How come Tesla never faced these problems as GM products?
HI Donna !
I too (if you’ve been reading comments) own a 2023 LYRIQ which overall I’m satisfied with it.
1). I have a 12 volt battery going dead problem that I have found my own EASY work around, which has nothing to do with the 12 volt battery trouble you and others are having. Never going to notify GM since the workaround fix works…. What ever they do will NOT, I have confidence in that!
2). Whatever it is, it has to be a simple fix… The sorry answer is that GM will stumble on a solution by trial and error since it is TOTALLY OBVIOUS they have no COMPETENT electrical engineers as AMAZING as that statement is…Shade tree mechanics know more than the entire GM engineering staff – UNBELIEVABLE.
3). If your car moves under its own power, then the problem CANNOT be the Propulsion (so called 102.5 kilowatt-hour) Battery, or connections to it – since charging the 12 volt battery is a trivially small load. It seems to be (by my testing) under a 3 kilo-watt load (that is 3,000 watts tops – or the same as 2 hair blower-stylers on high). If you occasionally pull up the ‘gauge’ screen that shows the ‘KW’ being drawn from the battery when accelerating, it will often be over 100 kw. The 12 volt battery system is charged while other things such as small motors, wipers, headlights, radio etc are used while the car is on. The VAST MAJORITY of the time, the load of the 12 volt battery charging plus everything else using 12 volts is under 1 kw. So Less than 1% of the load the majority of the time – it is so LOW and insignificant, you don’t even see this in range reduction usually.
4). The cars from the early 1930’s (over 90 years ago) had AUTOMATIC, autonomous charging systems.. These systems would work in any kind of weather, and were SO RELIABLE that almost no service was ever required.
– my old early 1960’s VW Beetle had a BOSCH electrical system that required ZERO maintenance other than buying a new smallish battery every 4 years. Never the slightest Problem….
5). GM radios get amnesia in several models experiencing horrendous 12 volt troubles. This is due to SUPREME INCOMPETENCE of the Radio design – it expecting flawless 12 volts 100% of the time, rather than realistically ‘riding through’ the starting of the truck. This is just another example illustrating that there is no intelligence at GM management… If Mary BARRA were a REAL electrical engineer (don’t hold your breath) she wouldn’t tolerate these unbeliveable guffaws — and certainly NO CUSTOMER should have ever experienced the slightest trouble EVER, whether LYRIQ, Silverado, Colorado, and about 5 other premium vehicles.
6). My ‘rule of thumb’ is to never do ‘software updates’ in the LYRIQ because to date, you can always cancel them. So far smooth sailing.
Here’s Wishing you best of luck solving your situation..
Did I miss it? What is your work around? I just had this happen to me and my 3 week old 2024 is currently at the dealer. It had to be towed in.