GM and LG offer compensation for defective Chevrolet Bolt owners

General Motors and LG are setting up a 150 million US dollar fund to compensate owners of the Chevrolet Bolt electric model who have been affected by defective batteries. The initiative is the result of a court settlement with plaintiffs in the USA.

The Chevrolet Bolt caused a lot of trouble for customers and manufacturers in 2020 and 2021. Due to a fire risk, GM initially had to recall almost 70,000 Chevrolet Bolts in November 2020. A software update was unable to fix the problem with the battery with LG cells as hoped, so a second official, further expanded recall followed in the summer of 2021. Instead of the 2017 model years up to a certain production date in 2019, the batteries in the remaining vehicles from the 2019 model years and all vehicles from the 2020 to 2022 model years also had to be replaced. In late summer 2021, GM even paused production of the model due to the ongoing battery problems, and there were also difficulties with the supply of batteries, so the replacement was delayed as part of the withdrawal.

This led to a class action lawsuit filed by Bolt owners in the USA, which has now ended in a settlement: “GM, LG Energy Solution and LG Electronics have agreed to a settlement with plaintiffs to resolve class action litigation related to the Bolt EV battery recall,” General Motors told Reuters in an email. “As a result, Bolt owners who received a battery replacement or who have installed the latest advanced diagnostic software may qualify for compensation,” the company wrote.

Owners of the recalled Bolt electric cars who have the latest software solution installed at a GM-authorised dealer before 31 December 2023 can receive up to USD 1,400. Owners who sold their vehicle or cancelled the lease before the software remedy was available and those who have already received a battery replacement will receive at least 700 US dollars.

Incidentally, General Motors and LG had already reached an agreement on compensation in 2021, which the battery manufacturer paid to the US car manufacturer as the cause of the problems. GM was able to book a special income of 1.9 billion US dollars as a result. This almost made up for the approximately two billion dollars in expenses for the recalls, it was said at the time.

Incidentally, the model did not have to think about these quarrels for much longer. The Chevrolet Bolt was discontinued in 2023. Last summer, however, GM boss Mary Barra announced that the model would make a comeback on a new basis – namely the Ultium platform from GM.

reuters.com