Here’s what the NHTSA recall report has to say. If you’re not familiar with seatbelt pretensioners, that’s okay. I’m here to help. They’re basically little explosive charges that detonate in a crash to cinch up a seatbelt, with the aim of preventing your neck from becoming a curly fry. While that’s likely a massive oversimplification, the pertinent information is that explosions like these can create hot gas, and hot gas often doesn’t pair well with flammable stuff like carpet. There’s a certain irony to a safety device potentially causing a fire, but that’s the way it goes sometimes. The NHTSA defect report claims that the carpet on Bolts has only ignited in three instances, two of which were in the past few months. In case you’re wondering why GM’s only issuing a recall now, it’s likely due to a pattern only emerging this year. Given how 111,242 vehicles are affected by this recall, this means that just 0.0026 percent of cars have already been affected. Recalls are often issued out of an abundance of caution, so GM’s nipping this little issue in the bud. Fortunately, a fix has already been devised, and it’s much lower-tech than you might imagine. GM plans on putting foil between the carpet and the pretensioner. Yes, foil. Hey, it’s a great insulator often used in both OEM and motorsport applications, so foil seems like a reasonable solution. GM will also fit several cars with pretensioner covers, a fairly minor additional fix all things considered. So, if you happen to own a Chevrolet Bolt between the model years 2017 and 2023, expect a letter in the post from GM telling you to book in for a free fix at your local dealer. Owner notification is said to happen on January 30, which means it won’t be long now before this issue can be quite literally patched over. If you happen to own a Chevrolet Bolt EUV, don’t worry, those cars use a different carpet design and aren’t affected by this recall. Ultimately, it’s a fairly standard and mundane recall. But it’s kind of another black eye for the Bolt EV—I’m sure GM was sick of seeing that car’s name in headlines next to the word “fire.” Nonetheless, the Bolt EV remains a pretty excellent car. It’s won multiple awards, including “EV of the Year” over at Electrek, a site historically known for hardcore Tesla fandom (and thus, a tough crowd.) It remains a great deal if you can find one, too. Just make sure all the recalls are taken care of. Lead photo credit: Chevrolet
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Got a hot tip? Send it to us here. Or check out the stories on our homepage. Support our mission of championing car culture by becoming an Official Autopian Member. Aluminium foil is a great conductor, and a therefore a terrible insulator. But is reflects IR radiation (which is why you can make effective heat shields from it) and is much harder to burn than carpet. GM probably says 0.5 book. It is not. For a pyrotechnic fire safety measure like this, would you prefer I deliver your car LESS SAFE than when you brought it in? No? Well then guess what! I’m going to do the job as fast as I can, and as safely as I can. And complaining about how long it takes to disconnect the battery, safe things that can explode in MY face, fuss with the seat so I can remove multiple lower trim panels, disconnect and remove the lower seatbelt bolts, apply the foil, re-apply because it doesn’t fit right, torque the bolts back to spec, replace the broken clips on the panels so you don’t come back complaining about how I broke your car and now it rattles (even though they were already broken,) reconnect your battery, make sure nothing explodes when I start the car, make sure my greasy fingerprints aren’t all over your car, and bring it back to you isn’t going to make it happen any faster. They’re already doing it as fast as they can. That is literally how they make money. If the job pays 0.5 and it takes them 1.0 then they still only get paid 0.5. But hey, if you’d rather your car potentially burst into flames when your seatbelts are locking you into the seat, can always skip the recall entirely. So because of cost cutting and poor design we yet again have to head into the dealer. Oh well maybe I can check out the new cars while there and get a free donut. Given the standard of dealer service, I wouldn’t be surprised if someone tries. Seems pretty silly, but I’m not looking to win hockey fights in the olden days. Alright, Now dig this, baby You don’t care for me I don’t-a care about that You got a new fool, ha! I like to laugh at I have only one a-burnin’ desire Let me stand next to your fire Hey, let me stand next to your fire (Let me stand next to your fire) Whoa, let me stand, baby (Let me stand next to your fire) Let me stand (Let me stand next to your fire) Yeah, baby Listen here, baby And stop acting so crazy You say your mom ain’t home, it ain’t my concern Just a-play with me, and you won’t get burned I have only one a-itchin’ desire Let me stand next to your fire Yeah, let me stand, baby (Let me stand next to your fire) Let me stand (Let me stand next to your fire) Oh, let me stand (Let me stand next to your fire) Ow! Oh! Move over, Rover And let Jimi take over Yeah, you know what I’m talkin’ ’bout Yeah, get on with it, baby Ow! Yeah! That’s what I’m talkin’ ’bout Now, dig this! Ha! Now listen, baby You try to gimme your money You better save it, babe Save it for your rainy day I have only one a-burnin’ desire Let me stand next to your fire, ha Ow! A-let me stand (Let me stand next to your fire) Oh! Let me stand, baby (Let me stand next to your fire) I ain’t gonna do you no harm (Let me stand next to your fire) Ow! Yeah! You better move over, baby I ain’t gonna hurt you, baby Oh, I ain’t talkin’ ’bout your old lady Ow! Oh yeah, this is Jimi talkin’ to you Yeah, baby The pre-tensioner is single use, like an airbag. It doesn’t have to wait for the belt to be yanked. If it were to go off while you’re yanking the buckle, you’d probably need a wrist reconstruction specialist. That kind of design flaw would be a much more pressing recall. Are these explosive charges the reason that seatbelts often need to be cut after a crash to get the occupants out? Or does the violent collision just damage the buckle mechanism. The pretensioner is in the retractor which is ALWAYS outboard (excluding rear seats and exotics.) It functions by propellant launching captive balls or pistons which spin the retractor to full withdraw instantaneously and lock it from extending. It is absolutely NOT the buckle assembly and never has been. How would that even work? (Hint: it wouldn’t.) Here is a photo of a typical GM seatbelt assembly with pretensioner. The “danger” stickers are the pretensioner pyrotechnic charge. https://www.myairbags.com/upload/iblock/2a5/2a53f1cea439d5176f56fd6431eb3a27.jpg That’s why they have to be cut. Because they’re full tight and will not extend further ever again. It’s also why as a mechanic EXTREME care must be taken when working on these or the electrical, just as with airbags. The pretensioner is designed to not only withstand but yank back an entire human being up to 350lbs in weight. Instantaneously. And because it is located behind trim panels and well away from things like faces and legs, it has a much higher allowable outgas/flame. (Which to be clear, is generally safe. It’s not a sustained burst. It’s less than 200 milliseconds of flame jet.) But as a user? Unless you whack the hell out of multiple sensors to the point of setting off airbags, you cannot accidentally trigger the pretensioner. You can trigger the despool-catcher (which keeps you from yanking the belt too fast/too far,) but not the pretensioner. That takes applying voltage to the pyrotechnic charge connector, unless it’s a Takata. In that case, get your recalls done. ;P How would that even work ? Well, it would work like this : https://www.rentrafic.com/images/books/123/23/index266.gif or this : https://www.surplus-auto.com/images/produits/articles/400/300/STOCK_10342601579719_1.jpg The reason belts get cut is because if the person in the car has a fractured spine and a load of broken fingers, for example, you might not want to move their arm out of the way of the belt before sliding a spine support in there and lifting them out of the car. The buckles work fine after a crash. If you need to exit the car after a crash you press the red button and go. Despite the number of times you’ve seen ‘Bolt’ and ‘fire’ in a headline, electric cars are less likely to catch fire than gas cars. How much less likely? Try two orders of magnitude, based on data from the NTSB and BTS. These numbers are ‘fires per 100,000 vehicles’: EV fires, 25.1; Gas 1529.9; and hybrid, 3474.5. Not sure why hybrids have such a high rate, unless it’s because of overall complexity. Electric car fires just get reported a lot more because they’re new and it’s interesting. (Much like how crime in general now is MUCH lower than it was when when I was a kid, but you can’t convince anyone of that.) I find it interesting that the most common cause for fire-related recalls in gas cars is… electrical shorts. The ghost of Lucas still haunts us, I guess. Burn baby burn Disco inferno Burn baby burn
