General Motors Corp.: Electrical System › 12v/24v/48v Battery
General Motors Corp. reported this defect to federal regulators on Nov 13, 2000 and put the number of vehicles at risk at 492. The repair is free for as long as the recall stands.
The defect
VEHICLE DESCRIPTION: ELECTRIC PASSENGER VEHICLES AND PICKUP TRUCKS CONTAINING A NICKEL METAL HYDRIDE (NIMH) BATTERY PACK. THESE VEHICLES CONTAIN SOFTWARE WITHIN THE BATTERY PACK MODULE INTENDED TO DISABLE THE VEHICLE FROM BEING DRIVEN IF THE ELECTRICAL RESISTANCE WITH THE BATTERY PACK EXCEEDS A PRESCRIBED VALUE. AFFECTED VEHICLES WILL ILLUMINATE THE "SERVICE NOW" AND "REDUCED PERFORMANCE" TELLTALES AND CONTINUE TO FUNCTION IN A REDUCED PERFORMANCE MODEL INSTEAD OF BEING DISABLED.
The risk
IF THE TELLTALES ARE IGNORED AND THE AFFECTED VEHICLE CONTINUES TO BE DRIVEN, HEAT COULD BUILD UP AND A FIRE COULD RESULT.
The remedy
DEALERS WILL INSTALL REVISED SOFTWARE IN THE BATTERY PACK MODULE.
2 model years covered
Newest first| Vehicle | Complaints | Recalls | Fires | Crashes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1999 Saturn EV1 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 |
| 1998 Chevrolet S10 | 613 | 11 | 9 | 61 |
What this page is, and what to do next
A recall is not an opinion. It is a Part 573 report a manufacturer is required by federal law to file once it decides a defect poses an unreasonable risk to safety, and it commits them to repairing the vehicle at no cost to the owner. The three passages above are the manufacturer’s own wording as published by NHTSA.
This page describes the campaign. It cannot tell you whether one particular car has already been through the shop — that is tracked by VIN, and only the manufacturer knows it. Check yours at nhtsa.gov/recalls or with a franchised dealer, quoting campaign number 00V374000.
Full record for the 1999 Saturn EV1 → · Recalls carrying a do-not-drive advisory → · Where this data comes from →