— Owners of 2021 Chevrolet Express and GMC Savana vans equipped with 6.6L gasoline engines are warned to park the vans outside and away from anything that could burn.
General Motors says the positive battery cable terminal may contact a fuse block assembly attachment post and cause an electrical short-circuit. GM says as of March 1, at least four fires have been reported involving the vans.
In December 2020, General Motors found an issue with a dead battery in a 2021 Chevy Express van and later learned the positive battery cables and the engine compartment fuse block assembly attachments could make contact, causing the batteries to drain.
A few weeks later GM issued technical service bulletin 20-NA-225 which directed dealer technicians to trim anti-rotation tabs on the positive battery cables for 2021 Chevrolet Express and GMC Savana vans with drained batteries.
GM then learned about a battery fire in a 2021 Express van and photos indicated the fire occurred at the positive battery cable attachment near the fuse. By March 1, 2021, at least four fires had been reported on Chevrolet Express and GMC Savana vans, but no crashes or injuries have been reported.
In addition to battery fires, the van batteries may drain and trigger low-voltage warnings on the instrument panels.
The U.S. GM recall includes 10,154 vans and a Canadian GM recall involves 877 vehicles.
GM dealerships will remove portions of the anti-rotation tabs on both positive battery cable terminals near the fuse block assembly attachments. Additionally, the battery cables will be replaced if too much of the tab was removed during prior repairs.
Once again, owners of 2021 Chevy Express and GMC Savana vans need to park away from anything that could catch fire.
The GM recall is expected to begin May 3, 2021, but concerned Chevrolet van owners should call 800-222-1020, and GMC Savana owners should call 800-462-8782.
GM's number for the Savana and Express recall is N202325160.