- Injury to the batteries’ separator might result in shorts and/or fires
- Recall campaigns from Stellantis, Ford, and Audi permit alternative of battery packs
- New paperwork filed by battery provider Samsung SDI says the difficulty stays underneath investigation
Plug-in hybrids from a number of automakers have been recalled due a possible challenge with autos’ Samsung SDI-supplied battery cells that might trigger lack of energy or fires. And new paperwork filed with the federal authorities this week means that the difficulty has not but been totally resolved.
A complete of 180,196 autos are affected within the U.S., together with 155,096 from Stellantis, 20,484 from Ford, and 4,616 from Audi. Every automaker, in current months, already introduced a person recall for its respective autos.
2023 Ford Escape Plug-in Hybrid
Stellantis issued a battery-related recall for the Jeep Wrangler 4xe and Jeep Grand Cherokee 4xe SUVs final October. Audi then recalled its Q5 and A7 plug-in hybrids in December, and Ford then issued a recall for plug-in hybrid variations of the Ford Escape and Lincoln Corsair SUVs in January.
All of those autos have Samsung SDI cells which might be broadly comparable, in line with paperwork filed with the NHTSA, which emphasizing that actual specs are nonetheless distinctive to every automaker. Every automaker informed the security company that defects in these cells might result in inner brief circuits or fires. Ford and Stellantis additionally reported harm within the separator layer between the cathode and anode in some cells, which might result in brief circuits and fires. Ford and Audi each mentioned inner evaluation pointed to manufacturing defects, and each mentioned they’d set up new software program as a short lived treatment.
2022 Audi Q5 55 TFSI e plug-in hybrid
These new paperwork filed by Samsung SDI do not increase the checklist of autos recalled, however they underscore that the difficulty lacks a transparent decision, as of but. In paperwork filed February 5, Samsung SDI calls the difficulty “nonetheless underneath investigation” for each Ford and Audi. A letter from the NHTSA, reacting to the Samsing SDI submitting and dated February 6, asks the battery provider for a “abstract of all guarantee claims, area or service stories, and different data.”
In a press release offered to Inexperienced Automotive Experiences Friday, Jeep mother or father Stellantis underscored that for its autos, the difficulty has been remedied. “The treatment features a software program replace and, if obligatory, alternative of the high-voltage battery, each offered for free of charge to homeowners,” it acknowledged, pointing to notification letters despatched out in December. “Buyer security is our highest precedence, and we admire the endurance of our clients as we labored to resolve this matter and implement an answer for all affected autos.”
For now, homeowners of affected autos can name the respective automakers’ customer support departments for extra data. Stellantis could be reached at 800-853-1403, Audi at 800-253-2834, and Ford at 866-436-7332.
–with reporting by Bengt Halvorson
