- Injury to the batteries’ separator might result in shorts and/or fires
- Recall campaigns from Stellantis, Ford, and Audi permit substitute of battery packs
- New paperwork filed by battery provider Samsung SDI says the difficulty stays below investigation
Plug-in hybrids from a number of automakers have been recalled due a possible problem 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 absolutely 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 are broadly related, in line with paperwork filed with the NHTSA, which emphasizing that precise specs are nonetheless distinctive to every automaker. Every automaker instructed the protection 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 brief treatment.
2022 Audi Q5 55 TFSI e plug-in hybrid
These new paperwork filed by Samsung SDI do not develop 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 below 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 experiences, and different info.”
In an announcement offered to Inexperienced Automotive Reviews Friday, Jeep guardian Stellantis underscored that for its autos, the difficulty has been remedied. “The treatment features a software program replace and, if essential, substitute of the high-voltage battery, each offered for gratis to homeowners,” it acknowledged, pointing to notification letters despatched out in December. “Buyer security is our highest precedence, and we recognize the persistence 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 info. Stellantis may be reached at 800-853-1403, Audi at 800-253-2834, and Ford at 866-436-7332.
–with reporting by Bengt Halvorson
