PSA: Recall for HV Battery

[insightman]

Perfectly normal to have a fire blanket. You clearly haven’t been through a house fire to understand how devastating it can be

So I guess I shouldn't regret that our rarely driven Honda Clarity PHEV hogs our one-car garage all the time, leaving our frequently driven MINI Cooper SE outside.

 

[CuriousGeorge]

You talk too much for someone who 1. Doesn’t work in the automotive industry 2. Loves to post random links. “Here is data blah blah” fact is our cars are catching on fire enough that it shook BMW enough to issue a major recall. What does that tell you?

Fact is their is an underlaying issue with the pack on the F56 and rather than repair the issue (As other manufacturers have) Mini rather use a software work around. Which I am certain they reduced power deployment on F56 after the update.

This is the problem with tribalism around cars. Nobody wants to admit their car might have a fault then will jump through hoops to justify it doesn’t exist

Until you share some verifiable facts I don't think that anyone is going to pay any attention to you.

 

[ColdCase]

A mistake should always be easier to fix in software than hardware. Although, where it seems software always costs much more in time and money to develop than hardware, it is usually a lot easier and quicker to fix a mistake. There are some that will argue that since software is so easy to fix there is less test rigor. Hardware you better get right.

Anyway there doesn't seem to be evidence that the SE battery pack has a design or manufacturing defect like several other manufactures have found. Software manages any of these battery packs to keep them in check. There is never 0 risk.

There are a few stories where manufacture's bean counters determined that it would be less of a hit on profit to spin the story and pay litigations than fix a dangerous car, Ford's Pinto comes to mind. So we consumers should be more than a bit skeptical that a profit motivated company has enough interest in customer's safety.

Observational data is wrong or leads to wrong conclusions 99% of the time, but needs to be taken seriously. So it has to be looked at carefully and analyzed scientifically. Can we trust BMW with this?

 

[MrSnrub]

Until you share some verifiable facts I don't think that anyone is going to pay any attention to you.

That there have been fires and BMW rather just software patch the car as an easy way out? Again this is the problem with tribalism with defending a brand to the death.. that brand can do no wrong

 

[Puppethead]

Since I have two EVs now that are always plugged in, I've considered putting a smoke detector in my garage. I did have proper electrical work done for my EVSEs. Even though only one is hardwired, the other one has a high-quality NEMA receptacle. So the main worry at this point is whether or not one of the vehicles would start the fire.

I've also always wanted lightning protection for my house, mostly for the historical nostalgia, but figured modern construction with metal piping and such don't really require it. Although with the increased severity of storms from climate change maybe it's worth reconsidering.

 

[ColdCase]

I wouldn't count on modern construction, they use PLEX and PVC pipes (which are plastic). The only metal is the house wiring and you don't want lightning there. You may have metal downspouts or furnace flues.

If you are serious about lightning protection, look at the current midwest practices where houses and barns are the only thing above ground for miles and lightning strikes are common.

We have tall trees nearby and live in a valley that may have seen two or three strikes over the last 50 years. The hill above us gets several strikes a year. A few years ago a strike may have come down a Niagara falls type down poor landing about 20 feet from the house, made toothpicks out of a small tree. It didn't like the ground under the trees, but the house foundation looked better and scooted over under the rain soaked top soil (making several impressive twenty foot long steam tunnels). It somehow blew a hole in a downspout about 6 feet above ground level. The EMP damaged some electrical and ethernet equipment that had long wires attached. It blew out the pool pump and heater located maybe 75 feet from the strike, the pump was burned to a crisp. Several computers and even speakers were damaged, and the low voltage walkway lighting brought enough energy into its control panel mounted on the side of the house to melt the wires to a crisp. Something could have easily caught fire. That energy is in a big hurry to seek good grounds (like the house foundation) and will blast through anything to get there. We were in the house at the time and the crack probably damaged my hearing.

I wonder what the stats are of something like that....

 

[CuriousGeorge]

That there have been fires and BMW rather just software patch the car as an easy way out? Again this is the problem with tribalism with defending a brand to the death.. that brand can do no wrong

Until you share some verifiable facts I don't think that anyone is going to pay any attention to you.

 

[CuriousGeorge]

there doesn't seem to be evidence that the SE battery pack has a design or manufacturing defect like several other manufactures have found. Software manages any of these battery packs to keep them in check. There is never 0 risk.

. . . which is why calling the software update a "bandaid" is illogical. No one would make that claim if the code had been written that way in the first place.

When the FDA approves a new drug, its safety actually hasn't been absolutely established, as it is impossible to do so on a large enough segment of the population to identify all possible risks. Instead, continual post-marketing monitoring is performed to fully understand the drug's risk-benefit profile. The two verified fires that led to identification of a couple/few hundred improperly sealed battery packs and a software upgrade for the rest of us is akin to what would happen if a new-ish drug were released and a rare, but serious, side effect was discovered. That is, the drug would remain on the market, but a "black box" warning would be added to further minimize the probability of such events.

 

[electriceddy]

Since I have two EVs now that are always plugged in, I've considered putting a smoke detector in my garage. I did have proper electrical work done for my EVSEs. Even though only one is hardwired, the other one has a high-quality NEMA receptacle. So the main worry at this point is whether or not one of the vehicles would start the fire.

I've also always wanted lightning protection for my house, mostly for the historical nostalgia, but figured modern construction with metal piping and such don't really require it. Although with the increased severity of storms from climate change maybe it's worth reconsidering.

 

[electriceddy]

A good ( high joule ) surge suppressor is what I administer, knowing, no lightning protection because of the short peak of demolition duration, works for 99 % of cases.
A short across the overhead lines would also not have any protective effect.

2013 Leaf SL, 2016 Leaf SL, 2019 Kona Ultimate, 2021 Kona Ultimate, 2025 Kona N, 2026 Ioniq 5 Ultimate