A lawsuit filed in the Northern District of Illinois alleges that the Chevrolet Bolt EV’s battery is faulty and dangerous. In particular, when batteries in an electric vehicle are fully or nearly fully charged, they pose a risk of fire. The lawsuit accuses the company of fraud, negligence, and deliberate release of faulty vehicles to the market and defrauding consumers across the country. The plaintiffs, of course, demand monetary compensation.

As recently reported by the Detroit News, there have been at least five incidents of Bolt fires with fully or nearly fully charged batteries. Three of these fires are being investigated by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which deals with vehicle troubleshooting. There have also been two reports of smoke poisoning. GM recalled 68,667 Chevrolet Bolt EVs sold on Nov.13.

While the investigation continues, GM said it has developed software that will limit the charging of vehicles to 90% of full capacity to prevent future incidents. Dealers have been instructed to update their customers’ car battery software starting November 17.

Plaintiff’s lawyers argue that the software fix reduces the Bolt’s performance. ” GM ‘s only  ” fix “to reduce the risk of fire is a software update that limits the maximum charge level to about 90% of the maximum capacity, thereby reducing the mileage these cars can travel on a full charge,” the statement said.

The plaintiffs also accuse GM of exaggerating Bolt’s capabilities. The automaker claims that the Bolt has a capacity of 60 kWh, while the plaintiffs claim it is actually 57 kWh. The lawsuit was originally filed by Bolt owner Andres Torres but may soon become collective.

GM is the latest automaker to voluntarily recall its vehicles due to battery defects. Audi recalled more than 500 E-Tron SUVs last year due to the risk of a battery fire. China’s NIO has recalled about 5,000 of its ES8 electric SUVs after many reports of battery fires surfaced in 2019. There is no clear evidence that electric vehicles catch fire more often than combustion engine cars, but this topic has received increased attention as more electric vehicles appear on the roads. Rescuers are even separately trained to handle fires in electric vehicle batteries, as they cannot be extinguished using traditional methods.