Chevrolet Pauses Blazer EV Sales To Fix Software Issues
Last week, we retold the story of Edmund’s struggles with a long-term Blazer EV test vehicle. Sadly, not long after purchase, things started going badly.
During a trip from Los Angeles to San Diego, Edmunds experienced numerous warning messages and technical issues with the Blazer EV. The window switches stopped working, followed by a complete meltdown of the infotainment display. After pulling off the freeway and restarting the car, the issues were temporarily resolved, but reoccurred later on.
On the way back, things got worse. The Blazer EV experienced multiple error messages, including issues with the service vehicle, high-voltage system, and 12-volt system. After encountering problems with charging and reduced acceleration, the car had to go to a Chevrolet dealer, but they couldn’t fix it because it wouldn’t act up for the technicians.
Around the same time, Kevin Williams at Inside EVs had something even worse happen. During a weeklong test of the 2024 Chevrolet Blazer EV, the author experienced a breakdown during an Electrify America charging session in rural Western Virginia. The journey, which should have taken about seven hours with two hour-long stops, turned into a 14-hour ordeal. This final error left him stranded and forced him to abandon the car on the side of the road in a small town.
The issues experienced sounded a lot like what Edmunds testers dealt with, so there appears to be an actual problem with the vehicle’s software. Now, GM has confirmed that the company is putting sales of the vehicle on hold to get this under control.
“We are aware that a limited number of Blazer EV owners have experienced some software quality issues,” Chevrolet said in a statement to Edmunds. “To ensure our customers have a great experience with their vehicle, we are temporarily pausing sales of Blazer EVs. Our team is working quickly to roll out a fix, and owners will be contacted with further information on how to schedule their update. We apologize for the inconvenience.”
The Pirates Aren’t Eating Tourists
After reading all this, I’m a bit like John Hammond in Jurassic Park.
In the movie, John Hammond is discussing the problems his new dinosaur park is having, and says, “All major theme parks have delays. When they opened Disneyland in 1956, nothing worked!”
Obviously, this was a bad comparison, and Dr. Ian Malcolm takes him to task: “Yeah, but, John, if The Pirates of the Caribbean breaks down, the pirates don’t eat the tourists.”
In this case, I’d imagine that Kevin Williams doesn’t feel like he got ate by a dinosaur like the lawyer did. As Weird Al said of the scene, “It goes to show they really aren’t all bad.” But, at the same time, getting stranded on a road trip is a huge pain in the butt. I’ve run into lesser problems, and remember feeling exhausted and sick by the time it was all over and I was home.
So, this really sucks, but I don’t think GM is anywhere close to out of the game. I don’t go on Twitter for EV stuff anymore, but I know there are probably Stans gloating on there about “Mary led” or whatever. GM had better get this problem under control ASAP, but once the engineers get it solved, the Blazer EV does still seem like it will be an excellent vehicle.
Featured image by GM.
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