All-electric Chevrolet Blazer EV
Scott Mlyn | CNBC
DETROIT – General Motors is reducing the price of its new Chevrolet Blazer EV as it restarts sales of the vehicle on Friday after an 11-week shutdown to address software issues.
GM halted sales of the electric vehicle in late December following reports from customers and media about issues related to the vehicle's infotainment systems, including an inability to charge its battery that could leave drivers stranded.
All of the issues affected the vehicle's software and were fixed without any physical changes to the vehicle, according to Baris Cetinok, GM's vice president of products, software and services. They ranged from small errors in coding to the vehicle's ability to communicate with certain public electric vehicle chargers.
“There is no singular, predominant root cause that causes all of these problems,” Cetinok told CNBC during an interview. “They are rare circumstances and cases that come together.”
Cetinok, a former Apple The executive, who joined GM in September, said many problems were “rare but still disturbing.” The automaker initiated the suspension of sales to avoid problems for additional customers.
2024 Chevrolet Blazer SS EV
G.M.
To find and address the problems, GM conducted a “test matrix” that involved repeatedly rewriting and testing the coding, as well as physical road testing across the country, Cetinok said.
“For us, it was important to do it well rather than do it quickly. Of course, the ideal is to do it well and quickly, but the point is that we prefer to take our time, pause and fix it,” he said.
GM said the processes for repairing the Blazer EV have helped it strengthen software quality validation testing for future vehicles.
