Bad news for anyone looking to pick up a discounted Corvette Z06: You won’t be able to buy one for a little bit, and it’s all because the most track-focused Corvettes on sale today are suffering from a genuine supercar problem. Chevrolet has mandated a stop-sale on the Corvette Z06 and ZR1 and is in the process of issuing a recall due to a design that may result in fires while refuelling.
News of the recall is so fresh that it hasn’t even hit the NHTSA website yet, currently only existing as a bulletin from General Motors with clarification that a NHTSA number is pending. However, here’s what Chevrolet’s own communique states:
General Motors has decided that a defect which relates to motor vehicle safety may exist in certain 2023 – 2026 model year Chevrolet Corvette vehicles equipped with a left-side radiator/fan combination. In these vehicles, excess fuel spilled into the vehicle fuel-filler pocket during refuelling may leak onto an ignition source.
Well, none of that sounds particularly good, especially since unscheduled, uncontrolled immolation is generally frowned upon. Basically, pretty much every C8 Corvette except for the base Stingray without the Z51 package has a heat exchanger in the left quarter panel, with an air intake located beneath the fuel filler flap. That heat exchanger gets hot, and from the sound of it, if you try to brim the tank and spill fuel into the pocket around the filler, the fuel can make its way toward the area of the heat exchanger and fan on Z06 and ZR1 models and ignite.
On the plus side, the fix seems fairly simple. According to GM, “dealers will install an insert/shield to divert spilled fuel,” designed to keep gasoline away from the heat exchanger assembly. However, that hasn’t stopped some fast Corvettes from already going up in smoke at gas stations. For instance, here’s footage of a white Corvette Z06 on fire at a gas station in Florida:
The owner of this Z06 posted about the incident in the Corvette C8 Z06, ZR1 & E-Ray Facebook group, stating that the “Car exploded while pumping gas.” In security footage stills, the nozzle appears to be set to pump fuel without the owner holding the lever, and you can see the ignition quickly result in a vehicle-engulfing fire. [Ed note: The fault here could be with a faulty auto-shutoff mechanism in the pump, and any car might catch fire if fuel runs down the side of the body and reaches hot components or another ignition source. Still, it’s a scary video. – Pete]
Here’s another instance of a C8 Z06 catching fire while being filled with fuel, with the familiar sight of the pump nozzle metering out fuel without someone’s hand activating it. Most gas pumps feature a nozzle lock feature that should automatically click off when the venturi sensor in the handle senses that the tank is full, so this isn’t an unusual way to pump gas. However, it is unusual for a car to catch fire, even if a little bit of fuel ends up spilling.
As for why the Z06 and ZR1 are affected but not the similarly wide-bodied E-Ray, that’s a great question. It may come down to physical differences, or part of it may be due to cooling strategies. Either way, if you own a C8 Corvette Z06 or ZR1, take care when fuelling for now. Burns are not fun, and it’s better to keep things a quarter-tank low than end up in the ER.
Top graphic image: Chevrolet
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