Surprisingly, the recall issued today for the 2020 C8 Corvette doesn’t have anything to do with the frunk problems we reported last week. That issue found drivers of Chevy’s mid-engine sports car facing spontaneously opening frunks while driving. We posted a dashcam video of it happening to an unwitting Corvette owner in our last post about this. Obviously, this is a dangerous situation which the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has received numerous complaints about. Instead, a different safety issue has forced Chevy to recall 2020 C8 Corvettes.

Though this recall deals with the frunk it is different. This recall is “certain 2020 model year Chevrolet Corvette vehicles fail to conform to S4.1 of Federal/Canada Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (F/CMVSS) No. 401, Interior Trunk Release.” The cars involved enter a low-power sleep mode after being shut down for 10 minutes. Once in sleep mode the frunk release button inside the trunk compartment won’t work. 

If someone climbed into the 2020 Corvette trunk they might not be able to use the release to get out

So, if someone were to climb into the trunk and close the lid they might not be able to use the release to get out. Obviously, this poses a safety hazard, especially for a child. Chevy has a fix set up.

Using either wireless over-the-air updates or through a dealer they’ll update the software. The update lowers the voltage to allow the trunk release to work during sleep mode. There’s also an update about the frunk lids flying open.

GM is looking into increasing the volume for the alert when the frunk is open or partially latched. The alert is both warning chimes and a message on the Driver Information Center. So the messaging would be changed to more directly grab attention. If this update does happen Chevy would apply it into the software. 

There are currently eight 2020 Corvette complaints on the NHTSA website

Initially, GM was blaming the frunk’s sudden lid opening to driver error. But as complaints start to increase with the NHTSA they have changed tone. There are currently eight complaints on their website. So far no injuries have occurred. 

Here’s Chevy’s latest comment about the spontaneous frunk openings, “After isolated reports of 2020 Chevrolet Corvette hoods being inadvertently left open while being driven, the engineering team is investigating the potential issue and will be working to prevent them moving forward. We have not been able to identify any mechanical issues related to this situation. We’re looking at ways we can improve warnings of the hood being open by increasing the volume of warning chimes and changing the messaging that appears in the DIC. Vehicles already in the field would receive these changes through over-the-air updates.”