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. 2023-2026 Z06 and 2025-2026 ZR1s in North America have a left-side radiator/fan combination with an air intake located beneath the fuel filler flap; that’s the perfect place to put an additional heat exchanger. 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 likely boils down to a hardware difference in the cooling system, as the E-Ray uses the Stingray’s LT2 V8. 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.
[Correction (Aug 23, 1:33 PM ET): We originally wrote: “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.” GM reached out to correct this, saying:
North American Stingray units, including Stingray with Z51 performance package, do not have a combo left-side radiator/fan and are not impacted by this recall.
The affected vehicles are “2023-2026 Z06 and 2025-2026 ZR1 in North America.” Our apologies for the error. -DT]
Top graphic image: Chevrolet
Support our mission of championing car culture by becoming an Official Autopian Member.
I think this is one of the few instances where GM use the term Fire instead of Thermal event, you know its serious.
My god, this came out as Corvettes at Carlisle is happening. We’re lucky we dodged a bullet. If a few of them went up there would be a 30 mile crater next to Harrisburg
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.
This is the same company that figures that a different weight of oil is the solution for their premium V8 eating itself.
I guess these cars enjoy raging against the machine.
Oh great, now I’m really gonna love the remote electronic door handles.
After 72 years, the Corvette has finally captured the essence of the Italian sports car experience.
I knew corvette had thermal issues but apparently its super car like in its tendency to catch fire.
I’ve had them spew gas AFTER the shutoff and run over the car. So I try to pull the nozzle out slowly as I don’t know what I’ll get.
Gotta give the General credit here… this can only be taken as further proof that they did a very diligent job of benchmarking Ferrari in developing the C8.
GM is gonna GM
I’ll note that some fuel fillers have gotten weird as well.
I’ve found an increasing number that won’t fill my tank. It’s not as if the car is 90% full, but it’s like 60% full. Nope. Automatic shutoff, and if I try again, automatic shutoff near instantly. “Must be full.” Get my receipt, etc. Start car, 60-70% full.
I don’t want to “test” it either, because yes, most pumps have actually filled the tank. So if I try to brim, I’ll start to spill almost instantly.
Has something changed in Gas Pump Land in the past few years? I’ve been running into it more and more, and it’s only on newer pumps. 2025 model year car, mind you!
Much like modern batteries, it’s best not to fill to capacity in order to preserve the life of your tank. Never go below 20% or over 90%.
My Focus ST used to do that on occasion. Nothing wrong with the evap system, so I took it as a quirk of the capless filler or pump issue. What seemed to work (besides not going back to those stations) was holding the trigger about halfway and inserting the nozzle only as far as necessary. One time, the pump vent was visibly partially blocked and I was able to clear it with a zip tie. Whatever the case, I’ve got over 80k on its replacement that does not have the capless system and have not encountered the issue again. I have no idea if that’s just coincidence or what. Then again, I had a ’12 Focus SE with the same capless system and don’t recall encountering that issue with that car, so I don’t know.
This happens with my 2009 Mercedes.
Always in the summertime.
I think there’s some issue w/ pump sensors these days being overly sensitive to fumes rather than liquid fuel – It’s not an issue w/ the car.
And yes – when that occurs I often need to click the ignition to on without cranking the motor to get a proper read on the fuel gauge.
There are so many recalls for so many vehicles it is easy to get numb to them.
Yea, luckily this one seems like an easy fix, just prevent spilled gas from falling in there.
I’d much rather this then something engine related.