When an electric vehicle comes into your facility for service or repair, it’s important to follow the necessary precautions to help promote proper and safe repair on these high-voltage models. Take a look at the following tips:
Proper Procedures
Preparing to work on a high-voltage system requires wearing the right Personal Protection Equipment (PPE) and taking the proper precautions, including:
- Wearing safety glasses with appropriate side shields when within 50 feet of the vehicle
- Using certified, up-to-date Class "0" insulated gloves (with insulated protectors) rated at 1000
- Removing all metal objects from your person, such as rings and watches
- Placing safety cones around the vehicle to alert fellow employees that you are working on a high-voltage system
- Employing the "one hand" rule whenever possible, which means working with only one hand while keeping the other behind your back
- Conducting a complete inspection of the high-voltage system if the vehicle was involved in a collision
Disable High-Voltage System
Before beginning any service or repairs, the vehicle’s high-voltage system should be disabled. See High-Voltage Disabling in Service Information (SI) for complete, step by step instructions.
THE TWO MOST COMMON DISABLING METHODS ARE:
1- THE SCAN TOOL METHOD
A successful GDS2 Scan Tool High Voltage Disable Procedure will open the high-voltage contactor relays and discharge the high-voltage system by setting a crash-event lockout. (Note that when this stage is reached, the Clear Secured High-Voltage DTCs procedure will have to be performed to enable the system again.) Once the system has been successfully disabled, a Procedure Complete message will appear on the scan tool.
2- THE DMM METHOD
If the GDS2 Scan Tool Method does not complete the process or cannot be implemented, a DMM-based physical measurement procedure can be performed with certain high-voltage connectors.
Failure to follow any of the above steps could result in serious injury or death.
For the latest and most up-to-date repair procedures, ALWAYS reference your Service Information (SI) site. For additional tips and safety procedures when working on high-voltage vehicles, see Documents #2409590, #4557023 and #4511265 in SI.
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