A fire and subsequent explosion of the battery of an electric car in an underground parking lot has generated concern among the residents of the French town of Élancourt, who have put it in the spotlight both the owner and the manufacturer brand. As reported by the French media 78actuthe event coincided with the neighbors leaving for work in the morning, which increased concern about the possible consequences.
The owner of the car, a plug-in hybrid DS7 Crossback, was contacted by the editorial staff of this media and denied any type of negligence or irresponsibility in relation to the incident. He explained that he received a letter in September informing him of a Possible battery failure and risk of firebut not explosion. According to his testimony, he was on vacation in October and was not aware of the situation until early November.
In this sense, the man added that the recall was level 2, which implied a recommendation to inspect the vehicle, but not a restraining order. “How can anyone think that I knowingly created a danger?” he said in a statement to 78actu.Neighbors’ reactions and context of the withdrawal
But, in the residents’ opinion, the owner was “risk aware” and they commented that, after the explosion, “he didn’t seem to feel guilty.” One of the neighbors questioned by this media stressed that the incident could have had serious consequences, since it occurred at a time when many residents were leaving their homes to go to work.
Furthermore, he insisted on the importance of taking vehicle recall campaigns seriously, recalling the scandal of defective airbags manufactured by Takata, which in the case of Spain claimed the life of a resident of a town in Seville.
Since September 2025, Stellantis has initiated a recall campaign which affects several plug-in hybrid models, including the DS7 Crossback E-Tense manufactured between March 7, 2019 and September 27, 2021. Other models involved are the Opel Grandland 2020 and February 18, 2021), as well as the Peugeot 3008 V2 and 508 V2 (sold between July 2, 2019 and October 12, 2022).
The reason for the withdrawal, according to the notice published on the specialized portal Rappel Conso, is “a high voltage battery defective, which could cause overheating and cause a fire in the battery or the vehicle.”
The owner of the DS7 insisted that the defective battery was located under the rear seat, where your children usually traveland recognized the potential danger: “The battery could have exploded at any time and killed my children, or someone, even on Tuesday morning. I’m not happy knowing that I could have had a death on my conscience,” he said.
The impact of the explosion was considerable, although the material damage was slight. The force of the blast shattered the car windows and caused the roof of the vehicle to pop off. The garage door, located about fifty meters from the car, has also given way and been ejected, as the firefighters have explained to the residents, who have pointed out that the door was designed to respond in that way to an explosion.
During the evacuation, neighbors They removed all the vehicles from the parking lot to prevent the fire from spreading in case the flames flare up again. Firefighters remained at the scene for about three hours, waiting for the battery to cool before proceeding to remove the DS7, which was still hot at the time of being towed. Regarding the building’s security systems, residents detected failures in smoke evacuation valves and in the fire alarms in the apartments, which have not been activated despite the presence of smoke.
