GM To Fix Chevy Volt Fire Hazard Which The Company Says Doesn’t Exist.
GM has announced a fix for the Chevy Volt, the company’s “hot” hybrid that literally could burst into flames.
Actually, the only thing “hot” about the Volt was the fire hazard as sales missed projections for the year. It was estimated the Volt would sell 10,000 units and instead only sold 7,671.
NOTE: In researching this story, we found one “reporter” claiming the lack of sales was based in part, due to “right wing punditry.”
It’s pretty impressive that, given a wave of negative publicity from right-wing pundits and an NHTSA investigation into battery pack fires, Volt sales are continuing to climb.
I think, given the weak economy, right-wing punditry, and other factors, both vehicles sold pretty well, despite their high prices and controversial politics.
The move by GM comes after a long and odd trip some (including us) believe would not have happened if not for GM being bailed out and owned by the US Government.
The day after Thanksgiving, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) announced it was opening a formal safety review after there was a fire in a Volt that had been crash tested earlier in the year. Three weeks after the June test, the Volt was parked outside a warehouse when it inexplicably caught fire. A second Volt did the same thing.
The timing of the announcement and the delay was, to say the least, curious as it appears the NHSTA delayed announcing the formal investigation to a day long after they had discovered an issue with the car and on a day when people are typically more concerned with shopping than following the news.
GM said there was nothing wrong with the Volt and vehcicles’ fire were just one of those things.
A mere four days later, Chevy announced they would loan cars to owners of the Volt until the problem (the problem they said didn’t exist) was fixed.
Less than a week later, Chevy announced it would literally buy back Chevy Volts from any owner who did not want the car any longer. This, they said was to ally the fears of customers who were worried the car would catch fire due to a fault or design issue Chevy said did not exist.
In less than two weeks, Chevy had gone from backing the car to the hilt to “we’ll buy them back from you.”
To say the least, it was a strange tactic for a car Chevy claimed was safe.
Now Chevy is getting set to make modification to Chevy Volts that are on the road.
The Detroit automaker will strengthen an existing portion of the Volt’s vehicle safety structure to further protect the battery pack in a severe side collision, adding a new steel structure to guard against severe side crashes. GM will also add a sensor in the reservoir of the battery coolant system to monitor coolant levels and a new a tamper-resistant bracket to the top of the battery coolant reservoir to help prevent potential coolant overfill.
All this for a car that has no issues, according to GM.
It very well could be that we are reading more into this issue than is there. It just seems odd that GM has gotten a pass after the beating Toyota took earlier in the year.
However, that pass may be at an end.
Last month, three House Republicans asked GM and the Obama administration on to answer detailed questions about why they didn’t disclose a fire in a crash-tested extended-range electric Chevrolet Volt for several months — and whether the White House asked to delay the release.
A House panel plans a hearing on the Volt later this month.
“We are deeply troubled by the fact that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has deliberately suppressed public knowledge of the safety risk posed by the Chevrolet Volt,” said the letter from Reps. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, and Reps. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, and Mike Kelly, R-Pa., to NHTSA Administrator David Strickland.
LaHood denied that last month.
“That is absolutely not true. That is not true,” [Transportation Secretary Ray] LaHood told reporters at a press conference. “We will continue to share any information we find because we want to make sure consumers and first responders have the most up-to-date information.”
The three members also sent a letter to GM CEO Dan Akerson, asking “serious questions about the safety of the Volt and whether the White House or any federal agency pressured GM not to disclose the Volt fire.”
The letter asked if GM disclosed that a crash-tested Volt had caught fire in June to owners: “Why did GM fail to disclose safety deficiencies with the Chevrolet Volt for five months?”
This is the type of thing that will happen when you have the government running a company and at the same time be charged with overseeing the safety of the products that company produces. Whether or not there is actual impropriety or not, there is the appearance of impropriety which means the playing field for the competitors of GM is not level.
The hearings will take place before the parts to fix the Volts are in the hands of Chevy dealers. Chevy is desperately hoping to avoid a bad hearing, and at the same time avoid having to recall Volts. Instead the company would like to handle fixing the cars as a “safety upgrade.” If the NHSTA believes GM is resolving the problem (the problem GM said did not exist) the NHSTA does not have to issue a recall on the cars. Such recalls typically hurt the sales of a vehicle and brings back into play the idea of a government agency giving preferential treatment to a company owned by the government.
It is a tangled web and one that could, and should have been avoided.
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