Jump to content
Create New...
  • 💬 Join the Conversation

    CnG Logo SQ 2023 RedBlue FavIcon300w.png
    Since 2001, Cheers & Gears has been the go-to hub for automotive enthusiasts. Join today to access our vibrant forums, upload your vehicle to the Garage, and connect with fellow gearheads around the world.

     

  • William Maley
    William Maley

    NHTSA Closes The File On Chevrolet Volt Fires


    Wiliam Maley

    Editor/Reporter - CheersandGears.com

    January 20, 2012

    Today, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration announced they had closed their investigation into the Chevrolet Volt and the potential for battery fires after a crash.

    "Based on the available data, NHTSA does not believe that Chevy Volts or other electric vehicles pose a greater risk of fire than gasoline-powered vehicles. Generally all vehicles have some risk of fire in the event of a serious crash. However, electric vehicles have specific attributes that should be made clear to consumers, the emergency response community, and tow truck operators and storage facilities," NHTSA said in a statement.

    NHTSA went on to say in their statement t that it “continues to believe that electric vehicles show great promise as a safe and fuel-efficient option for American drivers. However, due to the unique nature of plug-in electric vehicles, the agency recommends educating consumers, emergency first-responders, and tow truck operators on the differences to ensure user safety. NHTSA is working with the National Fire Protection Association, the Department of Energy and other agencies and organizations to identify appropriate safety measures and recommendations for those groups."

    GM in a statement said the agency's decision to close its investigation was "consistent with the results of our internal testing and assessment."

    "We appreciate the confidence our Volt customers continued to provide during the investigation. Our overriding commitment will always be to provide our customers with the best ownership experience and peace of mind in the industry, and we're focused on delivering that every day," GM said in a statement.

    Source: GM, NHTSA

    Press Releases on Page 2and 3


    NHTSA Statement on Conclusion of Chevy Volt Investigation

    FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

    January 20, 2012

    Contact: Lynda Tran, 202-366-9550

    WASHINGTON, DC — The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) released the following statement today regarding the conclusion of its safety defect investigation into the post-crash fire risk of Chevy Volts (PE11037):

    Today, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration closed its safety defect investigation into the potential risk of fire in Chevy Volts that have been involved in a serious crash. Opened on November 25, the agency’s investigation has concluded that no discernible defect trend exists and that the vehicle modifications recently developed by General Motors reduce the potential for battery intrusion resulting from side impacts.

    NHTSA remains unaware of any real-world crashes that have resulted in a battery-related fire involving the Chevy Volt or any other electric vehicle. NHTSA continues to believe that electric vehicles show great promise as a safe and fuel-efficient option for American drivers. However, as the reports released in conjunction with the closure of the investigation today indicate, fires following NHTSA crash tests of the vehicle and its battery components — and the innovative nature of this emerging technology — led the agency to take the unusual step of opening a safety defect investigation in the absence of data from real-world incidents.

    Based on the available data, NHTSA does not believe that Chevy Volts or other electric vehicles pose a greater risk of fire than gasoline-powered vehicles. Generally all vehicles have some risk of fire in the event of a serious crash. However, electric vehicles have specific attributes that should be made clear to consumers, the emergency response community, and tow truck operators and storage facilities. Recognizing these considerations, NHTSA has developed interim guidance — with the assistance of the National Fire Protection Association, the Department of Energy, and others — to increase awareness and identify appropriate safety measures for these groups. The agency expects this guidance will help inform the ongoing work by NFPA, DOE, and vehicle manufacturers to educate the emergency response community, law enforcement officers, and others about electric vehicles.


    Statement on NHTSA Closure of Volt Investigation

    The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s decision to close its investigation is consistent with the results of our internal testing and assessment. The engineering enhancements that General Motors announced on Jan. 5, 2012 will provide additional protection for the battery, minimizing the risk of a post-crash fire in the days and weeks after a severe crash and rollover.

    The voluntary action that GM is taking is intended to make a safe vehicle even safer. In fact, the Volt has earned top safety ratings from key third-party organizations such as the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, which designated it a Top Safety Pick.

    GM is proud of the technological innovation the Volt represents. We appreciate the confidence our Volt customers continued to provide during the investigation. Our overriding commitment will always be to provide our customers with the best ownership experience and peace of mind in the industry and we’re focused on delivering that every day.

    User Feedback

    Recommended Comments

    There are no comments to display.



    Join the conversation

    You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
    Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

    Guest
    Add a comment...

    ×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

      Only 75 emoji are allowed.

    ×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

    ×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

    ×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.




  • Support Real Automotive Journalism

    Cheers and Gears Logo

    Since 2001, Cheers & Gears has delivered real content and honest opinions — not emotionless AI output or manufacturer-filtered fluff.

    If you value independent voices and authentic reviews, consider subscribing. Plans start at just $2.25/month, and paid members enjoy an ad-light experience.*

    You can view subscription options here.

    *a very limited number of ads contain special coupon deals for our members and will show

  • Posts

    • Id like to add:  Because it seems NOBODY wants to talk about the REALITY OF WHY manufacturing will NEVER come back to North America no matter WHAT kind of monies we throw at it to try to bring it back. And FYI, NOBODY is REALLY investing in ACTUALLY bringing back manufacturing to North America...  PRELUDE Nixon opened up the door to do trade with China. (not a bad thing) Reagan allowed Wallstreet and corporate America to move manufacturing from the US to China.  (In hindsight, a very bad thing for what it was to be)  CHAPTER 1 The industrial revolution arrived. It supercharged the British Empire and it helped to introduce a young country into being a very powerful nation in the decades to come.  We are here to talk about the young nation and not about the British Empire. CHAPTER 2 Ultimately, the industrial revolution brought many innovations on how to produce and manufacture even more efficiently and faster.  It helped win a world war or two and the last man standing so to speak allowed this young nation become almost the sole superpower on the planet. CHAPTER 3  Many many many products were produced.  Many many new technologies came to be that introduced a new modern society. And those new modern products also brought with them NEW MANUFACTURING TECHNIQUES. CHAPTER 4 Remember when I said that this new nation rose up to the challenge to help win a world war or two?  Well, it was the industrial revolution ace up the sleeve that the USA had and the sheer amount of war machines produced efficiently and with speed was the key to these victories.  Especially that last world war.  When the war was over, the USA enjoyed the technology of mass production that was the envy of the world. (remember the bolded part.) CHAPTER 5  Eventually, manufacturing left the USA to go to China. The world followed suit.  China produces the world's gadgets. CHAPTER 6   (THIS IS THE IMPORTANT CHAPTER THAT NOBODY TALKS ABOUT) China has invested TRILLIONS of dollars in manufacturing. Why? THE WORLD depends on it. China holds itself PROUD to be the world's producer of goods. China wants to CONTINUE TO BE the world's producer of goods. So...China has upgraded their manufacturing plants to be very very state of the art. They will CONTINUE to INVEST not only in monies to ALWAYS RENOVATE their manufacturing plants, but they TEACH their populace to go to ENGINEERING schools so they could ALWAYS have STATE OF THE ART MANUFACTURING.  CHAPTER 7    (ALSO IMPORTANT THAT NOBODY TALKS ABOUT) The USA actually stopped renovating in manufacturing looong before the manufacturing plants left for China. But that is not the issue. The issue is, there are NO monies invested RIGHT now to bring back manufacturing. There are NO plants being built.  LOL tariffs...   And where are those monies from the tariffs?   No American company has invested in manufacturing plants to be built. No American company has worked with AMERICAN engineering schools to teach graduating students to manufacture goods in the USA to actually be with techniques of the early 2000s let alone 2025.  Loooooong gone are those 1930s/1940s/1950s techniques...  We are in 2025 let us not forget.   The USA doesnt even have the TOOLING of those 1930s/1940s/1950s plants. Those were sold to China and elsewhere in the world, but those metal tooling dies right now, have probably been recycled. NEW technologies to manufacture...   CHAPTER 8  (A TRUTH THAT WILL PROBABLY HURT BUT DEFINITELY NOT TALKED ABOUT) A certain American does not favour education.  This certain American favours ignorance.   MOST Americans do NOT want to work in a factory.  But ALL Americans do NOT realize MODERN factory work is NOT how it used to be.  To be fair, Apple iPhone workers in China committing suicide because of shytty work hours is also loooong gone. But then again, American media does not allow for  American peoples to know what a modern manufacturing plant consists of.  Also, engineering is too hard for those subset of Americans to actually learn how to manufacture goods in a modern state of the art way to not only compete with China, but to surpass their prowess in manufacturing to BRING BACK manufacturing from China to the USA.    CHAPTER 9 (ALSO IGNORED) And even if, some manufacturing plants came back to the USA.   There is something that we learned DURING the industrial revolution that says the USA will NEVER get ANY manufacturing plants back.  Sheer volume.  The WORLD has China to produce its goods.  China will ALWAYS remain CHEAPER to produce there just BECAUSE of economies of scale.   The skilled labour is in China.  The raw materials are shipped to China to produce whatever you want to produce. ALL the plants of whatever you have thought of producing whatever you want are ALL in China.  All kinds of different ports exist in China to accept ALL kinds of RAW materials.  ALL the ports are huuuuuge in China. ALL the ports are state of the art.  The BOATS to ship ANYTHING ALL OVER THE WORLD are ALL in China.  The boats are huuuuge and the ports could accept them.  And ALL that coordination is done by STATE OF THE ART communication, education and logistics.   PS:  China and the Chinese government subsidize world ports. The USA once did that...  The USA declares the  Panama Canal as their own.  Past history is past history in subsidizing the canal, but China actually finances it PRESENTLY to open up a bigger canal.  The USA whines abut the name of Gulf of Mexico....      In 2025, CHINA is the envy of the world in manufacturing techniques.     No...manufacturing is NEVER coming back to the USA.   Forget about tariffs, ICE agents, DOGE, assassinations, school shootings and everything wrong (or right) about right wing politics  and left wing lunacy.  THOSE are  just ADDED reasons NOT to do business in the USofA. 
    • IIRC the other founder of Turning Point died of Covid after denying safety steps for covid or something. You can argue morality and logic, but the impacts/results/effects of what you do are objective and real.  A bit of non political fun, this is gorgeous.  If I wasn't turning 60 years old today, I would drive that damn thing. 
    • 100% spot on analysis of Kirk. Yes, the way he died was horrible, no matter what side of the political spectrum on which you stand. However, let us not ignore the man's ACTUAL words and actions that helped fuel the "radicalization" of certain factions in this country and create this exact scenario where someone decided to take matters into their own armed hands. Ten years of pure madness fueled by one giant narcissistic A-Hole in D.C.
    • This guy gets the toxic state of America right on so many levels. it's pretty much cooked.  Drew feel free to delete this if need be. 
    • I like a lot of this guys analysis, he explains well why American manufacturing is declining at a greater and greater pace and why jobs are moving away from the United States.   
  • Who's Online (See full list)

  • My Clubs

×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.

Hey there, we noticed you're using an ad-blocker. We're a small site that is supported by ads or subscriptions. We rely on these to pay for server costs and vehicle reviews.  Please consider whitelisting us in your ad-blocker, or if you really like what you see, you can pick up one of our subscriptions for just $1.75 a month or $15 a year. It may not seem like a lot, but it goes a long way to help support real, honest content, that isn't generated by an AI bot.

See you out there.

Drew
Editor-in-Chief

Write what you are looking for and press enter or click the search icon to begin your search