Chevy Volt catches on fire.

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Yea, they knew about it 6 months ago so it is not quick. It bothers me that they continued to sell knowing this safety defect. We now know why the production was so limited. They want to reduce the repair cost.

 

More interesting information:

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Now if they did not put a stupid ICE in the car, the car would not have the problem.

 

...I think they said if you have an accident, ET phones home and the Men in Black show up to drain the battery....gotta luv it.

 

You sure it is not the FBI coming to install a GPS tracker. Then drain the battery. It is Government Motors after all.

 

The tracker is installed at the factory as part of on star. I believe you can turn it off, but never owning a gm, I don't know. Apple did track all of us with iphones, and people track themselves with facebook and 4 square check ins.

 

Not talking about OnStar. Talking about FBI thinking they have the rights to put GPS trackers under cars without needing a warrant.

 

if it really is government motors and your conspiracy theory is correct, why would not the fbi just use the tracker gm already puts in the car That way they could get a blanket approval instead of individual warrents.

I'm not saying the government isn't tracking you, I'm saying they are not adding new chips. We know they track phones, they could be tracking cars, and if you buy lojack you don't even know where the thing is hidden.

 

Even more being investigated.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration wants to know whether there are any visible weld changes at key points on the underside of the vehicle made by General Motors near the battery pack, according to an investigative memo that was publicly disclosed.

Investigators plan to analyze photographs of the floor pan and cross member structural support at the site where the 400-pound lithium-ion battery was damaged in a rigorous side crash test last May.

NHTSA has given the Volt a top "five-star" safety rating, but notes that it is the subject of an ongoing investigation on its consumer website.​

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for actually smaller delay (what it will end up at least), Toyota was painted as killer company by world media only year ago .

Same NTHSA was on Toyota for not "disclosing" their European findings in US for 6 months, when they themselves didnt disclose Volt fires (let alone GM), for 6 months either.

 

Well.. From everything I have read it does not seem to be an immediate safety issue. Granted I would have liked to have known about it sure, but I do not feel GM put mine or my families life in jeopardy. It looks to me like it should be a fairly simple fix, and that I will be without my car (and most likely stuck with a Tahoe or something) for a few days... Analyzing the weld patterns underneath the cars for differences is an interesting point. Maybe they cut the tunnel piece or something differently between different builds of the vehicle? I am going to give it another week or so, and most likely I will be calling the Volt Advisors to see where exactly in this process GM is. As I need to know at least with a little warning when I will have to be without my car if that is the case.

 

I don't get what the big deal is - they crash a car, wait for like 2 weeks, and then it catches on fire. Who the hell sits in their car for 2 weeks after getting into a crash?

 

They did additional tests. One started sparks and smoke after the hours. Another one burned down after a week.

The real issue is protection of the battery pack. Coolant can easily leak. Electronics inside thebattery are not protected. Once the coolant dries up, crystals will short circuit.

What if the coolant leaks due to a defect or a minor accident. You are skating on a thin ice.

 

What if the gas tank develops a leak? We are (nearly) all driving around with one skimming along less than a foot from the pavement. There may not even be a deflective shield between it and the road. Then there is the fuel lines with all its connections. What if one wasn't sitted just right?

Some people once refused to use seatbelts because of the slight risk of fire. They'd rather be thrown free. Should we suggest that Volt owners not wear their belts.

There is risk there, but how many experts and tests did it take to repeat the problem? Even then is only a risk to occupants that just trapped in the car for an extended period, possibly weeks, of time. The delay is bad PR, but it doesn't appear to be any immediate risk, and it doesn't sound like they ignored it.

 

...spontaneous combustion is never a good thing, implies potential for costly property losses

 

I saw this on line . . . and being weak, I couldn't resist:








c'mon now - you gotta admit the funny

 

You have a strong sense of humor.

 

+1

Its plug in and that threatens people. They will go to extremes to make up sh*t that makes new tech look worse.

+1

Burn Prevention

The volt does still have a gas tank, so me do not know how much less of a risk of fire it has than the average car on the road.

GM does need to get better procedures out there, but I doubt that anyone will be entrapped in a volt for weaks after a roll over hitting a pole or tree waiting for that fire to kill them.

It seems because of the fear, and the botched toyota problems with pedal entrapment, gm is trying to take a page out of Lexus/Mercedes handbook of PR in the face of a safety investigation. They are going to try to replace anything that might have a tiny chance to make a plug in worse. That may include adding lamination to electronics (shocked that this was not done), making the coolant less likely to leak in a crash, and making the structure holding the batteries less likely to allow intrusions. All of these things should be relatively inexpensive, if they were expensive there may be more push back from gm.

 

That photo is pretty funny.. I like the ones with the Volt, fire in the back round, and bubble above it that says "Wasn't Me!" Those always make me chuckle.

Volt may have a gas tank. I only personally carry about 3-4 gallons in it at any given time though, and I think most Volt drivers do the same unless they consistently use gasoline. For me it is mainly an emergency measure.

Personally I do not want to turn my car in to GM for them to laminate circuitry, re-inforce the pack, or any other stupid measure that really will not do anything to prevent the same thing from re-occuring. Not to mention making the pack heavier. Also if they re-inforce the case it will just snap in half instead of puncturing. It is always good to have some give in a surface than make it stiffer.

 

Heh, regarding the comic... even though it's not correct, some people have referred to the Volt as the "Obama car". They figure, since there's ObamaCare, why not Obama car?