Chevrolet Volt recalled for being too quiet...

I saw this coming nearly 5 years ago and warned people. It was dismissed and accused me of starting FUD -- until someone got hurt.

 

It is FUD and affects the Prius and any other hybrid out there as well.

It is caused by people forgetting to turn the car off and not paying attention to the chime that sounds when you open the door with the car on.

It has nothing to do with your warning 5 years ago, pointing out the danger of the maintenance cycle running while charging (which doesn't, and never has happened).

Sure, it's a safety measure and not a bad one at that.
But it is a PR safety issue that really has almost no benifit. Far more people are injured due to lack of automatic braking IMO.

 

Like recalling vehicles for airbags that don't work when the airbag light is on.

 

I wonder if there will be a patch for people who want to use their Volt as a home generator?

 

No, I don't see any similarity.
Why do you??

In this case, if the car is left on by the user, it stays on.
This is how most cars behave afaik.
The difference with hybrids is that there is no noise. So the car makes a warning sound.
If that is ignored, and the engine turns on in a closed garage, then you have a safety issue.

Don't get me wrong, having the car turn off automatically is a good thing!
However, more lives would be saved with other improvements which are not deemed safety issues.

 

If the air bag light is on, and stays on, then something is wrong. So don't get it fixed and don't expect it to work in you get in an accident. GM recalled some SUVs because that was what was happening. Light was on, SUV got in crash, and the air bag didn't deploy. Perhaps what was causing the airbag to break was recall worthy, but that wasn't how the report is worded. It was soon after the ignition recalls, so "air bag may fail to deploy with air bag light" sounds more political than necessary.

Those lights are there to let you something is wrong and needs attention. A recall because owners ignore them is more about PR, like the issue with forgetting to turn off the car. The auto shut off is a good solution, unless you want the car for emergency power. I think having the fob beep when it leaves a running car would be better, and not risk conditioning people into just not turning a car off themselves. The way things are going, having the car call/text the owner may be simpler.

 

Aha, thank you, I wasn't aware of the details. I understand now.

 

Shouldn't every vehicle have this feature? Why should the engine run when the car's not moving? I'll admit to being the first one in line to give GM a good swift kick but this situation is just political crap. You know your product is mainstream when the clueless are your customers.

 

The 2014-15 Volts already have this feature.

 

Well, at least its' not the ignition switch....... or is it?

DBCassidy

 

As you probably know, it's the same as a Gen III Prius, with a push button.

It's no more defective than Prius cars that can be left on.

 

Wait. If it is left on and ICE came on to maintain the charge (only once depleted), how would the fix work by using ICE less?

It wouldn't be able to maintain the charge. It takes certain amount of gas to generate electricity so using less gas (less carbon monoxide) would result in less electricity generated.

There has to be more to this than how GM is presenting the problem.

 

That's gonna be annoying for hunkering. Or, as ETC(SS) already mentioned, use as a generator.

Maybe a car with a CO detector, that shuts off if left idling and the surrounding CO concentration goes up. Parked outside as a generator, no problem....

-Chap

 

i don't think the prius/pip puts out enough carbon monoxide to cause any health issues. don't know about volt.

 

Prius CO is peanut compare to Volt. I think the later model year reduced it a bit.

 

thanks!

 

could they change to warning sound that tells you the car is still on when you open the drivers door. make it sound like a car engine. or just have the seat give you a little shock if you open the door without turning the car off first.I think this would train drivers to be more carefull.

 

The displays are still on, the power steering is still on and the car sounds the horn 3 loud, fast blasts.

 

I would think all Prii (being CA certified) might be pretty low CO, should be vented of course, but would be odd to get hurt. Maybe the non-CA cars have more CO. While our Prii MPG is so low when engine is cold, at least maybe CO is lower.

At the DC auto show, Toyota was on the radio talking about Mirai and the big claim was you could safely power house with garage closed.