Chevy Volt catches on fire.

Come on, seriously. Ferarris and Lambos actually catch on fire all the time. Nobody freaked out.

here's 458 Italia (recalled for fire risk: http://www.autoblog.com/2010/09/01/ferrari-458-italia-recalled-fire-risk/ )


here's a 599 GTB on fire:

 

You'll get a warning light if the coolant leaks.. so the dealer can address that problem pretty easy. You could just as well ask what happens if a car's fuel pump leaks and the car gets too hot and catches fire.

Note the added tests were crashing just batteries. NHSTA tried to repeat the fire it with cars and could not, so they just went for crashing battery.

I'm glad they are looking into the issue it but the media is just overblown. Nice article on the hyper-hype over at car and driver
Car and Driver Blog » Chevy Volt Hysteria: We

 

Nissan inadvertently gained some valuable insight into the durability of its electric car, the Leaf, when about two dozen of them were destroyed in the tsunami that ravaged Japan in March.

None of the cars caught fire, and their batteries remained fully intact, shielded by an airtight steel exoskeleton and two other layers of protection that surround the 660-pound packs.

Nissan’s decision to encase the Leaf’s battery in steel may help explain why federal safety regulators investigating postcrash fire risks in the Chevrolet Volt do not have the same concerns about the Leaf. General Motors packages the Volt’s battery cells on a T-shaped steel tray with a plastic cover.

The durability and design of the Volt’s battery have come into question since two of them caught fire after being damaged in testing by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The fires prompted the agency to open a formal defect investigation of the Volt, a low-volume but high-visibility model that G.M. has held up as proof it can lead the industry in advanced technology.

The N.H.T.S.A. examined the Leaf and other electric vehicles after the initial Volt fire but last month said its testing “has not raised safety concerns about vehicles other than the Chevy Volt.”

Source

 

Yep



so ... what they're saying is - my Leaf battery box is built like a brik $h1t house, compared to the Volt's. GM is already talking about beefing up the box for Volt's traction pack. So that's good news.

 

Chevy Volt will receive safety enhancements, but don't call it a recall

More details at http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=7505.

 

Funny how Toyota was hammered for the "unintended acceleration problem" for months, even after being cleared by multiple agencies, by the same types who now scoff at Volts catching fire and blaming media hype and haters!

 

Citation needed.

 

"Unintended acceleration" was bigger because it was blamed for accidents, injuries an deaths. Post-test Volt fire only used up some oxygen.

 

While some Camry models did have a faulty accelerator pedal mechanism that Toyota dragged its feet on addressing, and floor mats that bunched up (could happen with any car), the thing the public remembers is the infamous Sikes and his Prius escapade. That fraudulent episode and the copycat claims filled the news and some ridiculous threads here for way too long! I just know if a Prius battery ever caught on fire after being damaged we would never hear the end of it!

 

Meanwhile, I cannot even count the many local traffic victims who burned before they could be pulled out of non-hybrid, non-EV wrecks last year in time to see if they survived the initial collision. I don't believe any of them drew the national news attention that these non-injury test-only Volt fires received.

 

Feds close Volt fire probe, accept GM fix | The Detroit News | detroitnews.com

 

^^^
The odd part is that NHTSA: Chevy Volt Battery Pack Fix OK, Ends Investigation is dated 1/9/12, yet the mainstream media seemed to only report on it today, 1/20/12.