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NHTSA: Chevy Volt Battery Pack Fix OK, Ends Investigation

 
1,440 views Jan 9, 2012
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Structural enhancements to fit to Chevy Volt electric car to avoid post-crash battery-pack fires.

Structural enhancements to fit to Chevy Volt electric car to avoid post-crash battery-pack fires.

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Officials at the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration have said they are happy with the proposed safety enhancements for the 2011 and 2012 Chevrolet Volt designed to minimize the risk of battery pack fire following a major impact. 

In an interview yesterday at the 2012 Detroit Auto Show, NHTSA’s David Strickland  praised the way that General Motors swiftly and effectively dealt with, and investigated why several of its cars had caught fire weeks after side-impact crash tests at an NHTSA facility. 

“They really did put customers first,” he said. 


Immediately following the announcement that a 2012 Chevrolet Volt had burst into flames some two weeks after an NHSTA crash test in June, GM voluntarily began working alongside the NHSTA to investigate the cause. 

2011 Chevrolet Volt during IIHS crash testing

2011 Chevrolet Volt during IIHS crash testing

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Then, when the NHSTA and GM managed to replicate both the crash and the subsequent fires around Thanksgiving, GM immediately offered loan cars to customers worried about the safety of their plug-in hybrid. 

GM’s proposed fix includes adding extra steel reinforcements at each side of the car and throughout its transmission tunnel to spread impact energy away from the lithium-ion battery pack.  

While GM’s Hamtramck facility where the Volt is built has already began fitting strengthened components to new cars, customers who already own a 2011 or 2012 Chevrolet  Volt will be contacted in due course by their dealer to arrange the fitting of additional reinforcement under an official factory recall notice. 

Noting that Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood is also “happy” with GM’s proposed redesign of the Volt’s battery pack case, Strickland said that the NHSTA would be ceasing its own official volt fire investigation presently. 

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Comments (9)

  1. CDspeed avatar CDspeed . Posted: 1/9/2012 6:18am PST

    And now the big question is, will anyone responsible for speaking negatively about the Volt report that the problem was fixed or will they ignore it?
     
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  2. WopOnTour avatar Wop Ontour Posted: 1/9/2012 6:53am PST

    This article is incorrect.It states "GM’s proposed fix includes adding extra steel reinforcements at each side of the car and throughout its transmission tunnel to spread impact energy away from the lithium-ion battery pack" Nothing is addded "to each side of the car" as stated. The braces shown in the diagram on each side of the car are existing structures and are actually the front seat mounting brackets (welded to the floor pan). The proposed structural enhancements ALL mount within the tunnel (calling it a "transmission tunnel" is a misnomer when it actually houses the battery) and both add material thickness to the tunnel (adjacent to the aforementioned seat anchor braces) and augment y-axis stiffness an the existing cross-tunnel brace
     
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  3. fb_100002544459353 avatar Ramon Leigh Posted: 1/9/2012 9:00am PST

    Of course,any approval by the NHTSA means absolutely nothing in a court of law, should a fire occur from the battery pack, even if the fire is exactly the type this fix is designed to prevent. The Feds require automakers pass emissions tests, etc, yet their approval carries no force of law. In this case, since this agency has been charged in the press with willfully withholding information about the Volt fire that occurred under their own auspices for over 6 months, they likely will have zero credibility in the hands of a competent liability attorney. Some employees of the NHTSA are also likely to be held liable if such a case comes up. I am uncertain as to whether those employees involved are liable for damages or prosecution.
     
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  4. WopOnTour avatar Wop Ontour Posted: 1/9/2012 3:29pm PST

    What a bunch of hogwash. Another arm-chair lawyer/engineer.
    Spreading misinformed FUD is about all they can do.
     
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  5. fb_100001444034909 avatar Richard Marks Posted: 1/9/2012 9:04am PST

    Unfortunate incident for GM, but I expect more "issues" in the future in many of their products ever since they retired the "old dogs." With them went a lot of experience. On the Volt they used their R&D people to develop the vehicle and not their production people. R&D people do not do the mundane things. Did R&D do DFMEA (Design Failure Modes and Effects Analysis) for crash? In this process 1 failure mode is the leaking of coolant and once the water evaporates over time, it is flammable. The design of the pack is poor to retain coolant for all the variations in assembly. Look at 1 of the fixes: add a coolant level sensor? Nothing to do with crash but GM is probably having leaks in their pack - inexperience leads to mistakes. Amateurs
     
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  6. WopOnTour avatar Wop Ontour Posted: 1/9/2012 3:32pm PST

    Lot's of nice words. But you obviously do not have sufficent knowledge of the coolant to cell interface to make such a determination. All I'll say is essentially ALL of your conclusions are in error.
     
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  7. mbherm avatar Merit Herman Posted: 1/9/2012 11:12pm PST

    As owner of an early 2011 Volt, I have no interest in this added steel reinforcement as if I'm involved in an accident of this magnitude odds are I will no longer be on this planet and certainly will not care whether or not the tow service correctly discharged my totalled Volt as per GM instructions (heck, they'll probably have my Volt advisor on scene to make sure anyway). 5 Star crash rating works for me - as far as all the media mis-information to date on the subject, it really smells of BIG OIL, not burning lithium. GO GM, GO VOLT!
     
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  8. D4n13LA76 avatar Daniel Anderson Posted: 1/11/2012 11:03pm PST

    A good read.
     
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  9. AmbersT avatar Ambers Tan Posted: 1/26/2012 12:21am PST

    Many Chevy dealers are declining to take more Volt hybrid electrics off of GM's hands. The car has been looked into by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration over alleged safety issues. However, the investigation ended Monday in GM's favor. Still the car is having a difficult time in the industry. Resource for this article: Dealers turn down Volts even after NHTSA approval
    Maybe because the fear is still there. And people don't like to be worried and anxious about thinking if their car is really safe or not
     
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