Chevy Volt safety....

EvilHorace · Post by **EvilHorace** » Sat Nov 26, 2011 8:40 am

http://www.cnn.com/2011/11/25/business/ ... eref=ib_us

Love this brilliant statement:

"Volt owners who have not been in a serious crash do not have reason for concern."

LOL! NS!!! Same goes for if your Pinto never gets rear-ended

RubberDuckie · Post by **RubberDuckie** » Sat Nov 26, 2011 12:46 pm

what even makes it better is thi

"NHTSA is therefore opening a safety defect investigation of Chevy Volts, which could experience a battery-related fire following a crash.

The result that is not posted here but was on USA today. is that NHTSA performed a side crash test on the volt then three weeks later the car batteries caught on fire. YES THREE WEEKS AFTER THE CRASH.

renovation · Post by **renovation** » Sat Nov 26, 2011 1:45 pm

RubberDuckie wrote:what even makes it better is thi

The result that is not posted here but was on USA today. is that NHTSA performed a side crash test on the volt then three weeks later the car batteries caught on fire. YES THREE WEEKS AFTER THE CRASH.

I personal thought down the road i may looking at buying one .not for a couple years maybe 2 and by then thing change . but i really did /do think a volt could be in my driveway . there to new and im not in the market yet for a replacement auto.

i use to say i never buy a first year car even first 3 year car. but we have bought 2 first year saturn cars and both worked out very well .
1st one was a 1999 saturn SC1 3 door sport coupe -(lease so didnt worry )
2nd was a 2002 saturn vue -still daily driver in my driveway
something about plastic cars they dont seem to be affected so much by the road salt used here in michigan as bad as a normal all metal auto.

but then again the auto companys have improved the cars over those from the pre early 1990 and before ! :hic

normalicy · Post by **normalicy** » Sat Nov 26, 2011 3:08 pm

Funny, my friend bought a Saturn for the same reasons as you reno (less rust) and sure enough, it rusted everywhere that wasn't plastic within a few years.

renovation · Post by **renovation** » Mon Nov 28, 2011 7:30 pm

i heard tonight GM is offering the 6000 people who have bought the volt a free rental till they figure out whats going on. sounds like a low number of Volt's sold. I'M just saying for all the hype they have put into this car. but then it is new and cost $40,000 plus per unit. with no track record yet .
also trying finding a charging station away from your own garage or driveway . ( i can see the day trolls be stealing charging cable and getting big bucks for them on craigslist )

Post by **FlyingPenguin** » Mon Nov 28, 2011 8:01 pm

The Volt is not only electric. It also has a gas engine. So you're not dependent on finding a charging station.

As for the battery issue, I'm sure they'll resolve it. Modern Lithium Ion batteries (even the ones in phones and laptops) have a device on each battery cell to prevent an internal short circuit & fire. Then again, in a car crash a battery pack can get pretty badly mangled.

CaterpillarAssassin · Post by **CaterpillarAssassin** » Thu Dec 01, 2011 5:53 pm

Right. And I suppose the 20 gallons behind you is that much safer?

The same thing could be said of any hybrid car, really. Batteries in those are quite large as well. The wife has a hybrid nissan altima. I was checking the oil, and was curious to see under the fusebox. I counted (4) 100 amp fuses. That is alot of amps.

EvilHorace · Post by **EvilHorace** » Thu Dec 01, 2011 8:38 pm

With Toyota products, the hybrid batteries are buried centrally in the vehicle (like most modern day cars gas tanks as well) thus the odds of that being ruptured in any type of crash is slim. Today, most manufacturers think of things like that and/or it's mandated by those who impose safety concerns.
So.....the Chevy Volt......not good if that's easily damaged by a fender bender compared to other vehicles today.

Lmandrake · Post by **Lmandrake** » Mon Dec 05, 2011 11:24 pm

Is this your idea of a "fender bender"?

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/0M-NEqbKJds" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

FWIW the side impact test used here is based on a test protocol for head impact protection that I worked on a long time ago: http://www.nhtsa.gov/cars/rules/rulings/headprot/pubnprm.html. Basically, you are aligning the CG of an occupant dummy's head with a structure that simulates a telephone pole and dragging the car into the pole at 18 mph or greater. It is a pretty severe test. We used mid 80's Accords to develop the test and "killed" a bunch of dummies. These were pretty well engineered cars for their day and the simulated pole - which does NOT move - intruded pretty deeply into the vehicle.

As far as the Volt is concerned, the fire events are occurring as long as three weeks post crash in cars where the batteries are intentionally left undischarged.

If I am going to worry about fire, I would rather be in a Volt than in one of the new "common rail" or direct injection gasoline vehicles where the fuel pressure between the secondary fuel pump and the injectors is 2500 psi or more. Besides, IMHO the worst fire scenario is usually a huge whack from behind where the struck vehicle is stopped and the striking vehicle is really big or going 50 mph or more.