- General Motors CEO Dan Akerson will testify in front of a U.S. House committee on January 25 that is probing how federal safety regulators are handling an investigation into fire risk in the 2011-'12 Chevrolet Volt.
- The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee's hearing is entitled: "Volt Vehicle Fire: What did NHTSA know and when did they know it?"
- The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has been looking into post-crash fire risk in an estimated 5,000 2011-'12 Volts.
WASHINGTON — General Motors CEO Dan Akerson will testify in front of a U.S. House committee on January 25 that is probing how federal safety regulators are handling an investigation into fire risk in the 2011-'12 Chevrolet Volt.
Greg Martin, a GM spokesman, confirmed for Inside Line on Thursday that Akerson is set to testify at the hearing at 9:30 a.m. on Wednesday. The hearing will be streamed live on the committee's Web site.
This is Akerson's first testimony on Capitol Hill regarding the Volt.
Federal safety regulators opened an investigation into the Volt's fire risk on November 25. GM responded with a voluntary "customer satisfaction program" that asks its 8,000 Volt owners to bring the plug-in hybrid back to the dealership for modifications.
NHTSA said it has not yet completed its probe of the Volt.
Inside Line says: Akerson's testimony should provide some insight into how both the automaker and the feds have handled questions about the Volt.
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yamahr1 says:
06:32 AM, 01/20/2012
Lienert, who seems to love these negative Volt stories per what appears to be IL editorial policy, continues to emphasize the idea that the "investigation is still open" as if they're still trying to get to the bottom of this. The truth is another matter...
From NHTSA's website:
"NHTSA crashed a Chevy Volt retrofitted with GM's newly designed steel reinforcement device in a side-pole impact test on December 22. The results of that crash test showed no intrusion into the vehicle's battery compartment, and no coolant leakage was apparent. As a precaution, NHTSA has monitored the crashed vehicle since the test and will continue to do so for one more week. However, the preliminary results of the crash test indicate the remedy proposed by General Motors today should address the issue of battery intrusion."
See entire text at http://tinyurl.com/88swsby . My guess is they're not going to officially close the investigation until the hearing nonsense is over with.
As to this congressional "investigation", it's really just the Republicans continuing to hunt high and low for some kind of scandal to pin on the Obama administration, concerning what ultimately was a virtual non-issue involving essentially totaled test cars, whose battery packs were not discharged per post-crash protocol, and catching fire 1-3 weeks later. Unlike the Mini Cooper Fire investigation going on now, no consumer Volts were ever involved in a fire that was the fault of the car, crashed or otherwise. Yet the media attention on this has been savage, distorting, and sensationalist.
qdp says:
09:50 PM, 01/19/2012
@rl20
It is about whether GM responsibly dealt with taxpayers' money or not. Now in election year, it is being exploited as political issue
rl20 says:
09:35 PM, 01/19/2012
Why do we need to listen to him speak about the Volt? Why is this even getting news? We have a car that caught on fire 3 weeks after a side crash test. Yes 3 weeks later because coolant leaked into the battery and short circuited it. Not to mention this was done in a lab, during a crash test and this would not have happened if they drain the battery like it should be. Not only that the issue was fixed and was not duplicated so what's the problem? This is why you have crash test isn't it?
This is pointless this is not a safety risk, I'm more likely to get hurt walking up stairs people these days
Why isn't Ford CEO talking about half a million vehicle that can catch on fire without being in a car crash? This is at least the second time Ford had recalls for electrical fires.
fandiesel says:
01:06 PM, 01/19/2012
Hope it is not "UNINTENDED FIRES" that will KILL the VOLT !
tomtom55 says:
11:42 AM, 01/19/2012
pommah:
Hey congress has to do something don't they? We are paying them right? Jobs, the economy? No, this is more important for sure. I think we need to send congress a message in the next election.
wikiwiki,
FLAME ON!!! Something you seem to be really good at.
pommah says:
11:26 AM, 01/19/2012
And people wonder why American companies (non-software) don't innovate.
Have a perceived product issue, get called to testify in front of congress. Not a real product issue. We're the only country in the world that has had "unintended acceleration" issues, not once, but twice. Our drivers are so crappy we kill 30,000 people a year, and they don't even know to shift into neutral. An electric car might catch fire in a rare circumstance - not at all proven, as it hasn't actually occurred anywhere except in a lab - and congress is holding hearings. Pathetic.
wikiwiki says:
10:53 AM, 01/19/2012
FLAME ON!!!!