{"id":44329,"date":"2011-11-11T17:49:06","date_gmt":"2011-11-11T22:49:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thedetroitbureau.com\/?p=44329"},"modified":"2011-11-14T10:00:11","modified_gmt":"2011-11-14T15:00:11","slug":"did-feds-inadvertently-cause-chevy-volt-fire","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/2011\/11\/did-feds-inadvertently-cause-chevy-volt-fire\/","title":{"rendered":"Did Feds Inadvertently Cause Chevy Volt Fire?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Did NHTSA inadvertently cause a fire after crash testing a Chevrolet Volt?<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Copyright 2011 by TheDetroitBureau.com<\/p>\n

The spotlight is on the Chevrolet Volt following word that one of the plug-in hybrids caught fire while being tested by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. But TheDetroitBureau.com has learned that the fire was readily preventable had a few simple steps been taken after a Volt was put through a series of tests three weeks earlier.<\/p>\n

Federal regulators have promised a full investigation of the spring incident in which the Volt caught fire and burned several nearby vehicles.\u00a0 That has raised serious questions about the safety of its batteries, though GM officials say it may instead require adapting federal crash tests \u2013 as well as what happens in the field in the event of a real collision.<\/p>\n

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The Full Story!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The fire occurred at a private facility in Wisconsin where the NHTSA conducts crash tests on new vehicles.\u00a0 On May 12, the battery car was subject to a so-called \u201cpole\u201d test, where it is rammed into a barrier at 20 mph to simulate a side impact.\u00a0 The vehicle was then subject to what is known informally as the \u201crotisserie test,\u201d where it is rolled over into various positions to test for leaks that might have occurred during the crash.<\/p>\n

Ironically, the Volt did well enough to earn a five-star rating, the best possible.<\/p>\n

The wrecked vehicle was subsequently moved to what GM spokesman Rob Peterson called \u201cthe boneyard,\u201d where it was left unattended, no action taken to deal with either the vehicle\u2019s charged lithium-ion battery or the coolant fluid that had, in fact, leaked out after the crash test.\u00a0 The gas tank used to power Volt’s back-up gas engine, however, was drained.<\/p>\n

Preliminary evidence indicates that over time the normally inert coolant came into contact with some of the LIon battery cells.\u00a0 In liquid form that would not be a problem, but it eventually \u201ccrystallized\u201d as the Wisconsin weather turned cold at night, according to Peterson.\u00a0 That eventually led to the battery shorting out and catching fire, apparently, though a formal cause has not been announced by safety regulators.<\/p>\n

So, was the fire the cause of negligence by NHTSA? Maybe yes, maybe no, according to the GM spokesman, who told TheDetroitBureau.com. \u201cNHTSA didn\u2019t follow our protocol,\u201d which would have required the agency to \u201cde-energize the battery after the crash test.\u00a0 But, Peterson quickly added that it appears NHTSA employees \u201cdidn\u2019t know our protocol,\u201d which was developed after GM conducted its own crash tests.<\/p>\n

The federal agency has since been advised what to do when crashing a battery car, which apparently would include other electric vehicles besides the Chevrolet Volt, particularly those using liquid cooling systems.\u00a0 (The Nissan Leaf uses an air cooling system, though it is unclear whether the maker will also be recommending that the battery be de-energized after an accident.)<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to make this very clear: the Volt is a safe car,\u201d Jim Federico, the chief engineer on GM\u2019s small and battery-powered vehicles, said in a statement. \u201cWe are working cooperatively with NHTSA as it completes its investigation. However, NHTSA has stated that based on available data, there\u2019s no greater risk of fire with a Volt than a traditional gas-powered car.\u201d<\/p>\n

Repeated efforts to reach an NHTSA spokesperson failed as the federal government was closed on Friday for Veterans Day.<\/p>\n

With electric propulsion capturing a disproportionate share of the headlines lately \u2013 at least compared to the miniscule market for battery-based vehicles, which will this year account for barely a 3% share of the U.S. market \u2013 world of the Chevy Volt fire has generated widespread headlines.<\/p>\n

GM officials, meanwhile, are worried that the incident could scuttle demand for the vehicle, which is just beginning to see a ramp-up in sales.\u00a0 But the impact could spread beyond Chevy showrooms.<\/p>\n

The Obama Administration is looking to put 1 million battery cars on the road by 2015 and virtually every major automaker now has a plug-in hybrid or battery-electric vehicle in late development.<\/p>\n

Lithium technology is already in widespread use.\u00a0 And there have already been serious concerns raised about the use of lithium-ion technology, which has been linked to a number of fires involving laptop computers, mobile phones and other portable electronic devices. \u00a0That has led to restrictions on carrying or shipping the batteries on airplanes, for examples.<\/p>\n

But automakers like GM have insisted they are using safer versions of the LIon chemistry than is often used in consumer goods, where it is critical to maximize energy density \u2013 or stored power.<\/p>\n

While NHTSA may eventually give the Volt a clean bill of health, the Chevy plug-in was previously involved in an unexplained garage fire \u2013 though preliminary testing indicated the vehicle was not the cause of the problem.<\/p>\n

Looking ahead, GM spokesman Peterson said GM plans to spread the word on the proper procedures for handling a Volt after a collision.\u00a0 It is currently sending a corporate \u201cSWAT team\u201d out to any such incidents to try to learn as much as possible about what happens and how to respond.<\/p>\n

The maker has been training first responders around the U.S. and one of the first steps involves disconnecting the battery.<\/p>\n

By early next year, said Peterson, the maker expects to distribute a special device specifically designed to de-energize the battery after a collision.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A Chevrolet Volt plug-in caught fire after being crash-tested by the NHTSA — BUT TheDetroitBureau.com has learned the fire — which occurred three weeks after the test — may have been the result of a major breach of protocol by NHTSA employees.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":43503,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"make":[],"post-state":[],"category_old":[151],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44329"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44329"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44329\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/43503"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44329"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44329"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44329"},{"taxonomy":"make","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/make?post=44329"},{"taxonomy":"post-state","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post-state?post=44329"},{"taxonomy":"category_old","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/category_old?post=44329"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}