Friday, November 11, 2011

Another Local Story the JSOnline Missed

Well, this is disturbing.

The federal government is now investigating the safety of electric cars, and specifically, lithium-ion batteries, after a Chevy Volt caught fire three weeks after a side-impact crash test.

The wrecked Volt apparently caught fire in the parking lot of NHTSA's crash test facility in Wisconsin a full three weeks after the initial crash test. According to the exclusive Bloomberg story, the fire was large enough to burn vehicles parked in the vicinity of the car.

French fried Chevy.  Low-cal/no salt!!

HT:  Eggster

9 comments:

jimspice said...

Don't you mean "Freedom Chevy?"

Dad29 said...

Nope. I like the Renault connotation of "French."

Jim said...

This must be the first car ever to catch fire.

Anonymous said...

The coal fired vehicle has issues? who would have guessed. Just ask Neil Young about his own Lincvolt....that burned and the building it was in.... It was just sitting there too!

Even the Pinto wasn't patient enough to wait to catch fire Jim...

TerryN said...

This could be a feature with the right marketing spin.

steveegg said...

Lest one thinks this isn't a serious issue, the Detroit Free Press reported that this was a 20-mph side-impact test, and that the battery was punctured (with the Bloomberg-predicted results of a fire weeks later). Even the "flambe special" Ford Pintos and 1973-1997 Chevy/GMC full-sized trucks required a higher-speed impact to brew up.

Say, what type of intersection has a significant risk of side impacts at 20 mph? Could it be the roundabouts that Doyle and Busalacchi rammed down everybody's throats claiming they were "safe"?

Anonymous said...

"What type of intersection has a significant risk of side impacts at 20 mph? Could it be the roundabouts?"

Say, SteveEgg, perhaps you should conduct some research before you make your (wild) assertion.


Roundabouts REDUCE the possibility of side impact crashes due to their design. The proof is in the pudding.

www.urbancommunitypartners.com/news_room/show/40-roundabouts

www.iihs.org/externaldata/srdata/docs/sr3505.pdf

www.insurancejournal.com/news/east/2008/01/08/86195.htm

Dad29 said...

Point of order, here.

I drive through a roun't every day, twice a day. The worst part is driving behind someone who never saw one before (or someone over the age of 80). They can't figure them out.

But they are VERY tight for semi-trailer trucks. Reduces them to ~2 MPH.

neomom said...

Wow. I LiOn battery catches fire. Whoda thunk that would happen.

Ask Dell...