Chevrolet Volt owners are being offered the chance to take a free loan car in replacement of their range-extended model while an investigation into vehicle fires continues.
Although GM has moved swiftly to quell the fears of the 6,000 odd owners of the new battery-and-combustion engine cars, the car maker is still offering the Volt’s buyers the use of a different model until a National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) investigation concludes.
The Volt has yet to arrive in the UK, but is already making deliveries to customers in the US, where it went on sale earlier this year.
Two previous tests of the Volt by the NHTSA have resulted in battery fires, promoting the safety authority to investigate further.
According to GM, a battery depowering procedure was not yet in use during the first round of crash tests. However, using its OnStar telematics system, Volt cars now automatically notify GM when they are involved in a crash which GM can respond to and dispatch a team of employees to reach the crashed car and drain the battery (see story).
According to USA Today, the latest theory is that the test crash fires could have been caused by leaking coolant from the battery case that interacted with electronics.
