A safety study is under way to determine whether lithium-ion batteries used to power the Chevrolet Volt are at increased risk for catching fire. The investigation by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration was opened after a fire at one of NHTA’s test facilities in Wisconsin during June 2011.
Federal officials have said they don’t think a fire risk is imminent, however, in part because another electric hybrid car – the Nissan Leaf – has a similar battery that has shown no problems. According to Quality Magazine, more than 8,000 Leafs and 5,000 Volts are on the road in the United States.
This video describes the Volt:
Two other fires involving the Volt do not appeared linked to the cars’ lithium-ion batteries. A Volt hooked up to a charging station was involved in a fire in Mooresville, North Carolina (NC) on October 30, 2011. Initial fire marshal findings pointed to the fire starting elsewhere in the garage.
Although nobody was injured in this recent fire, it’s clearly a cause for concern in a product that’s hailed as the future of driving. The automotive industry has been dogged with safety concerns in recent years, most prominently in the massive recalls made by Toyota in the wake of problems with sudden acceleration, an issue that has led to wrongful death lawsuits.
As experienced Virginia (VA) defective products attorneys, my colleagues and I see many dangerous defects in cars, SUVs and pickups. We recently helped a worker who had his hand mangled and ended up having his thumb amputated after a trailer slipped off a jack while he worked around the equipment. He received a $750,000 settlement from the maker of the defective parts.
DM