If the Chevy Volt is indeed a dangerous, flammable car, why does the insurance industry rate it a "Top Safety Pick"?
http://www.iihs.org/ratings/tsp_archive.html
Why does the NHTSA, which discovered the 3-week delayed fire in a crashed Volt, say on their Volt page that the car has NOT been recalled? (They also rate it a perfect 5-stars for safety.)
Could some in the media have given us some false ideas about this car? What else that we've been told about the Volt might also be false?
2012-06-06T12:19:10Z
Thanks everyone for the answers. However, I'm seeing almost nobody trying to answer the actual questions - why have we been told Volt is dangerous when the evidence points the other way?
Anybody care to really answer this?
Anonymous2012-06-06T12:14:05Z
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I think we all know the answer to that...
"but Fox News said it was a death trap..."
just like the whole "the batteries being made are worse on the environment than a Hummer...OOPS WE FORGOT TO TAKE INTO ACCOUNT THE BATTERY THAT'S IN THE HUMMER"
Ok forget about the fires and the overheating charging cables or the political arguments for and against... just judge the Volt on PRACTICALITY: in the following article, it took three days to cross the State of Nevada when in three days you can easily drive 75% cross country! So if I were to highlight anything the MSM may have neglected to tell us is that it is NOT PRACTICAL... you couldn't even make it there and back driving across LA so apparently the Volt has limited applications! How'd you like to drive home at the end of the day in your depleted Volt only to discover you have to run your pregnant wife in labor to the hospital? Guess she'll have to wait for the 12 hour charge time!
"he Institute rates vehicles good, acceptable, marginal, or poor based on performance in high-speed front and side crash tests, a rollover test, plus evaluations of seat/head restraints for protection against neck injuries in rear impacts. "
That's how safety ratings are made.
".OOPS WE FORGOT TO TAKE INTO ACCOUNT THE BATTERY THAT'S IN THE HUMMER""
OOOPS you forgot to mention the volt has 288 cells made of lithium weighing almost 450 lbs, vs a single lead acid 12 lb battery.. lol No I'm sure your coal powered (which then switches to gas after 30 miles) car is very good for the environment .
"Anybody care to really answer this?"
Safety ratings are based on impact/crash tests, I thought I was pretty clear on that. They are standardized tests that measure energy transfer to a crash test dummy.
Simple. Those safety ratings are merely how protected the occupants are from the collision itself. It does not count when battery acid leaks, catches on fire a day later, etc.