Government defends Volt safety probe
The investigation of battery fires in the Chevy Volt came under fire Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2012, in a combative Capitol Hill hearing. Republicans, led by Rep. Darrell Issa, accused the head of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration of lying. Credit: AP, 2009
The government "pulled no punches" in investigating battery fires in the Volt, General Motors' prized electric car, the head of the federal auto safety agency told Congress Wednesday.
At a combative House hearing, Republicans questioned whether the government's partial ownership in the automaker created a conflict of interest for the Obama administration in the Chevrolet probe, which began after a test car caught fire in June, three weeks after a side-impact test.
The government still owns 26.5 percent of GM's shares.
When asked if the company got a pass from his agency, David Strickland, who heads the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, replied, "No, absolutely not."
But Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan, who led the hearing by the House Oversight and Government Reform subcommittee, said he found it "deeply troubling" that the agency waited until November to notify the public about the fire.
Strickland said he would have gone public immediately if there were an imminent safety risk. He said it would have been irresponsible to tell people that something was wrong with the Volt while experts looked into the cause of the fire.
In response, the committee chairman, Republican Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) said, "I hear you, I don't believe you."
Republicans questioned whether the delay was because of new mileage standards that were negotiated last year. Strickland insisted there was no connection and said he had not been pressured by anyone from the administration on the investigation.
After the first fire, two others occurred later related to separate safety tests, and the agency opened an official investigation on Nov. 25. That ended last week, with the government concluding that the Volt and other electric cars don't pose a greater fire risk than gasoline-powered cars. The agency and General Motors know of no fires in real-world crashes.
GM chairman and chief executive Daniel F. Akerson said sarcastically that while the company designed the Volt to be a great car, "unfortunately, there is one thing we did not engineer. Although we loaded the Volt with state-of-the-art safety features, we did not engineer the Volt to be a political punching bag. And that, sadly, is what the Volt has become."
