General Motors will buy back the Chevy Volt from customers who have the car and are worried about the recent fire issues. Earlier this week GM offered to loan their customers vehicles until the safety concerns with the electric car were resolved. Why the change?
According to GM spokesperson Greg Martin, "While the investigation is going on, we will do whatever it takes to allay concerns and keep our customers happy, and if that includes repurchase, we will work individually with any customer." That really seems to show that the manufacturer stands behind its Chevy Volt.
Once the issue is settled, the company will recall and retrofit every single Chevy Volt if the issue requires that type of solution. So far 6,000 of the cars have been sold, so it would be a fairly large undertaking, but it wouldn't be millions like some recent car recalls.
Are you one of the few people who already has a Chevy Volt? If so, are you concerned? GM assures customers that the vehicles are safe. Martin said, "The Volt's a safe car. These concerns are based on three incidents up to three weeks after a severe test crash."
So far only 30 owners have gotten a loaner car from GM as a result of the unexplained fires. Hopefully this problem is quickly resolved because the world needs this type of technology to catch on and be successful. Fire concerns could end up slowing things down, which would make it even hard to get sustainable vehicles on the road.
Like this article? See more by Kate James at Gather.com
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Comments: 13
This is a car that comes close to a $50,000 price tag with a $7,500 kickback from the government. I could buy 4 very nice used cars or two average new cars, that don’t burn coal for the same price as the Volt and each will drive much longer before extensive cost in battery maintenance. Plus our government does not have the money to pay the kickback. This is a good long term solution, but it is by far still in the research and development stage and not yet ready for extensive use. The market has spoken, no one wants them, except some movie stars and some people who are under the idea that this is going to help save the planet. Long term we would have to double our Nuke plants in order to replace GAS and that is not going to happen after the problems in Japan. The science is not there yet is a coal power plant going to produce more or less harm to the planet than a gas engine, it is too soon to tell? As for the question of safety, I would not want to see any one a Volt collision with the average SUV, even if the fire issues are isolated. My bet is that GM is scared of this problem but does not want to lose any momentum in sales of the Volt anemic as it is and with this governments need to push green energy at all cost, I do not trust that they are being honest with us about the danger.
So vehicles that cause fires are sustainable. That is an interesting take.
I notice that there are a lot of people out there who have an intense dislike of electric cars and clearly are wanting them to fail. Obviously they need to explain why they want us to continue sending money to Saudi, Russia, Iran, etc. Like that is a good thing?
I didn't see anything about it having to be totalled to be a fire hazard. It was if the battery casing was destroyed so the coolant line was affected by the collision, but if what you mentioned were actually so that would indeed be a much more comforting thought.
"How does a car that catches fire days after a side-impact crash get a 5-Star overall safety rating from the NHTSA – the very organization that is now responsible for looking into the fires?"
so far only 24 Volt owners have taken advantage of the offer to hand the car back to GM, out of 6000 current owners.