Federal regulators have given the okay to General Motors’ proposed changes to the battery pack for the Chevy Volt. This way, they can get that new system put in the cars and then maybe the cars won’t catch on fire and crash quite so much, which should work out well for everyone. The Volt was the subject of an investigation but insists everything was fine all along.
The probe, announced Nov. 25, was prompted by two fires that followed crash tests. Although the agency was unaware of real-world crashes causing fires, it was “concerned” by the results of the two tests.
The investigation threatened to tarnish the reputation of the plug-in hybrid General Motors has made the centerpiece of its campaign toward greater efficiency. GM has wasted no opportunity to vehemently defend the Volt — which has a five-star safety rating — and on Thursday said the modifications will make the car that much safer.
I have no idea if the car was safe or not but in reading various news headlines over the last few days, there were lots of mentions of “Chevy” and “Volt” and “battery” and “fire” all together so this was already a PR fire that GM needed to contain.
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