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GM, NHTSA Delayed Volt Warnings To Prop Up Sales
Lauren Weinstein excerpts the most interesting part of a BBC story about the safety hazards associated with the Chevy Volt — specifically, the risk that its battery pack could catch fire after even a minor impact. While it might be unsurprising that GM was reluctant to shout out safety warnings that would dampen early sales of its much touted hybrid, according to the linked story the NHTSA was as well, and for the same reason: "Part of the reason for delaying the disclosure was the 'fragility of Volt sales' up until that point, according to Joan Claybrook, a former administrator at NHTSA."
Can't have the Government criticizing a Government Motors product now, can we? Especially if it's GREEN!
RIP once more, electric car. Dig you up in 20 years once the fallout of this conspiracy washes away. :-(
"When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
and took the loss to get it off the books. Then perhaps we could have been freed of these shenanigans. I know, I know, yeah it would have tanked the share price and cost other investors money but those investors purchased their shares knowing full well that government had no long term investment need.
Instead we see politics as usual. From having GE (no taxes, many WH meetings) agree to buy a large number of these cars, we have the Toyota witch hunt earlier this year (even NASA's help could not find fault), and we have the battery issue where three batteries caught fire (one three weeks after a wreck, one a week after a simulated wreck, and one hours after a simulated wreck)
We have GM sitting on nearly thirty billion in cash, hell they should buy their shares back. Oh wait, they are sitting on it because there is a fear they won't be able to properly fund the pensions for certain unions.
The reason this battery issue is important is not just to those driving, but to those in the accident with these cars and those responding to the accidents. Whether they are first responders or the wrecker crews. I would have to assume there is a large amount of technical documentation for hazardous waste clean up, hell we freak out over diesel spills can you imagine full penetration of one of these battery packs?
Another Administration and no real change; unless you count whose pockets the money goes in, it always comes out of ours.
* Winners compare their achievements to their goals, losers compare theirs to that of others.
I hear Europe has a ton of diesel vehicles a ton with much better fuel economy. We can trust GM to not screw up diesels right? I mean how hard can it be. People have been making diesel engines for a hundred years.
Compare this to the infernal fireball that you get seconds after you puncture a gas tank.
Dude, you should watch less action movies.
Hint: in the real world, gasoline cars rarely explode when you fire a pistol at them.
GM badly bungled the execution of this vehicle, making a tin-can low quality econobox into a $40K car that nobody wants.
They should never have let this guy - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oh_Brother,_Where_Art_Thou%3F - design the thing
These posts express my own personal views, not those of my employer
And on the other hand the same NHTSA was all too happy to jump all over Toyota when some morons could not remember which pedal is for braking.
Have you not watched Mythbusters ??? Only if a stream of gas comes out of a tank, and pools will it burn. THERE IS NO CHANCE OF AN EXPLOSION WHEN THE GAS TANK IS 1/4 OR MORE FULL Stopping thinking like hollywood, and go watch mythbusters, or get an engineering degree.
Cool, another Pinto, but electric this time. I'm sure the story is overblown, but anything that stores energy is going to be a fire risk.
Dude, you should watch less action movies.
Hint: in the real world, gasoline cars rarely explode when you fire a pistol at them.
Not only that, but even shooting a full tank with tracer rounds will not make the tank explode. The heat and pressure needed to make a tank of gas explode is found more commonly in Michael Bay films than it is in an auto accident. Unless of course everyone started driving Pintos again
The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for it to be pitted against a slightly greater evil
VW, Mercedes and BMW would take issue with that (incorrect) assertion. The sole reason most manufacturers don't sell their diesel cars in the US (this includes GM and Ford) is the perception that Americans won't buy them. A lie that should have been put to rest by the success of VW with their newer common-rail TDIs.
Eloi are stupid, throw morlocks at them!
The summary is only referencing a BBC story. You don't get anymore mainstream than the BBC.
Slashdot is a news aggregator, and you can't really blame them for taking headline tech stories from probably the largest news service in the world.
Dude, you obviously haven't studied crash safety.
Let's look look at a famous crash test from the 1970's: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lgOxWPGsJNY&feature=endscreen&NR=1
I don't mean to single out the Pinto. It was, in fact , typical of many 1970's cars which had fuel tanks mounted behind the rear axle. Cars today are much safer.
Howard Roark, Architect
I believe in a Man's right to exist for his own sake.
There are two things to note about this story. First, it's reported in the BBC. That's a very good sign that it actually happened as the BBC story said it happened. Second, there's huge incentives for the Obama administration to play softball on this issue, namely, that General Motors is a favored company due to its bailout status and because electric vehicles are a pet project as well.
However you spin this "crackpot theory", it remains that the Obama administration has a peculiar list of priorities which often show up in ugly ways.
You can put out fires with diesel - it doesn't like to burn at atmospheric pressure.
I drive a turbo diesel minivan that gets 53 mpg (44.1 US mpg) and find it very nice to drive - the performance stigma that has been attached to diesel has been mostly eradicated with modern engine designs and clever turbo and engine management computers. You get similar performance to petrol engines but much better mpg and you can tow yourself along in traffic by just lifting the clutch. The extra torque is lovely.
It gets even stranger: more people have died from solar energy accidents (mostly, falling off roofs while installing panels), than have died from nuclear accidents. Of course, ordinary facts can never overcome irrational fears...
For those who don't want to click on the link, the most dangerous (by far) is coal (including deaths due to pollution). Nuclear is the safest. The stats are based on deaths/TWh, and the authors gives lots of references.
Enjoy life! This is not a dress rehearsal.
The same applies to just about anything. Have you ever seen what happens when some joker decides to have a smoke in a mill? My father used to be in charge of workplace safety for a company that had one (a mill, not an idiot who set it on fire) and he had a large catalog of materials and their behavior in aerosol form. It could mostly be summed up as "nasty when exposed to fire".
Anything more-or-less flammable when powdered can become really nasty once dispersed in air. Gasoline has the properties of being volatile and storing a lot of energy, both of which don't help - but then again that's usually not what happens with cars. Those just tend to catch fire, which is still bad if someone's inside but not nearly as dramatic as Micheal Bay movies or German action shows like to pretend.
USE HOT GRITS WITH STATUE OF NATALIE PORTMAN (NAKED AND PETRIFIED)
With the addition of spew carcinogens out the pipe. Yes, even in ultra low sulfur mix.
Citation needed since you're full of shit. Diesel produced more carbon in the output (the black cloud you sometimes see) but it has far less toxic components than burning gasoline. That's why diesels don't require a catalytic converter.