GM Fortifies Chevy Volt Battery To Curb Fire Risk
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After nearly a month and a half of Chevy Volt battery riff raff, General Motors has formally announced new enhancements to the vehicle’s battery pack to curb the post-crash fire risk concerns.
Specifically, GM fortified an existing section of the vehicle’s structure to better draw the force of impact away from the battery pack. Additionally, engineers added a sensor in the reservoir of the battery coolant system to more efficiently monitor coolant levels. Finally, a tamper-resistant bracket. Just don’t call the updates a recall.
From what the press release says, these enhancements are part of a customer satisfaction program, which also included complimentary loaner vehicles upon request. As a bonus, the Opel Ampera will be receiving the same modifications as well.
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I hope these changes put any fire concerns to bed. Also, I’d be curious knowing how much weight the enhancements added to the vehicle. Hopefully, they were negligble.
Good stuff. No one will even remember about this fire incident in a year’s time.
Good job GM!
My question was also of weight – and from the illustrations, this does not look like an easy retrofit.
When will Volts be recieving these upgrades from Hamtramck and will there be delays in production?
Also would like to know if current Volt customers who wish for this upgrade will just turn in their current Volt for the retooled one, or if this indeed can all be accomplished by retrofit.
In the early eighties I T-boned a 1979 Camaro at about 40 mph. A woman and her 20-something daughter and tied one on, drunk, they drove off a shoulder edge in the rain and spun their car out – cresting a hill in the opposite direction I was faced with zero reaction time and BOOM!
I was driving a 1st gen Honda Prelude ( subcompact version ) and I’ll never forget seeing the Camaro in the scrapyard – the driver’s seat had compressed up against the large raised Camaro center console and it was incredible to think that all that damage only resulted in the dislocation of the lady driver’s hip! My engine had gone back 11 inches and her seat appeared about 6 inches wide! It brought to mind seeing earlier Camaro promos where GM showed the crossbeams located in Camaro’s doors for just such an impact.
Interesting that the Volt already had five star side impact rating, and how this addition can somehow displace some of the force heading into the battery pack.
I hope this puts most of the hubbub in the media to bed.