WASHINGTON- Despite reports of battery issues after crashes, the Chevy Volt has for the second year maintained its 5-star safety rating from the US federal government and IIHS.  This is the highest rating set by the organizations, and allows the Volt to once again sit atop the Nissan Leaf in all categories.  

For shoppers, this is the gold standard, and should be an important consideration in the purchase of a new green technology hybrid vehicle.  Chuck Nash Auto Group still has the 2011 Chevrolet Volt in inventory, and with the 2011 tax credit still available for consumers, the Volt seems like an easy purchase decision. 

Debugging all the gossip on the Chevy Volt Crash Test:

What people heard- The Volt will catch fire or explode in a crash.

The truth- The Volt received the highest crash rating in all categories, even the Volts in question.  All vehicles involved in these crash tests are stored on site until they can properly be disposed of.  After three weeks of storage, one of these volts caught fire, when coolant leaked and made contact with damaged, charged, batteries.  Did the Volt catch fire in the crash? No. Did the Volt explode? No.   

Explained- The key to this story is the batteries were not drained after the crash test.  Standard policy after ANY Volt accident is GM sends out a technician to drain the batteries.  What is even more interesting, is that in ALL crash tests done on standard gasoline and diesel engine vehicles, the fuel tanks are ALWAYS emptied immediately after the test are concluded.  What these reports conclude, in my opinion, is that the fires were caused by a new technology being tested without proper procedure, not by a bad technology.   If standard policy is to empty fuel tanks after crash test, shouldn't the same be expected for the Volt's electric "fuel" cells!