This Is The Chevy Volt's Post-Crash Safety Protocol

by Edward Niedermeyer

Published: September 28th, 2022

TTAC has received the following protocol, developed by GM in the wake of the June Volt fire at a NHTSA facility in Wisconsin, from a GM source and has confirmed its legitimacy with a second GM source. Though the procedure may be refined based on the findings of NHTSA’s latest round of tests, it gives a good picture of what GM currently does to ensure the safety of Volt driver and passengers as well as rescue workers, towing company workers and salvage yards. And, I have to say, it puts some of my fears about this safety scare to rest. It hadn’t occurred to me that GM’s Onstar system could provide opportunities to respond to crashes in real-time, and apparently the system provides a wide variety of data with which GM’s “corporate SWAT team” can tailor its response to any Volt crash event. Hit the jump for the full procedure.

Chevy Volt sends Onstar message of just occurred crash event.
Onstar team notified of Volt crash and immediately implements standard crash protocol to assist vehicle operator
Onstar immediately pulls key crash criteria from crash notification, i.e. vehicle speed, vehicles conditions (rollover), etc
Onstar team notifies Volt Battery Team Leader of crash event including key vehicle conditions
Volt Battery team leader works with Onstar to ping Volt and check additional data if appropriate (higher severity crash events, battery data, etc)
Volt Battery team Leader determines if high crash severity standards met for depowering or if there is any question about battery severity level. If yes to either, Battery team representative is sent to crash site
Volt Battery team works with Volt advisor to contact Vehicle Owner and/or determine vehicle location
Volt Battery representative obtains approval from owner and then proceeds to investigate the crashed Volt and depowers battery if deemed necessary
Post Crash Volt stable and ready for disposition

#Batteries #Chevrolet #CustomerRelations #EV #Fire #GM #Hybrid #Lithium-ion #NewCars #OnStar #Volt #Quality #Safety

Edward Niedermeyer

More by Edward Niedermeyer

Comments

Join the conversation

8 of 50 comments

Juniper on Dec 01, 2011

And the Volt wins CRs customer satisfaction survey. Hate it all you want Buickman, the owners love it. Oh that's right the customer is always wrong, right?

Like Reply
- See 3 previous
- Buickman on Dec 01, 2011
  
  people loved their Corvairs too, until they spun out and were killed. remember the old sayiong about fools and their money? at least they are happy fools.
  
  Like
- Chuckrs on Dec 01, 2011
  
  Buyer's remorse may take a while to set in. OK with me if early adopters are happy with it; the world needs guinea pigs.
  
  Like
- Flipper35 on Dec 01, 2011
  
  @Buickman The later Corvairs had multilink rear suspension while the Beetle (and other related cars)had a swing axle in the rear. The later Corvairs were actually a decent handling car and the early ones weren't any worse than others with a similar setup.
  
  Like
- Nick on Dec 02, 2011
  
  @Buickman Retrospective analysis (in the early 70s) of accident stats refuted all Nader the kook's claims about the Corvair being less safe than other vehicles.
  
  Like
Zykotec on Dec 01, 2011

European car journalists seem to praise the European version (Opel Ampera) for being a bright idea, with it's range extender, and that it drives better than most EV or hybrid cars. On the other hand, I think most European car journalist haven't grown up with American car manufacturers so they may not be able to grasp the sheer extend of GM's uselessness in the past.... Odds are 50/50 if it's a great little car or a time bomb... Now, tell me once again why they can't make the side-windows as big as they were obviously trying? or is it a nostalgic hint back to Mercury's of the 50's ?

Like Reply
- See 1 previous
- Mike978 on Dec 01, 2011
  
  I understand your point about American manufacturers and their checkered 50 year past. But European journalists (and the buying public) have had American owned brands - Opel/Vauxhall and Ford - to buy from in that time.
  
  Like
- Zykotec on Dec 01, 2011
  
  @mike978 Yes, that's true, but it's still miles away from the cars sold in the US. I can't think of any example from the top of my head when any of the reasonably good Euro GM or Fords have made a decent transition to the American market, or been sold successfully on both sides of the Atlantic. Not to mention the fact that in Europe Ford and GM has had large market shares of compact and smaller cars over the years, while at the same time having refused to even try making a compact. (or even a mid-size by European standards)
  
  Like

Recent Comments

Amwhalbi My 1972 Mercury Capri was my first stick shift car. God, I miss that thing. It was a blast to drive.
Vid169489471 The technology exists today to produce a variable color temperature (kelvin) LED lamp. It can vary from 2700k that soft orange look to 6500k the bright daylight with the bluish tint.Since everything in a late model car is computer controlled, it would be an easy task to write a few lines of code that enables your vehicle to not only dim down from hi to low beam but to shift color temp down to the 2700k range for oncoming traffic, then back up to 5000k once oncoming traffic has passed. For the operator it would be automatic and seamless. For older cars they could be retrofitted with LEDs that are 2700k on low beam and 5000k on hi beam. As far as standards, there could be a lumens max, and a minimum. Several States already have minimum lumen standards going back to the old incandescent bulbs. Why not update these to national standards.
Jam169859557 More regulation is needed for ALL vehicle lighting systems. [list=1][*]The lighting that is most blinding are the rapidly flashing red, blue and amber lights on emergency vehicles. The lights themselves are blinding, flashing so rapidly that it's impossible for even the sharpest eyes to adjust. What's worse, is the nature of the emergency requires a careful view of the area surrounding the emergency vehicle. There is something going on that needs to be seen. More flashing lights is not the solution.[/*][*]Brighter headlights need to be regulated. The tall riding vehicles do not need headlights positioned so high that they blind drivers in lower riding vehicles. And those heasdlights need to be aimed properly. When I first started driving my 2020 Subaru Outback, many drivers would flash their lights, hoping I would dim my lights. This stopped after I performed am easy adjustment that tilted the beam lower. Late model Subaru headlamps are designed with a sharp cutoff that project less glare above the hood line. When the headlights are properly aimed, other drivers are not blinded by the beam.[/*][*]Customized light assemblies make it more difficult to see the marker lights (tail lamps, turn signals and side marker lamps) that have been tinted. There are many municiple codes that prohibit this tinting, but these laws are seldom enforced.[/*][/list=1]Solutions: Tight controls on emergency vehicle lighting. In trying to make these vehicles more visible, a dangerous side effect is reducing the ability of drivers to see the surrounding perils.Headlight design regulations that reduce the height of the headlight assemblies. Just because a pickup truck has a hood that sits 4 feet abouve the pavement, it does not mean the headlights need to be so high. Owneres should maintain proper adjustments to their vehicle headlights.Establish and enforce regulation requiring a illumination standard be followed.
Stl170698708 as someone who hates big government, and their interference;but you can add me to the list of people that are blinded by the lights.unfortunately "the poop is out of the horse and no way is it going back in"They have had 5 years to make lights bigger, badder and brighter because in the vehicle work it is go big or go home!Trucks are the worst because so many people use them to express their dominance and that is big, big, big $$ both at the Original Purchase and in the Aftermarket world.If, we are so lucky to get some good government regulation on this it will also take some very good Court enforcement to get the aftermarket people with fines and lawsuits.Much like the EPA did with the Diesel Tuner Industry that felt emission regulations didn't apply to them.This is from someone that owns said pickup truck with the same bright headlights,but i only use the truck when I have too and always turn off the Fog lights when driving in traffic.
Art65765977 I saw a porsche 911 with the most amazing headlights from behind approaching the Sunshine skyway in Florida. The pattern was 108 degrees across sweeping the road like a broom. My brother and I were amazed. I don't know what it looked like from the front but i am sure it was better than American cars