The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said Friday it's investigating fire risks in the Chevrolet Volt after a vehicle caught fire three weeks after a government crash test.
"In the coming weeks, in collaboration with the Department of Energy, NHTSA will conduct additional testing of the Volt's lithium-ion batteries and will continue to monitor these vehicles," NHTSA said in a statement.
The agency has asked all of the manufacturers who currently have electric vehicles on the market — or plan to introduce electric vehicles in the near future — to provide information on the protocols they have established for discharging and handling their lithium-ion batteries, including any recommendations for mitigating fire risks in these vehicles.
General Motors Co. spokesman Greg Martin said that if NHTSA had followed certain safety protocols for handling the Volt after a crash, the incident would have never occurred.
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