Chevy Pinto?

Remember the "Ford Firebird" - the '70's Pinto with the exposed gas tank bolts that would puncture the tank in some rear-end collisions?

Chevy has a better idea. Load up the center frame of the car with a hand grenade or two:
+++++++++++++++

Electric car battery catches fire after crash test

JOAN LOWY - Associated Press - Associated Press | Friday, November 11, 2011

A Chevrolet Volt that caught fire three weeks after its lithium-ion battery was damaged in a government crash test has regulators taking a harder look at the safety of electric car batteries, federal officials said Friday.

But based on testing so far, regulators believe the batteries are safe and don't pose a greater fire risk than gasoline-powered engines, a National Highway Traffic Safety Administration official told The Associated Press. The official requested anonymity in order to speak freely.

The car that caught fire was tested May 12 by an agency contractor at a Wisconsin facility using a relatively new side-impact test intended to replicate crashing into a pole or a tree, the official said. Three weeks later, while the car was parked at the test facility, it caught fire. A NHTSA investigation concluded the crash test damaged the battery, which later led to the fire.

Lithium-ion batteries, which are used in a vast array of consumer electronics, have a history of sometimes catching fire when damaged.

GM spokesman Greg Martin said the test did not follow procedures developed by GM engineers for handling the Volt after a crash. The engineers tested the Volt's battery pack for more than 300,000 hours to come up with the procedures, which include discharge and disposal of the battery pack, he said.
+++++++++++++++
I remember a hit piece put out by a national network a few years back about pickup truck gas tanks exploding during side impacts - and that the network had a special effects guy wire up a model rocket motor to the test vehicle to ensure a Hollywood explosion when it got hit.

I do have to wonder about GM's "procedures" for applying what will end up being a random impact vector to a test car. I am sure that certain impact vectors will have virtually no chance of damaging the battery pack enough to cause a meltdown, and that they cannot possibly have tested ALL possible scenarios...

The local Chevy dealer has three of these morphodites on the lot at $40K each. Not sure if the federal kickback for buying one of these green wonders is included.