Sal Collaziano
Staff member
- Joined
- Nov 11, 2008
- Messages
- 3,567
- Reaction score
- 14
- Points
- 38
GM CEO stands up for Chevy Volt in D.C. hearing; Issa tells NHTSA: "I don't believe y
Filed under: Hybrid, Government/Legal, Safety, Hatchback, Chevrolet, Electric
What a surprise. Today's Congressional hearing over the Chevrolet Volt fire and the resulting investigation by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration turned out to be contentious.
The hearing took place in the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform's Subcommittee on Regulatory Affairs, Stimulus Oversight and Government Spending. Just from the title of the event - "Volt Vehicle Fire: What did NHTSA Know and When Did They Know It?" - it was plain to see that chairman Darrell Issa was not looking to mess around. Issa had General Motors CEO Dan Akerson, NHTSA Administrator David Strickland and John German (Senior Fellow and Program Director at the International Council on Clean Transportation) at his disposal, but he clearly didn't always like what they had to say. Issa and other Republicans questioned the "unnatural relationship" between the Obama Administration and GM as well as why it took NHTSA so many months to reveal the fire in November when it happened in June.
GM's Akerson stood up for the Volt, saying that the fire that's caused so much commotion only happened "after putting the battery through lab conditions that no driver would experience in the real world," according to his prepared remarks. Strickland said NHTSA "pulled no punches" in the Volt fire investigation - which recently ended after finding the Volt to be a safe car - but Issa was having none of it. He told Strickland: "I hear you, I don't believe you."
You can find the official Congressional website about the hearing (which includes a video of the entire session) here. The subcommittee's staff report, "Government Motors: A Preliminary Report on the Effects of Bailouts and Politics on the Obama Administration's Ability to Protect American Consumers" is available as a PDF. Be careful when reading it, though, as it starts by subtly misleading the reader. The report says:
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Filed under: Hybrid, Government/Legal, Safety, Hatchback, Chevrolet, Electric
What a surprise. Today's Congressional hearing over the Chevrolet Volt fire and the resulting investigation by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration turned out to be contentious.
The hearing took place in the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform's Subcommittee on Regulatory Affairs, Stimulus Oversight and Government Spending. Just from the title of the event - "Volt Vehicle Fire: What did NHTSA Know and When Did They Know It?" - it was plain to see that chairman Darrell Issa was not looking to mess around. Issa had General Motors CEO Dan Akerson, NHTSA Administrator David Strickland and John German (Senior Fellow and Program Director at the International Council on Clean Transportation) at his disposal, but he clearly didn't always like what they had to say. Issa and other Republicans questioned the "unnatural relationship" between the Obama Administration and GM as well as why it took NHTSA so many months to reveal the fire in November when it happened in June.
GM's Akerson stood up for the Volt, saying that the fire that's caused so much commotion only happened "after putting the battery through lab conditions that no driver would experience in the real world," according to his prepared remarks. Strickland said NHTSA "pulled no punches" in the Volt fire investigation - which recently ended after finding the Volt to be a safe car - but Issa was having none of it. He told Strickland: "I hear you, I don't believe you."
You can find the official Congressional website about the hearing (which includes a video of the entire session) here. The subcommittee's staff report, "Government Motors: A Preliminary Report on the Effects of Bailouts and Politics on the Obama Administration's Ability to Protect American Consumers" is available as a PDF. Be careful when reading it, though, as it starts by subtly misleading the reader. The report says:
Moreover, in the case of GM, the [Obama] Administration has offered substantial taxpayer funded subsidies to encourage production of the Volt. ... It has also extended a significant subsidy to encourage consumers to purchase the vehicle, offering buyers of the Volt a federal tax credit of up to $7,500 per vehicle.
A bit of research shows that the $7,500 tax credit was first put into law in the 2007-2008 Congress with the Energy Improvement and Extension Act of 2008, well before there was an Obama Administration.GM CEO stands up for Chevy Volt in D.C. hearing; Issa tells NHTSA: "I don't believe you" originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 25 Jan 2012 13:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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