Reported in Time Business, General Motors (GM) is offering to buy back Chevrolet Volts from owners after testing revealed the electric cars may catch fire following a car accident. GM's CEO Dan Akerson stated that while GM believes the cars are safe, the company wants to keep customers happy.

Testing was performed by National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) researchers on the Chevrolet Volt cars for crash safety. Three separate fires occurred between seven days to three weeks after side-impact car accident tests were performed.

According to Akerson, the fires broke out when the testing performed intruded into the car's battery pack by four to five inches, rather than the normal two inches. The cars then were rotated by 360 degrees in order to simulate a rollover car accident.

While GM states that there is no threat of fires occurring immediately after a car accident occurs, the company is willing to recall the more than 6,000 Volts that are on the road. To date, Volts involved in real-world car accidents have not caught fire. GM said it is dedicated to finding out what the problem is and rectifying it.

Due to this occurrence with the Volts, the NHTSA is asking other electric car manufacturers to provide it with battery testing data. The agency did state that it harbored no safety concerns with other types of electric vehicles at this time. The Volt's main competitor, the Nissan Leaf, has not had any comparable fires occur after either real-world car accidents or crash testing, Nissan reported.

Source: Time Business, "GM willing to buy back Chevy Volts" Dec. 1, 2011