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GM Chevrolet Volt: Buyers spooked by electric car fires
...It now appears the fire hazard was first discovered back in June, when GM first heard about a fire in a Volt that occurred some three weeks after the vehicle had been crash tested.

Yet, almost five months went by before either GM or the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) told dealers and customers about the potential risks and urged them to drain the battery pack as soon as possible after an accident.

Part of the reason for delaying the disclosure was the "fragility of Volt sales" up until that point, according to Joan Claybrook, a former administrator at NHTSA.

"NHTSA could have put out a consumer alert," he said, according to industry website Autoguide.com.

"Not to tell [customers] for six months makes no sense to me. They have a duty to inform people when they've rated a vehicle as 'top rated' and make it clear there's a problem."...