Opening Statement
Congressman Dennis Kucinich
January 25, 2012
Hearing on “Volt Vehicle Fire: What did NHTSA Know and When Did they Know It?”
Committee on Oversight and Government Reform
Subcommittee on Regulatory Affairs, Stimulus Oversight and Government Spending
Good Morning. Today, we once again welcome David Strickland, the Administrator of
the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration before our Subcommittee. At two other
recent hearings, this Subcommittee heard testimony from Department of Transportation officials,
first on regulations proposed by the Department related to standards for vehicle fuel efficiency
and then on the number of hours truck drivers can work between mandatory rest periods. At
those hearings, the majority criticized the Department of Transportation for considering stricter
regulations, claiming they were harmful to business and the economy. Today, by contrast, the
question is whether the Department of Transportation was strict enough in its regulatory
oversight of one product, the Chevy Volt electric vehicle, by General Motors.
The title of today’s hearing is, “What did NHTSA Know about the Volt Vehicle Fire and
When Did they Know It?” A very detailed, one-hundred-and-thirty-five page final report by the
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration on its investigation into the Volt Battery Fire
Incident, which was made public on Friday, provides detailed answers to the question this
hearing seems to ask. GM has also provided extensive documentation of meetings and
information it provided NHTSA pursuant to its investigation into the causes of the Volt battery
fire that occurred after crash testing.
Based on what we know so far, NHTSA’s New Car Assessment Program appeared to do
just what it is intended to do: catch potential safety concerns with new cars before they become a
risk to consumers. And General Motors appeared to do exactly what we would hope it would do.
Even before NHTSA determined whether or not there was a real safety issue, it designed
improvements to the Volt to make its battery better protected from risk of intrusion or fires. So
far, we have seen no evidence to support the implication that NHTSA has allowed politics to
guide its decision-making.
Considering that in the last few months there have been efforts by the majority to defund
programs that support the development of technologies for electric and alternative fuel vehicles,
and other proposals to take away tax incentives for purchasing electric cars, I am concerned that
the intended effect of this hearing is to undermine technology that is critical to both protecting
the environment and ensuring the success of the U.S. auto manufacturing industry, as well as
