Cough . . . cough . . . bullshit . . . cough . . . cough.
(Detroit News) — The White House had no role in the decision to delay disclosure of a firethat broke out ina crash-tested Chevrolet Volt, the Obama administration told Congress on Friday.
National Highway Traffic Safety Administrator David Strickland said the White House had been informed in September of the fire that brokein Junebut didn’t ask the agency to keep the information secret.
After an initial investigation concluded that damage to the Volt battery was the cause of the June fire, NHTSA briefed Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood in September, Strickland told three House Republicans in letters released Friday.
TheTransportation Department “shortly thereafter informed the Executive Office of the Presidentregarding the June fire and NHTSA’s test plans to determine if the fire indicated that there is arisk of post-crash fires in Chevrolet Volts. No one from theExecutive Office ofthe President requested orin any way suggested that NHTSA delaypublic release of information related to the Volt fire,” said thefour-page letter dated Thursday.
NHTSA didn’t disclose the fire took place until November, when Bloomberg News first reported it had occurred. It opened a formal defect investigation later that month when a second Volt battery pack caught fire seven days after another government test.
General Motors Co., which received a $49.5 billion government bailout, is still 26 percent owned by the Treasury Department. The Obama administration has heavily touted EVs and the Volt. President Barack Obama even drove a Volt 10 feet in July 2010 on a trip to see it assembled at GM’s Detroit-Hamtramck Assembly plant.