Looking to quell rumors of a coverup to protect sales, the Obama administration told Congress on Friday that it did not conceal a federal safety investigation of the Chevrolet Volt.
Following a June fire of a crash-tested Volt, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration launched an official probe into the plug-in, but failed to inform the general public of the investigation until November. Given the fact that the federal government still owns a 26 percent share of Chevrolet-parent General Motors, rumors began to spread that the White House covered up the probe in an attempt to save sales.
However, the White House said on Friday that it was involved in no such plot. National Highway Traffic Safety Administrator David Strickland backed the Obama administration’s claim, saying the White House wasn’t informed of the fire until September and never ordered any kind of coverup.
“No one from the Executive Office of the President requested or in any way suggested that NHTSA delay public release of information related to the Volt fire,” the Transportation Department said in a letter to Congress.
Discussions of the handling of the Volt investigation will continue later this month at a scheduled hearing, but the case is essentially closed for GM. The Detroit-based automaker announced a fix for the Volt fire issue last month.
References
1.’NHTSA: White House…’ view
