GM CEO Dan Akerson told the Associated Press that GM will repurchase a Volt at owner request, but did not announce an official buyback program, according to the Detroit Free Press. GM also offered loaner cars to Volt owners worried about their cars’ safety. The Chevy Volt is a lithium-ion-powered hybrid car powered with an onboard electric motor that powers the car when the battery charge runs low, explained NewsInferno.

About 6,400 people own Volts and 33 requested a loaner, which is, said GM spokesman, Greg Martin, “A microfraction” of the owner group. Of an official buyback program, Martin said, “We are considering it,” reported the Free Press.

NewsInferno wrote that two instances of Chevy Volt battery fires took place after the cars sat idle for at least one week. Both cars had previously been tested by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), which prompted its official Volt investigation. To date, fires have not been reported by Volt owners.
The crash tests punctured the Volts’ batteries; leaking battery coolant is believed to be the culprit in the fires that took place in both undrained batteries, said the Free Press.

Lithium ion batteries are used in all-electric cars, including the Nissan Leaf and Tesla Roadster, said NewsInferno. Nissan Leaf pure-electric cars have not suffered battery fires, to date, following crash tests; however, the Free Press noted that the Leaf’s battery is air-cooled and constructed with a steel cover, unlike the Volt’s battery. The Volt runs on its battery for about 35 miles before switching to its gasoline generator, whereas the Leaf runs fully on batteries, with a 70-mile range between charges, explained the Free Press.

GM said the only way it would issue a recall of the Chevy Volt is if the NHTSA deems a recall necessary, but said it would send a technician to drain the battery of any Chevy Volt involved in a crash, said the Free Press. GM also said it is looking into altering the Volt’s battery design, but does not plan on switching from its liquid-cooled battery, which, allows the car to perform better in colder temperatures.
The repurchase announcement was made the same day that Consumer Reports released a survey that named Volt owners the most satisfied of all car owners, said the Free Press. But, that survey was conducted prior to the government initiating its investigation the prior week.

Now, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), which commissioned the Volt test, is asking auto makers which make or intend on making lithium-ion battery-operated vehicles about their vehicles’ batteries’ risks, including “special handling and discharging recommendations,” said the Times, “including any recommendations for mitigating fire risks in these vehicles,” according to the just-released NHTSA statement. LG Chem. Ltd., which is the largest chemical maker in South Korea, is the Volt battery supplier, said Businessweek.

The NHTSA said it wanted to stress that it was not implying that electric vehicles are “at a greater risk of fire than other vehicles” but did point out that electric or part-electric vehicles, depending on design and electrical make-up, “require different safety standards and precautions,” according to The Times. General Motors spokesman, Greg Martin told The Times, “This is an industry issue … the Volt is safe.” Jim Federico, GM’s chief engineer told Businessweek in an mail that, “I want to make this very clear: the Volt is a safe car…. We are working cooperatively with NHTSA as it completes its investigation. However, NHTSA has stated that based on available data, there’s no greater risk of fire with a Volt than a traditional gas-powered car.”

The Volt fire in question occurred while the car was in storage; the NHTSA, “concluded that the crash test damaged the Volt’s lithium-ion battery and that the damage led to a vehicle fire that took several weeks to develop,” The Times reported.

The auto industry is looking into how to safely handle lithium batteries after a crash, said Professor Tomasz Wierzbicki, director of the Impact and Crashworthiness Laboratory at M.I.T., wrote the Times. Professor Wierzbicki pulled together a panel to study lithium battery safety and, according to the professor, vehicle lithium-ion battery packs are susceptible to damage from direct impacts and violent and sudden stops with damage that might not be externally detectable, said The Times.

Both the NHTSA and the Energy Department will be testing some Volt battery modules to see if the fire can be replicated, said the NHTSA, wrote Businessweek. Lithium batteries are used in electric vehicles because they are believed to be able to withstand a serious accident, according to Sandy Munro, president of the engineering consulting firm, Munro and Associates, wrote Businessweek. But, the battery case or internal cells can catch fire and fire can occur if steel or iron pierce the area in which electricity is stored. “Lithium burns really hot,” Munro said in a telephone interview with Businessweek. When pierced with metal, a chemical reaction can increase the temperature and cause a fire, but if the reaction smaller, the fire can take time to occur, according to Munro, said Businessweek.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), in a 2010 airline advisory warned about lithium batteries in all sorts of devices saying that lithium batteries are “highly flammable and capable of ignition,” and that fire-suppression systems are not effective for these types of fires, said Businessweek. The advisory was issued after a United Parcel Service Inc. cargo plane transporting thousands of lithium batteries crashed in Dubai after catching fire; both pilots were killed.

The U.S. Lexus recall includes the following models: 2006-07 GS 300 and GS 350, 2006-09 IS 250, and 2006-08 IS 350. According to Toyota, insufficient tightening of the fuel pressure sensor, which is connected to some engine fuel delivery pipes that have nickel-phosphorus plating, may cause the pressure sensor to loosen. This could cause fuel to leak past a gasket that’s used in the connection between the sensor and the fuel delivery pipe. It could also leak through the threaded part of the sensor.

To fix the problem, Lexus dealers will inspect cars for fuel leakage. If no leakage is found, they will tighten the fuel pressure sensor. However, if a leak is found, the gasket between the sensor and fuel delivery pipe will be replaced and the sensor will be tightened. There will be no charge for this, Toyota said.

The problem also affects 1.3 million vehicles in Japan and 10,000 in Europe.

Toyota maintains that so far, it has not received any reports of accidents due to this vehicle defect. It has, however, received 75 complaints of problems from North America and 140 in Japan.

The other recalls involve a bad fuel line that can crack and affects 141,000 vehicles, mostly models sold in Europe and New Zealand.

The newly-revealed grand jury investigation is just the latest headache for Toyota this year. Since last November, Toyota has recalled about 8.5 million vehicles worldwide to resolve the floor-mat interference and sticking pedal problems that may lead to incidents of unintended acceleration. Some vehicles are subject to both recalls. Complaints to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) attribute 93 deaths to sudden acceleration of a Toyota vehicle.

Earlier this year, Toyota agreed to pay a record $16.375 million fine levied by the NHTSA for concealing information related to a January recall of 2.3 million vehicles for sticky accelerator pedals. The company also faces more than 200 lawsuits resulting from the sticky accelerator and floor mat recalls.

According to The New York Times, Toyota had already received two other subpoenas this year, one from a grand jury in February for documents related to sudden acceleration and braking and one from the Michigan attorney general in March for information on recalls.

As we’ve reported previously, the NHTSA is already investigating a 2005 recall which involved defective steering rods. Toyota waited 11 months to issue a US recall, after it had already done so for trucks in Japan. The recall in Japan took place in October 2004; the US recall, involving 977,839 similar vehicles, took place September 2005. In 2004, Toyota told US regulators the problems were limited to vehicles in Japan.

Under US law, carmakers have five days to report safety problems to regulators.

Although it has not yet determined the timing, the NHTSA has reports of three deaths and seven injuries linked to the faulty steering rods on 4Runner SUVs and T100 and Hi Lux compact pickups, which involve 1989 to 1998 models.

It was not clear what defects, models or production years the grand jury was investigating, The Times said.

Since last November, Toyota has recalled about 8.5 million vehicles worldwide to resolve the floor-mat interference and sticking pedal problems that may lead to incidents of unintended acceleration. Some vehicles are subject to both recalls. Complaints to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) attribute 93 deaths to sudden acceleration of a Toyota vehicle.

Earlier this year, Toyota agreed to pay a record $16.375 million fine levied by the NHTSA for concealing information related to a January recall of 2.3 million vehicles for sticky accelerator pedals. The company also faces more than 200 lawsuits resulting from the sticky accelerator and floor mat recalls.

The Wall Street Journal had written that a NHTSA analysis of dozens of data recorders from Toyota vehicles involved in sudden acceleration crashes had revealed that the “throttles were wide open and the brakes weren’t engaged at the time of the crash,” suggesting that the driver was hitting the gas pedal by mistake instead of the brake. The report cited anonymous sources.

ABC News is reporting that both the NHTSA and the Department of Transportation (DOT) are refuting the Journal article. A top DOT official told the network that the Journal piece was “completely unsourced and misleading,” and that “no information in that article came from NHTSA.”

“Engineers at the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration are continuing to investigate the possible causes of sudden acceleration, along with the National Academy of Sciences and NASA,” said DOT spokesperson Olivia Alair told ABC News. “We will follow the facts and inform the public when our investigation comes to an end.”

According to the Web site Just-Auto.com, a spokesperson for NHTSA pointed to Toyota itself as the source of the article, which was published Tuesday.

“That story was planted by Toyota,” the NHTSA spokesperson told just-auto. “Toyota is the source – yes we know that for definite.”

Hours after Consumer Reports published its rating, Toyota announced it was suspending sales of the GX 460 in the U.S. and Canada. The automaker has since suspended sales of the vehicle in markets elsewhere in the world. While the automaker has not decided if it will issue a recall for the SUV, it is offering current owners use of loaner cars while it tries to figure out why it failed Consumer Reports’ handling test.

Consumer Reports’ test found that the GX 460 SUV was prone to slide when driven in sweeping turns. Ideally, the vehicle’s electronic stability control system would stop such a slide. The publication advised consumers not to buy the Lexus GX 460. According to the report, this could cause rollover accidents resulting in serious injury or death.

Toyota’s testing effort will include current models of its Rav4, FJ Cruiser, Highlander, 4Runner, Sequoia, Land Cruiser and Sienna. It is not known how long the tests will take to complete. According to a report in The Wall Street Journal, Toyota is now seeking to recreate the situations in which the GX 460 was examined by Consumer Reports to determine whether its SUVs have stability problems.

The $16.375 million fine would be the largest civil penalty ever issued to an automaker by the government. Toyota has two weeks to contest the penalty.

“We now have proof that Toyota failed to live up to its legal obligations,” Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said in a statement. “Worse yet, they knowingly hid a dangerous defect for months from U.S. officials and did not take action to protect millions of drivers and their families. For those reasons, we are seeking the maximum penalty possible under current laws.”

Auto manufacturers are legally obligated to notify the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA) within five business days if they determine that a safety defect exists.

According to the Department of Transportation , the NHTSA learned through documents obtained from Toyota that the company knew of the sticky pedal defect since at least September 29, 2009. That day, Toyota issued repair procedures to their distributors in 31 European countries and Canada to address complaints of sticky accelerator pedals, sudden increases in engine RPM, and sudden vehicle acceleration. The documents also show that Toyota was aware that consumers in the U.S. were experiencing the same problems, the statement said.

Two years before Toyota issued a recall of defective floor mats implicated in incidents of sudden, unintended acceleration, the automaker warned its dealers of the dangers. Unfortunately, no one in the American driving public ever got this information.

Critics of Toyota and the auto industry in general claim that the issuance of a technical service bulletin is often a recall in all but name, and they are seeking reform. Clarence Ditlow, director of the Center for Auto Safety. told Reuters that his organization supports efforts to make technical service bulletins available to consumers. An official with the Consumers Union also told Reuters that the organization would back a review of disclosure standards as part of an effort to reform the system.

According to Reuters, a technical service bulletin about faulty floor mats was issued in September 2007 to about 1,500 Toyota and Lexus dealers. “If the floor mat is NOT properly placed and secured, it could slip and interfere with the movement of the pedals during driving and may cause an accident,” the bulletin said. “NEVER install more than one floor mat at a time in the driver’s seating position.”

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) was seemingly satisfied with the 2007 bulletin approach, even though in a meeting that year, officials had concluded that consumers were warning of “extremely dangerous safety” risks from “floor mat interference” in Toyota. According to Reuters, just over two weeks after Toyota sent its first floor mat bulletin to dealers, the agency closed its investigation with only a limited public warning.

In September 2007, Reuters said, under pressure from federal regulators, Toyota did issue a recall for 55,000 all-weather floor mats on the Camry and the Camry-derived Lexus ES 350. But company staff would later boast that narrow recall had saved it $100 million.

In April 2008, a second technical bulletin was issued warning that improperly installed floor mats could cause crashes in the Camry, Corolla, Matrix, Sienna, Tundra, Sequoia and Land Cruiser.

Both of the bulletins went to the NHTSA, but according to Reuters, they were much more strongly worded than anything consumers received. For example, in September 2007, the NHTSA issued a “consumer advisory” urging Camry and the Lexus ES 350 owners to swap out recalled all-weather floor mats for new ones and to make sure that they were secured to keep from slipping forward and “causing the vehicle to accelerate uncontrollably.” The agency also “strongly urged” drivers of the popular Prius hybrid and Avalon sedan to make sure that their floor mats were set up properly.

But nothing in the advisory warned of the risk of crashes, or made mention of other Toyota and Lexus vehicles with the same issue. According to Reuters, the wording of the NHTSA advisory was negotiated with and approved by Toyota.

According to a report in USA Today, a federal law adopted in 2000 known as Transportation Recall Enhancement, Accountability and Documentation (TREAD) Act. It makes individuals who intentionally mislead federal regulators about safety defects subject to possible criminal fines and even prison.

Already, Toyota has been served with a subpoena last month by a New York grand jury looking into sudden acceleration problems, as well as problems with brakes on Prius and Lexus hybrids. The grand jury investigation is a signal that a criminal probe is underway, USA Today said.

Since last fall, Toyota has recalled more than 8 million vehicles worldwide for problems involving sudden acceleration. Toyota has blamed the speed control issues on defective floor mats and faulty accelerator pedals, but some experts suspect that problems with the vehicles’ electronic throttle control system could really be behind the problems. Such suspicions have increased recently, as dozens of Toyota owners whose vehicles underwent recall repairs have recently complained that their vehicles are still experiencing problems with unintended acceleration.

Last week, the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee held a hearing into Toyota’s recent recalls and safety problems. Inaba, as well as Toyota president Akio Toyoda, both testified during the proceeding.

The documents Towns refers to in his letter were obtained under subpoena from Dimitrios Biller. Biller was Managing Counsel in the Product Liability Group of Toyota Motor Sales, USA (TMS), from April 2003 to September 2007. According to Rep. Towns’ letter, Biller led the defense of some of the largest tort cases filed against Toyota, including “rollover” cases involving seriously injured victims.

As we’ve reported previously, Biller filed his own lawsuit against Toyota in July, claiming Toyota conspired to withhold evidence in the rollover cases and forced him to resign when he told the company it had a legal duty to release evidence to plaintiffs’ attorneys.

Among the documents Biller supplied to the committee is an e-mail he wrote in which he agreed to a $1.5 million settlement in 2006 to avoid disclosure in a roll-over case. He also warned that the company needed to keep better track of cases of unintended acceleration.

The committee’s review of Biller’s documents also revealed multiple references to secret “Books of Knowledge” that were kept in electronic form, in which Toyota engineers kept their design and testing data across all vehicle lines and for all vehicle parts, Towns’ letter said. Towns purports that his committee now has evidence that Toyota entered into multi-million dollar settlements in lawsuits where they feared that the plaintiff’s lawyer was getting close to discovering the existence of the “Books of Knowledge.”

Towns has asked Inaba to review Biller’s records and provide a response to his allegations by noon on Friday, March 12, 2010.