GM CEO: NHTSA Volt probe influenced by Toyota

General Motors chairman and CEO Dan Akerson told WJR this week that the government’s investigation into fire risks in the Chevrolet Volt may have been impacted by the scrutiny surrounding the Toyota Motor Corp. sudden acceleration investigation in 2010 and 2011.

Akerson testifed before a House Oversight and Government Reform panel on Tuesday on the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s investigation into post-crash fire risks that it closed last week after finding the Volt did not pose a unreasonable risk to safety.

Akerson denied there was any “unholy alliance” between GM, which is still part-government owned, NHTSA and the administration. ”We tried to dispel that,” Akerson said.

But Toyota was a factor, he thought. NHTSA came under blistering criticism by Congress for not doing more in the Toyota sudden acceleration investigation.

“At the end of the day, I think in the background was the Toyota sudden acceleration fiasco. As that turned out, it turned out – gee whiz, it was safe and look at the all the damage that was done there,” Akerson told Paul W. Smith on WJR. “And then when you step back and look it, I think  NHTSA was so sensitive because they were so severly criticized in that situation that they may have taken ‘belt and suspenders’ on this one. But there’s no use in arguing with City Hall.”

Toyota recalled more than 10 million vehicles for sticky floor pedals and entrapped pedals and paid $50 million to settle three NHTSA investigations into accusations that it failed to recall millions of vehicles in a timely fashion.

GM is voluntarily fixing more than 8,000 Volts, adding a steel reinforcement to the battery pack and sensors.

Akerson said GM is not making money on every Volt. He said GM could restart production in a week at Detroit-Hamtramck Assembly plant. He told WJR that he’s bought two of the Volts customers returned in the wake of NHTSA’s investigation.