How much safer is a Volt than other cars?

Short answer:  "A lot safer."

Longer answer:  There were 184,500 car fires last year according to the  National Fire Protection Association.  That's one fire for every 1,380 cars on the road ( assuming 254 million cars per various sources including Wikipedia and Hedges Company).  Given about 8,000 Volts on the road today, we would expect 5.8 fires so far based on typical internal combustion engine (ICE) cars.  So if there were even one actual fire in a real collision, the Volt would still be 5.8 times safer than average ICE cars.  But since there have been NO reported fires, the Volt is actually infinitely safer!  5.8 ICE fires divided by zero Volt fires = infinity!

Response to hysteria about Volt safety

A friend told me, "I hear your Volt is being recalled."  That confirmed my feeling that the headlines about a "probe" of the Volt's safety were sure to create a firestorm (pardon the pun) of nonsense.  As one friendly blogger put it "Let the hysteria begin."  My favorite summation of the issue was the statement:  "If your Volt is completely destroyed in a collision, for safety reasons you should exit the vehicle within three days."  The point is that the fire that broke out in a Volt happened three weeks after a demolition crash test. 

Here is a letter on the issue from a Volt owners facebook page that I signed on to:

OPEN LETTER FROM CHEVY VOLT OWNERS
Why are Chevy Volt Owners Keeping Their Keys?"
Date: December 2, 2011

To the Media and Drivers Across America:

In light of the recent news stories regarding the Chevy Volt, we, as
Volt owners, would like to set the record straight.

We are keeping the keys to our Volt. We love our Volt and we feel
safe driving our Volt.

Volt owners are glad that the NHTSA, GM, and other manufacturers have
now implemented protocols for electric cars in a variety of
circumstances. Just as it is necessary to empty a gas tank after a
major impact, it is necessary to discharge a battery pack after a
major impact. This is a simple and straightforward process. Volt
owners feel assured knowing that government and industry are working
together to define and communicate this process for electric
vehicles, just as they have done for gasoline-powered cars in years past.

We have done our homework and we know that there is no other car that
offers all the advantages of a Volt. We take pleasure in the smooth
driving experience. We get a thrill from the performance and
acceleration. We feel at ease in its comfortable elegance. Perhaps
most of all, we love the convenience and affordability of driving on
electricity everyday, while also having the option of a back-up gas
generator for long distances. This is the beauty of extended range
electric drive. It's fun, it's practical, and it's the future that's
available today.

Lastly, we encourage every driver in this country to test drive a
plug-in electric car. The best way to truly know the electric car
experience is to drive one.

Sincerely,
Chevy Volt Owners (A Facebook Group of 224 Members, signers as of
Friday afternoon include:
Jeff U'Ren, Volt 349
Barry Larkin, Volt 63
Kevin Mark Rooker, Volt 2386
Craig Fisher, Volt 2473
Scott Fauque, Volt 01234
Jack Lucero Fleck, Volt 575
Kelly Hendricks, Volt 1450
Chris Blake, Volt 989
Michael DiPisa, Volt 218
Brent Waldrep, Volt 3945
Shannon Arvizu, Volt 1631
Lyle Dennis, Volt 8
Felix Kramer, Volt 9
Craig Hydrick, Volt 2077
Billy Bell, Volt 1928
Former Governor of Michigan, Jennifer M. Granholm, Volt 3748
Brad J. Horton, Volt 736
Alexandra Paul, Volt 5
Nathan Pinsley, Volt 784
Eric Rotbard, Volt 688
Ken Nelson and Mike Judd, Volt 1712
Yumiko Kato, Volt 2278
Matt Stehouwer, Volt 974
Brett Circe, Volt 169

Chevy Volt a fire hazard?

Jeff U'ren writes on the Chevy Volt owners facebook page:

The oil companies and their lobbyists have a lot of money. A whole lot of your money. They buy Congress with it. That's why we don't have any good energy legislation. But the good news is that nothing will stop electric cars from saving the day. And you keep your money and not give it to the oil companies. Then YOU buy Congress! Unless someone makes up a story about electric cars being more dangerous than gasoline cars and we believe that.

Right on cue I read in todays San Francisco Chronicle website an AP article titled
Battery fires prompt govt probe of Chevy Volt.  It turns out that there have been no fires in electric vehicles except as a result of severe crash tests, and those generally didn't happen until some time after the crash--i.e. plenty of time to get out of the vehicle and even have it towed to a repair shop where the ruptured batteries can be removed.  This compares to 266,000 actual fires and 520 deaths annually in internal combustion engine (ICE) cars (per Consumer Affairs).  That's one fire for every 1000 ICE cars on the road compared to none for the 4000 Volts, 8500 Leafs, plus several thousand Teslas and conversions.  The real story is how much safer electric cars are than ICE cars.  But most people only read the headline, so the disinformation works.