Chevy Volt Gets Five-Star NHTSA Rating

GM's car of the moment, and of the future, as it hopes, the Chevrolet Volt, managed to score yet another victory in the battle for the hearts and pockets of the EV-loving Americans by passing, with flying colors, the crash tests it was subjected to by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).

Under the organization's revised New Car Assessment Program, the Volt was slammed with a five star rating, meaning it does a good job at protecting all those inside it in case of a crash. The rating has been handed to the Volt after it has already been recognized as safe by the other US safety watch dog, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS).

Volt is packed with most of the technologies with which most other GM cars come equipped. The safety systems fitted onto the car include front, side, knee air bags, StabiliTrak electronic stability control system, rearview camera system (optional) and, as a bonus, a five-year subscription to OnStar’s Directions and Connections Plan including Automatic Crash Response.

“Safety is a key consideration for all buyers no matter how a car is powered – gas, or in the case of the Volt, electricity,” said Doug Parks, Volt global vehicle line executive.

The rating handed to the Volt this week comes to tie the score between the American plug-in hybrid vehicle and the Japanese electric vehicle, the Nissan Leaf. The Leaf received not long ago a five star rating as well, but from the European equivalent of the NHTSA, the Euro NCAP.