According to The Wall Street Journal owners of the Chevrolet Volt will be offered loan cars by GM, while an investigation is carried out on the Volt regarding fires that have started after crash tests. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration had carried out some crash testing on the Volt that resulted in sparks and fires.

GM believes these were caused by malfunctioning electronics rather than overheating chemicals from within the batteries. Mary Barra GMs product chief stated that engineers were currently working on ways to make the battery case stronger, and added “We’re looking at a handful of promising avenues” and is confident the Volt is safe.

Investigations began last week after two crash tests caused the electric cars battery to spark or catch fire. The NHTSA were doing the tests following an incident last spring where a Volt battery that was damaged in a crash test had caught fire 3 weeks later.

Both sides have said owners of the electric car shouldn’t be too concerned as the fires didn’t start on impact, and started a few days after. The latest tests the NHTSA ruptured the Volts coolant line and damaged the battery compartment, in an attempt to replicate the first accident to highlight the problem. With the first accident the fire started weeks later, but in the latest ones it started in a matter of days.

Modern cars are the safest they have ever been barring any manufacturing defects, but consumers can be met with many choices when deciding which car is the safest. Now according to an article on ConsumerReports.org, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has released a brochure which you can see here.

The NHTSA began a new tougher five star ratings system late last year for the new 2011 model year, to rate the crash worthiness of new cars. The brochure has all the cars rated this year with all the information about the availability of the latest safety systems and features.

The crash system for this model year has a more in depth look at three areas of the vehicle. These include front and side impact protection, as well as rollover resistance. On top of this each model gets an overall score that combines all the results of the three tests, as well as comparing them to the injury risk in other cars.

You will also find information on the actual tests, and how the safety features in the cars work. There is a list of which cars have the features as standard equipment as well. A timeline shows when the NHTSA began testing cars all the way through the present day. Back in 1978 the organization began testing vehicles for frontal impact protection, and first used the five star rating system in 1996.

There is even information on the crash test dummies and how all the information is collected from them. Information in what size of dummy is used for certain crash tests is also provided, with the frontal crash having an average sized male driver with a small sized female in the front. Have a look at the brochure yourself to see if the car you may be thinking of getting fared.

The problem is related to the driver and front passenger electric windows, apparently the windows could come off their tracks, which could result them becoming stuck. This could potentially cause the window to shatter, which poses an obvious risk to the vehicle’s occupants.

From what we can see it is the window which is at fault not the electric window mechanism, if your vehicle is affected a safety recall will begin on roughly April 15, dealers will replace the faulty window glass free of charge.

If you think you may be affected you can contact Honda customer service at 1-800-999-1009, if you have further concerns you can contact the NHTSA on 1-888-327-4236 (tty 1-800-424-9153) or visit the SaferCar website.

So far we have not come across a list of affected models, so we recommend that you contact Honda just in case. Are your 2011 Odyssey’s windows faulty? Let us know in the comments section below.

According to the NHTSA Volkswagen reported the recall on March 25, the components at fault are some of the car’s circuit breakers and fuses. The recall summary says the electrical wiring and fuse layout shares the same fuse for the signal horn, anti-theft alarm system and converter box, which could mean that if the fuse is blown the engine management system, wipers and lighting system could all cut out.

Apparently this problem affects certain Jetta models which were manufactured between March 2010 and March 2011, Volkswagen worry that if power was cut out to these important components a crash could be caused.

If you think that you may be affected by the recall you can contact Volkswaken on 1-800-822-8987, dealers will soon get repair kits to correct the condition, it is thought that the safety recall will begin in May 2011 and will be free of charge to the car owner.

Hopefully this problem will not cause any crashes between now and May, if you have any concerns you can also contact the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration on their hotline 1-888-327-4236 (TTY 1-800-424-9153) or go to the SafetyCar website.

Is your vehicle affected by this recall, if so do you think it is acceptable having to wait until May for the repair?