Chevrolet Volt blasted by Arizona heat in latest quality tests

It seems that GM is serious about delivering a vehicle that’s equal to the demands of a modern day driver, especially when it comes to the Chevrolet Volt. The company has conducted testing for some time now and its latest round is focused on determining how well the the car withstands heat.

Understandably, GM wants to emphasize that the Chevrolet Volt is capable of handling most any climate a driver lives in especially because of consumer uncertainty surrounding the new plug-in hybrid electric vehicle technology. With enough testing (and publicity), GM may be able to convince cynical buyers to make the jump and buy a Volt sooner.

Of course, with over 52,000 already on an unofficial “want” list over at GM-Volt.com there won’t be any lack of interest at the beginning of the product cycle. So GM’s testing is likely mutli-pronged because early adopters will be expecting a lot out of the Volt. If it doesn’t live up to the hype than that message will resound loud and clear through the social web.

At one time or another most drivers have to park their car in a parking lot where the sun is beating down. That’s what GM is testing in this round, in its very hot Desert Proving Grounds in Arizona. In the Hot Soak Evaluation, engineers leave the car in the desert sun for several hours before returning and making several checks, they:

. . . open everything in the car, cycle all of the electric accessories and then take the car down the ride handling track to check for squeaks and rattles.  Additionally, they check to make sure the door seals continue to close off the cabin to the hot air as they cool the Volt down using its high-efficiency air conditioning system. According to a GM press release.

So far the tests have gone well according to GM, now if they can produce enough cars to satisfy the pent up demand they may be looking at some very satisfied customers in the short term.