GM KNOW-HOW HELPS AFRICANS

By Tim Higgins, Free Press Business Writer - Detroit automotive know-how and ingenuity are helping feed people half a world away, growing from a General Motors executive's desire to teach his children the importance of charity.

Terry Woychowski, one of GM's top engineers, started a foundation through which his children could support good works and also sponsored an African child through an aid program. When he found out that child was failing school, he found out why the boy was missing a lot of school.

The child, whose father died of AIDS, was gone three days at a time to get the family's corn ground because there was no powered mill at his village. So Woychowski formed a team to help create a bicycle-powered grinder than can be made with local materials and run by a 10-year-old. A half-dozen now are in use in Africa, and plans are being drawn up to expand the program.

Now Woychowski's group -- his children and students from Michigan Tech, where he is on the engineering advisory board -- is working on a small motor to provide power in places like Haiti, where electricity is still scarce after the earthquake this year.

In a conference room at General Motors Warren Technical Center, Terry Woychowski laid out the problem.

Solomoni Mafuta, a 10-year-old boy from the village of Senzani in Malawi, had just failed the second grade.

"No kid that I'm going to sponsor is going to flunk the second grade. I want this kid to be a leader. I want him to be a man of influence in his village, and he can't do that by flunking the second grade," Woychowski recalled in a recent interview.

Woychowski, vice president of global vehicle program management at GM, wanted solutions from a group of young engineers who had impressed him with their potential. They met regularly over lunch for sessions taught by Woychowski on leadership.

On that day about two years ago, the group was supposed to discuss President Theodore Roosevelt's leadership style. But Woychowski had another idea.

He introduced them to Solomoni through photos, the child's drawings, which included a car, and a report card.

That's where the idea to aid villagers in Africa with one of life's daily challenges -- grinding corn -- began.

Eventually the group learned that Solomoni was missing school because he had to walk several days to get his family's corn ground by a diesel-powered mill to make nshima, a cornmeal that's a staple of diets in parts of Africa.

Families, too poor to own their own mills, must often travel to pay to use a mill or do it by hand.

"They spend most of their time and a lot of their money grinding corn to make nshima, which is their main meal. It looks like mashed potatoes, but it's made from corn," said Woychowski's oldest daughter, Jamie.

The attention Woychowski paid to the child apparently helped over the following year. Solomoni's grades improved, with his last report card saying he's now ranked 16th out of nearly 100 students.

But the bigger issue -- the need to grind corn -- remained for many. Woychowski wanted to come up with a solution for the root issue.

Woychowski turned to his family, volunteers at GM and students at Michigan Technological University, where he sits on the advisory board of the College of Engineering, to design a human-powered hammer mill to grind grain.

It's not surprising for Woychowski, who talks passionately about engineering and the importance of leadership. Like many at GM, his connections to the automaker stretch back to childhood.

His father worked as a technician at GM's Milford Proving Grounds, and Woychowski dreamed of following in his footsteps.

But his father insisted that Woychowski go to college instead, telling the son that he could one day be the father's boss.

In fact, after graduation, Woychowski ended up with a job at the proving grounds and for a few weeks, was his father's boss.

As a father himself, Woychowski hoped to instill a charitable spirit in his children. He created a family foundation for projects to help people, making Jamie, now 26, executive director.

Inspired by the project, she decided to quit her retail job in Toronto to pursue a master's of business administration at Lawrence Tech, with dreams of working at a nonprofit someday.

The human-powered mill would be the first big project for the family.

Woychowski insisted that the machine could be made from local materials and that it could be operated by a child.

"A lot of guys have made machines to help -- but they come to find out that the parts they're made of are much more valuable than the function they are serving. So they quickly get pilfered and some of the parts would be found as being worn as jewelry," Woychowski said.

There's a mill, there's a way. The engineering students found a solution in a mill powered by an old bicycle.

Jamie Woychowski took the mill design to Zambia last summer, where it was well received. "We'd get there and they'd be singing and dancing, so excited to see us," she said.

Since launching the mills last summer, the group has learned some important lessons about pulley ratios, bearing designs and material strengths that will allow design improvements. The Woychowskis figure the mills are already helping hundreds of people.

The next step is to roll out more of the hammer mills to additional villages, Woychowski said. He hopes to get to the point where people can sponsor a hammer mill for a village for perhaps about $100.

The family is also working with students at Michigan Tech to take the project further by exploring the use of a small engine that could power a mill. The group will work to adapt the engine to operate the hammer mill and to run on indigenous fuel.

"It's an old technology ... but it is a very simple engine; there are no electronics to speak of. It starts with a hand crank," said Robert Warrington, a mechanical engineering professor at Michigan Tech who is working with the students.

The students are heading to Ghana in July to test the idea, with plans to return in the fall to school to perfect it. Woychowski hopes that the engine can be used in Haiti and other places where infrastructure is damaged or nonexistent.

While happy to have helped in Africa, Woychowski seems proudest of the changes he's seen in his own children and their desire to help.

"My primary objective is my children; if I can help them make this rock a better place, I'm in," Woychowski said.

WHEN GM REVS ITS ENGINE, CANADA'S CAR CAPITAL ROARS

By Geraldine Woessner, AFP - The town of Oshawa suffered alongside General Motors when the automotive giant flirted with bankruptcy amid a global recession in 2008-9, but the good times are back for both.

In recent months, GM has announced it would hire back laid-off staff and then some for its car assembly plant here. Still, the psychological impact of the crisis lingers.

"I remember when the truck plant closed, almost 5,000 people lost their jobs all at once," former GM worker Rejean Desrochers told AFP.

The shock was especially hard for Desrochers after 28 years working for General Motors. In its early days, GM's last remaining auto plant in town employed 25,000 people. Only 3,200 workers remain today.

In a town with a total population of 150,000, GM's latest financial woes felt like an earthquake.

Ever since Canadian Samuel McLaughlin chose to build the first Buick here (the family business would later be taken over by General Motors), townsfolk have lived and died with the North American auto industry.

Subcontractors, dealers, everyone was hit in the latest economic downturn.

But in recent weeks, smiles have returned at the government jobs centre: GM vehicle sales have picked up and the company proudly announced in April it had repaid 1.4-billion dollars in Canadian and US loans, ahead of time.

"It was unbelievable," commented Brian Childerhose, as he readied to return to work. "My wife also worked for General Motors. I got laid-off, my wife got laid-off, we had to sell our house, so it was pretty tough for two years for my wife and I. And now, I've got some good news, I'm going to be going back to GM."

Locally, GM's renaissance is due primarily to the success of its Camaro 1960s retro-styled sports car, which is built here and sold across North America.

The new Buick Regal will also be assembled in Oshawa starting in 2011.

"We've got two shifts coming in," GM spokesman Tony LaRocca said. "One will be about 700 employees, and that will start in November, and the other is about 600 employees, coming back in October."

Bars and restaurants near GM Canada's Oshawa headquarters and assembly plant are packed of late and the mood is mostly positive. Patrons are eagerly expecting to be recalled to work; a few who lost everything last year, however, remain cynical.

"I don't expect to get call back, no," said a 55-year-old man.

"I think it's getting a little bit better, the economy is starting to turn around. But there were so many changes for everybody. It's always good for Oshawa if they (GM) improve, maybe they will help us, but right now, it's still so hard for a lot of families," added a 40-year-old man.

General Motors is back, but at a high cost for its employees who agreed to cut their wages and benefits, and the Canadian government still owns a big chunk of the company -- 10.6 billion dollars worth, which it received in exchange for its bailout of the company.

CHEVROLET VOLT TAKES ON THE HEAT IN ARIZONA

By General Motors of Canada - Summer for the Chevrolet Volt engineering team means hot weather testing. And taking on the hottest Mother Nature has to offer is what they're doing at the General Motors Desert Proving Grounds in Arizona.

While the Volt is designed to operate in all weather and temperature conditions, one of the tests it is undergoing in the desert is the Hot Soak Evaluation, where temperatures inside the cabin can exceed 175 degrees F.

Engineers "bake" the Volt in the sun for several hours, then 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.

"The car performed well," said senior durability test engineer Steve Pratt. "The air conditioner cooled things off from our interior temperature of 138 degrees down to a nice comfortable temperature for driving."

While the Volt will not be equipped to handle towing, the engineering team regularly puts the Volt through some weight training via Grade Load testing. Engineers use a towing dynamometer - which simulates endless hill and mountain climbing anywhere from a 2 to 10 percent grade - to put stress and strain on the Volt's engine and chassis to determine how well it will perform while climbing a mountain at temperatures above 100 degrees F.

In addition, the Volt undergoes routine City Cycle testing two to three times each day. In this test, the battery receives added heat from the electrical energy generated by the steering, air conditioning, accessories and components under repetitive, cumulative use. The engineers are making sure there are no heat-related issues. The Volt has yet to disappoint during real-world city driving cycles.

In fact, the Volt has performed very well under the stress and strain of all these tests, but the rigorous testing and validation continues because the Volt is an electric vehicle for all temperatures and seasons.

GM / SUPPLIER DISPUTE OVER HEATED WIPER FLUID STILL SMOLDERS

By Automotive News - A dispute continues to smolder between General Motors Co. and the successor to the supplier of HotShot, which dispenses heated windshield wiper fluid.

The newest rift potentially raises further hurdles to the individuals trying to get the product back on the market.

For the second time in two years, GM has recalled vehicles because of the risk of fires -- pointing to the HotShot device as the source of those fires.

The company that made HotShot went bankrupt after the first such recall. But the new owners of the technology dispute GM's claim that HotShot was responsible for the fires. They say the electrical system in GM vehicles may have been responsible. HotShot ties into that electrical system.

The dispute may hold the key to getting the feature, widely popular with consumers, back into vehicles. It also raises questions about the federal government's procedures for testing and vehicle recalls, which have been under scrutiny in the wake of Toyota motor Corp.'s recalls for unintended acceleration.

'Another Obstacle'

"This latest recall may hurt," in part by reminding customers of a stain on the technology's reputation, said Peter Jacullo, president of the investor group that bought the HotShot technology. "It may be another obstacle that we have to overcome."

On June 8, GM recalled 1.5 million vehicles from the 2006-09 model years because of the risk of fires. In August 2008, GM recalled about 850,000 vehicles for a fire risk similar to last week's recall. The automaker subsequently canceled its contract for several hundred thousand units with Microheat Inc., of suburban Detroit. Microheat then filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and closed its doors.

But a core team of former Microheat employees is working to get the technology behind HotShot back on the market under a new company, AlphaTherm USA. They are using Microheat's intellectual property and operating out of the same offices the defunct company used.

First step back?

AlphaTherm has signed a long-term technology licensing agreement with KCW Corp., of South Korea. KCW is a member of the Kyung Chang Industrial Group and a major supplier of windshield wiper products in Korea, with 2007 revenues of more than $67 million.

KCW bought one of the two assembly lines formerly owned by Microheat and shipped the systems to South Korea, where it plans to manufacture AlphaTherm's latest-generation heated washer system for Korean automakers beginning next year.

Earlier versions of Microheat's heated wash devices are the ones implicated in the GM recalls. AlphaTherm also has been selling heated wash units as an aftermarket product. It recently signed a distribution agreement to build about 15,000 units for sale in Russia.

The ultimate goal, said AlphaTherm General Manager Joe Trubak, is to link up with additional established Tier 1 suppliers that will evaluate the technology, license it and bring it back as an original-equipment part.

"We need one decent company that truly understands the technology," Trubak said. "We're looking for a current Tier 1 that has enough credibility and interest to invest their time and money into it."

Jacullo, the president of AlphaTherm's investment group, expressed tempered optimism about what the agreement with KCW would bring.

"KCW may end up being a worldwide supplier, and that would be fine by us," he said.

AlphaTherm is a shadow if its predecessor. Its sales are a fraction of the $20 million annually they were as Microheat. AlphaTherm operates on a shoestring budget with about 10 employees, down from about 120 at its peak as Microheat.

Then there are the GM recalls. It its recall filing last week, GM said it has learned of instances where part of the wash unit can overheat and potentially cause a fire. During the first recall in 2008, GM said internal investigations pointed to the HotShot units supplied by Microheat in the 2006-08 model years as being the source of electrical system malfunctions that could result in vehicle fires.

But Microheat, and now AlphaTherm, assert instead that heavy surges of electricity created elsewhere in the electrical system make the unit short-circuit.

Flameout of a rising star

For much of the past decade, Microheat was a rising star in the industry.

The technology was invented in the late 1990s by Solomon Franco, an Israeli law student in England. While scraping his frosty windshield on a frigid day, he was baffled by the lack of a technology to defrost it quickly.

"As I stood out in the freezing cold, I remember thinking to myself, 'We have had the technology to send men to the moon since the 1960s, but no one has created a simple solution to automatically clear windshields,'" he said in a 2003 press release.

Franco later partnered with Slava Ivanov, a former aerospace engineer from Russia, and founded Microheat. By 2003, the company had roughly 100 employees and r&d operations in Russia, Israel and suburban Detroit, according to past Microheat press releases.

After selling in limited volume to the aftermarket, Microheat got its big break in 2003 when it landed its first deal with GM to supply future full-sized sedans and SUVs. After spending five years refining HotShot with GM engineers, the product first appeared on the 2006 model year Buick Lucerne and Cadillac DTS.

It was soon featured on nearly all full-sized GM trucks and SUVs on the GMT900 platform from 2007 to 2009, along with many sedans including the Cadillac CTS and crossovers such as the Buick Enclave.

HotShot was a finalist for an Automotive News PACE award in 2006.

NHTSA investigation

But in early 2008, things started to go downhill.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's Office of Defect Investigation received two complaints that a 2007 Chevrolet Tahoe spontaneously combusted while parked with the engine turned off.

NHTSA soon opened a preliminary investigation, requesting that GM provide data about reports of underhood firest in its full-sized trucks and SUVs from model years 2006 to 2008.

In an April 25, 2008, letter to NHTSA, GM said it found 41 reports of underhood fires in nearly 2.5 million vehicles but "no pattern or trend" as a cause. Not all the vehicles that caught on fire were equipped with the HotShot unit. But the report also said GM found three failures of HotShot, one that melted wires in the wiring harness and two that "indicated that the heated washer fluid module was likely the origin of the engine compartment fires."

When GM instituted the recall of roughly 850,000 vehicles in October 2008, it said the HotShot units could short-circuit and create a chain reaction of sorts that could cause the failure -- and sometimes melting, smoking and combustion -- of components inside GM vehicles.

After GM canceled its contract with Microheat, Ford Motor Co. canceled an early stage supply agreement. GM was Microheat's only automaker customer at the time, providing nearly all of the supplier's roughly $20 million in annual revenue.

Microheat then filed for Chapter 11, saw its case converted into a liquidation and sold most of its assets for less than $500,000 to its largest creditor, M-Heat Investors, led by Jacullo.

Suit and countersuit

GM and M-Heat Investors have filed claims against each other, with the old GM, officially known as Motors Liquidation Co., seeking to recoup about $21 milion to cover the cost of its initial recall.

The trustee overseeing Microheat's Chapter 11 case has objected to old GM's claim, essentially saying that Microheat was not responsible for GM's first recall, thus the claim is invalid. But a hearing about the objection has been put on hold until the bankruptcy judge overseeing the Motors Liquidation case in a New York bankruptcy court gives the green light.

Microheat is also seeking to recover $11.4 million from Motors Liquidation in unpaid receivables for parts installed in vehicles that had yet to be paid for prior to the 2008 recall, in a separate claim.

A lawsuit filed by Microheat against GM in 2008 in Oakland County, Mich., Circuit Court was administratively closed last summer because of GM's bankruptcy.

In that lawsuit, which also charged GM with defamation, Microheat argued GM is responsible for "nonconforming high voltage transients" that caused the short circuit. Voltage transients are bursts of electricity that occur randomly and circulate throughout a vehicle's electrical system and overload components.

The jolts were so high that they caused the HotShot unit to short-circuit, Microheat claimed. That short-circuit overheated a grounding wire connecting the component to the wiring harness. Microheat contended that harness was "undersized", citing internal tests conducted to evaluate conditions in which the HotShot unit would short-circuit, according to court documents.

Microheat also pointed to GM's initial fix for the recall in 2008, which connected a fuse to that grounding wire. The fix was designed to prevent a HotShot short-circuit from overheating the grounding wire and causing other components to fail, but it did not address the HotShot unit itself.

"If the HotShot truly had a safety defect, it would have been removed from the vehicle," Microheat said in court documents.

GM insists that the short-circuits were not caused by voltage transients.

"Our electromagnetic compatibility expert has explained that the testing Microheat did to create a fault in their module was nearly 300 times more severe than could actually occur on a vehicle," GM spokesman Alan Adler said in an e-mail.

The initial fix was chosen to mitigate the risk of a short-circuit in the heated wash unit crossing over into other electrical components via the wiring harness, Adler said. In GM's analysis of 80,000 trucks and SUVs, performed before the first recall, the automaker found 36 confirmed cases of a short-circuit in the heated wash unit.

Because of the relatively low occurrence of shorts, GM opted for a fix that prevented the short from spreading, rather than fixing the HotShot unit for the recall.

But GM installed a later-generation HotShot module that was designed by Microheat to handle higher-voltage currents on about 77,000 vehicles.

GM found no cases of failure in those specific units but said it found other cases of melting and saw the potential for fires caused by another part within the HotShot module. That finding prompted the June 8 recall of 1.5 million vehicles.

$100 for loss of HotShot

Owners of those vehicles are being paid $100 for the loss of that feature, as GM is removing the units from recalled vehicles brought back to dealers, Adler said.

The recall could cost GM more than $150 million, assuming every recalled vehicle is brought back to a dealer. Adler said the usual recall completion rate is about 80 percent within 18 months.

AlphaTherm's Truback said the recall will eliminate the failure of the heated wash unit, but it will leave unresolved the voltage spikes that he said caused the failures.

"There's something else in the vehicle that is causing this, and there could be other parts in the vehicle that could be subject to this failure mode," he said.

Jacullo of M-Heat Investors said he is still dismayed that NHTSA let GM close the book on the vehicle fires by blaming HotShot.

"Whatever GM tells them," Jacullo said, "they're OK with that."

FLEET FEAT: GM TO OFFER LPG, CNG VANS FOR COMMERCIAL CUSTOMERS

By Chevrolet in the News - The team at General Motors knows that it's a simple fact of life: A huge chunk of the American economy still rides on the thousands of commercial vans and cutaway trucks operating all across the country. So it's nice to know that, thanks to companies like GM, those commercial vans and cutaway trucks don't have to run on gasoline -- or even diesel fuel.

A case in point: Beginning this fall, both the Chevrolet Express and GMC Savana full-size vans will be available with compressed natural gas (CNG) and liquified petroleum gas (LPG) powertrains for fleet and commercial customers. LPG-powered cutaways will follow in short order.

And all will feature engines specifically designed to meet the unique requirements of gaseous fuel systems. That means starting with a robust 6.0-liter Vortec V8 and then adding hardened valve seats and exhaust valves for increased durability, along with a fuel-injection setup built expressly for use with LNG and LPG fuels. Those features and more gave GM the confidence it needed to offer a transferable five-year, 100,000-mile limited powertrain warranty, on top of the company's standard new vehicle warranty.

There's no hassle over converting gasoline-powered engines, either. GM pros build the trucks and install the engines at the company's plant in Wentzville, MO., then ship them to a separate, dedicated facility where the fuel-system components are installed and calibrations made. After this, GM sends them directly to customers - or dealers or upfitters - with all parts seamlessly integrated into one hard-working truck that's ready to meet all applicable motor vehicle safety standards and all current EPA and CARB certifications.

"We recognize the value in providing our fleet and commercial customers with a range of fuel saving and alternative fuel technologies," said Joyce Mattman, director of GM's commercial products and specialty vehicles. "The CNG and LPG additions are part of GM's expanding alternative fuel portfolio including more than 17 E85-capable and five hybrid models in our fleet and commercial vehicle lineup."

GM'S NEW REVENUE STREAM: CHARGING STAFFERS QUARTERS FOR SAYING "CHEVY"

By Rupal Parekh, Automotive News - If there's one thing known about the work General Motors has Goodby Silverstein & partners cranking on, it's that the shorthand "Chevy" won't be used in any communications.

It is, of course, easy to get consumers to kick a 100-year-old habit.

The New York Times got its hands on a memo that GM sent to employees yesterday, which, in the name of consistency for the brand (the automaker's biggest, started in 1911), tells staffers to quit saying "Chevy".

The note wasn't signed by GM's new marketing head/change agent Joel Ewanick. Instead, it was signed by Alan Batey, vice president of Chevrolet sales and service, and Jim Campbell, the division's vice president of marketing.

It said: "We'd ask that, whether you're talking to a dealer, reviewing dealer advertising or speaking with friends and family, that you communicate our brand as Chevrolet moving forward...

"When you look at the most recognized brands throughout the world, such as Coke or Apple, for instance, one of the things they all focus on is the consistency of their branding ... Why is this consistency so important? The more consistent a brand becomes, the more prominent and recognizable it is with the consumer."

Note to GM: Coke is, in fact, shorthand for Coca-Cola.

GM today put out a statement that said the memo was "poorly worded" and the resulting debate was an example of "how passionately people feel about Chevrolet."

"We love Chevy," the statement said. "In no way are we discouraging customers or fans from using the name. We deeply appreciate the emotional connections that millions of people have for Chevrolet and its products.

"In global markets, we are establishing a significant presence for Chevrolet, and need to move toward a consistent brand name for advertising and marketing purposes. The memo in question was one step in that process."

A GM spokesman told the Times that is was Goodby that influenced the move -- a bit hard to believe considering the agency set up the (quickly-yanked-down) Iwanttoworkonchevy.com site and knows a thing or two about the importance of infusing brands into pop culture, having done campaigns like "Got Milk?"

The best bit? A postscript to the memo says a plastic can has been placed in the hallway, and "Every time someone uses 'Chevy' rather than Chevrolet," an employee is expected to toss in a quarter.

GM's gonna need a lot of cans to collect all those coins.

Its own Twitter page says "Talking Chevy One Tweet at a Time," it has sponsored links on Google driving folks to the web site by calling it "The Official Chevy Site."

And clearly so many people simply type in the URL chevy.com that it currently redirects to the full brand name.

GM CANADA WILL DEACTIVATE HEATED WASHER FLUID SYSTEMS

By General Motors of Canada - General Motors of Canada is recalling 98,794 cars, trucks and crossovers from the 2007-2009 model years to disable a heated washer fluid system module that could pose a fire risk. Since the feature will be disabled, GM will make a voluntary payment of $105 to the owner or lessee of each vehicle for the loss of the feature.

GM Canada is conducting this recall to ensure customers have complete peace of mind and can count on the safety and quality of their GM vehicle. There are no known injuries or crashes related to the condition and there have been no reported incidents in Canada.

Dealership service personnel will remove the heated washer fluid module and reroute washer fluid hoses. Customers will begin receiving recall letters this month, but they can contact their dealer at any time to make an appointment to have the heated washer system removed.

The heated washer module was a unique technology available from only one supplier, and that supplier has stopped manufacturing, which left no opportunity to collaborate on an improved design.

Models included in the recall are the 2006-2009 model year Buick Lucerne; Cadillac DTS; Hummer H2; 2008-2009 model year Buick Enclave; Cadillac CTS; 2007-2009 model year Cadillac Escalade, Escalade ESV, Escalade EXT; Chevrolet Avalanche, Silverado, Suburban, Tahoe; GMC Acadia, Sierra, Yukon, Yukon XL; Saturn Outlook; and 2009 model year Chevrolet Traverse.

Most of the vehicles, 1,365,070, are in the United States; there are 98,794 affected vehicles in Canada; 26,228 in Mexico and 38,093 exports.

The heated washer fluid system was recalled in August 2008 because a short circuit on the printed circuit board could overheat the control-circuit ground wire. Dealers at the time installed an in-line fuse in the heated washer module wiring.

GM continued to monitor the performance of the heated washer fluid module in the field. In June 2009, a new and second failure mode was identified by GM with the first confirmed report consisting of smoke only. Since then, GM has been made aware of five fires in the US.

CHEVROLET & ONSTAR PREPARE FIRST RESPONDERS FOR ELECTRIC VEHICLE TECHNOLOGY

• Chevrolet and OnStar join with the nation's leading first-responder organizations to educate and train members on electric vehicle technology
• Chevrolet and OnStar plan multi-city education and training tour later this year in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Detroit and Washington, D.C.
• First-responder training is part of the continuous safety features of the Chevrolet Volt before, during and after a crash
• With more than 50 crash tests already conducted, Chevrolet expects Volt to achieve high safety ratings in government tests. Volt's body structure is made up of nearly 80 percent high-strength steel

By General Motors - Chevrolet has joined with OnStar and leading national first-responder organizations to announce the first automotive manufacturer-sponsored training program to educate first responders nationwide on electric vehicle technology.

The announcement was jointly made today at the San Francisco Fire Department with leaders of Chevrolet, OnStar, the International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF), International Association of Fire Chiefs (IAFC) and the National Emergency Number Association (NENA).

"Technological changes in the automotive industry require changes in fire and emergency service operations as well," said Chief Jack Parow, first vice president of the International Association of Fire Chiefs. "The IAFC is proud to work with Chevrolet and OnStar to ensure that fire responders are adequately trained in how to work with the new technology, both for their own safety and the safety of those they serve."

The training sessions will feature the Chevrolet Volt and will begin at the IAFC's Fire-Rescue International Conference, Aug. 23-27 in Chicago. Together with OnStar, Chevrolet will also display the Volt at the Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials conference Aug. 1-4 in Houston, and at the NENA conference, June 5-10 in Indianapolis. Chevrolet and OnStar will host first-responder sessions in Volt retail markets later this year including San Francisco, Los Angeles, Detroit and Washington, D.C.

"We believe a first-responder education program is very important to raise the awareness and understanding of electric vehicle technology," said Carmen Benavides, director, Chevrolet Safety. "This is a natural extension of the collaborative efforts we've had in the past when introducing new safety and other leading technologies."

During the past several months, Chevrolet has collaborated with first-responder representatives from national safety organizations to develop educational materials for firefighters, law enforcement, emergency medical technicians and emergency dispatchers nationwide. This will help ensure the training meets the needs and answers the questions their colleagues are likely to have about electric vehicles.

Their feedback is being incorporated into training materials that will be available on the tour and posted on a targeted Web site for departments unable to attend the training sessions.

The training will include animation and illustrations of the Chevrolet Volt, highlighting locations of high-strength steel, cut points for extrication, first-responder labeling, automatic and manual electrical shut-off and more.

The Chevrolet Volt's safety features include safeguards before, during and - thanks to OnStar - after a crash. Before a crash, the Volt's safety technology includes standard anti-lock brakes with traction control, StabiliTrak electronic stability control and daytime running lamps. In the event of a crash, the Volt uses occupant protection features such as high-strength steel, crash sensors, eight standard air bags and safety belts with dual pretensioners to reduce the risk of injury. After a crash, the Chevrolet Volt has the added protection of OnStar, which uses built-in vehicle sensors to automatically alert an OnStar advisor in certain types of collisions. The advisor is immediately connected to the vehicle and can request that emergency help be sent to its location.

Chevrolet expects the Volt to achieve high safety ratings in government tests. More than 50 crash tests at various speeds and angles have been conducted in the development of the Chevrolet Volt to date, including front, side and rear impacts as well as rollovers. The Volt's body structure is made up of nearly 80 percent high-strength steel and includes optimized restraint systems.

Chevrolet has been working to get the country ready for electric vehicles such as the Volt for the past several years. In the time since the Volt was announced as a production program in 2007, Chevrolet has joined with the Electric Power Research Institute and 10 major electric utilities across the country, collaborated with several local and state governments in key states, and met with city stakeholders in important markets to help ensure widespread consumer adoption of electric vehicles. The Chevrolet Volt will launch in select markets late this year.

EQUINOX, TERRAIN EARN IIHS TOP SAFETY PICK AWARD

By General Motors - The 2010 Chevrolet Equinox and GMC Terrain received the highest possible rollover protection rating of "Good" in the first Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) rollover tests of midsize SUVs and crossovers, one of four tests leading to both vehicles receiving the Institute's Top Safety Pick award.

The IIHS's roof strength test pushes a metal plate against one corner of a roof at a constant speed, before five inches of roof crush is reached. To receive its "Good" rating the subject vehicle must withstand a force equal to four times its weight.

"The Top Safety award recognizes vehicles that are on the top rung for safety," said IIHS president Adrian Lund. "The Equinox and Terrain are in an elite group of vehicles that have achieved the highest ratings for front, side, rollover, and rear crash protection, and that have electronic stability control to help drivers avoid serious crashes."

Built at the CAMI plant in Ingersoll, Ontario, the 2010 Equinox and Terrain offer standard four-wheel disc brakes, traction control and StabiliTrak electronic stability control with rollover mitigation. Both offer six standard air bags: dual frontal air bags, head curtain side air bags and seat-mounted side air bags.

"Equinox and Terrain are great examples of a comprehensive safety approach that's designed to offer peace of mind and keep drivers as safe as possible on the road," said Jeff Boyer, General Motors executive director of Safety. "This includes technologies to help drivers avoid crashes, features to protect occupants in the event of a crash and systems that get the right kind of help to the scene as quickly as possible."

The 2010 Equinox and Terrain also have received the highest possible five-star front- and side-impact ratings from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

DETROIT TIGERS PITCHER ARMANDO GALARRAGA RECEIVES CHEVROLET CORVETTE FROM GM AFTER GETTING ROBBED OF A PERFECT GAME

By Kirby, topspeed.com - By now, you've probably seen and heard all about the recent Detroit Tigers and Cleveland Indians baseball game where Tigers pitcher Armando Galarraga's perfect game was robbed from him after first-base umpire Jim Joyce missed an obscenely obvious call with two outs at the bottom of the ninth inning.

The resulting backlash from the controversial call has been a firestorm, to say the least, but to Galarraga's credit, he was neither bitter nor resentful at Joyce for taking his perfect game from him. Now, as a sign of how much the perfect game meant to Galarraga and how he handled the fallout afterwards, General Motors is doing its part in lessening the devastating effect of the perfect-game-that-wasn't by giving Galarraga his very own 2010 Chevrolet Corvette Grand Sport.

Mark Reuss, GM's North American president and an acquaintenance of Tigers owner Mike Ilitch, said the Corvette was given not only because of Galarraga's amazing performance, but, more importantly, because of the gracious way he handled the fallout after getting robbed of a perfect game.

"It is only fitting we help give back for all the Ilitches have done for Detroit and to celebrate Amando's pitching and sportsmanship during one of the most captivating evenings in Tigers history," Reuss said.

That's pretty nice of GM to give Galarraga a Corvette as somewhat of a consolation prize, but as life-long baseball fans, we can tell you how hard it is for a pitcher to get a perfect game in the big leagues so we're pretty sure that it's still stewing in the back of the minds of all those involved in that game, especially Galarraga and umpire Jim Joyce.