LOS ANGELES — For years, General Motors has wanted to be more like Toyota. It wanted to sell more passenger cars, like Toyota. It wanted Toyota’s reputation for reliability. But in one area, GM is doing everything it can to not be like Toyota.
As federal safety officials began investigating the cause of fires that followed test crashes of its Chevrolet Volt electric vehicles, GM shifted into communications overdrive, trotting out senior executives and engineers to talk about the issue and launching a customer-care initiative.
Analysts say the Detroit automaker wants to be sure it is not seen as sitting on its hands and downplaying a safety issue — a trap Toyota fell into after a deadly 2009 car crash killed four people and set off fears of sudden uncontrolled acceleration in Toyota and Lexus vehicles.
GM moved quickly to allay customer fears, said Eric Noble, president of the CarLab, an industry consulting firm in Orange, Calif.
GM said any Volt owner concerned about safety could borrow a free GM vehicle until the issue is resolved.
And on Thursday, GM told The Associated Press that it would buy back Volt cars from concerned drivers.
So far, “only a handful” of Volt owners have requested loaner vehicles, GM said.
“This is a smart move on GM’s part,” Noble said, “because the total exposure to GM is infinitesimal if you think about the small number of Volts that are out there on the road.”
