we at ntsa rely on data to drive our decisions. as i noted in my written statement, we undertook several volt crash tests to replicate the june incident. the agency reviewed all the crashes that involved volts. we found no results of post crash fires. we looked at a variety of data sources and all relevant early morning recording data and vehicle owner questionnaires. the agency found no indication of a post fire crash risk in the volt, nor were we able to re-create the june incident at the vehicle level. we shared our initial thoughts for the public on this in november. they analyzed the volt to see what caused the problemer in the battery compartment. we designed and constructed completely new and unique test mechanisms to replicate the intrusion that occurred during the may crash test. in mid-november, ntsa tested three volt lithium battery packs by damaging the battery compartment and rupturing the coolant system. on november 24th, one of the battery packs caught fire at the testing facility burning the shed that housed them. t

it appears that it was this story that prompted ntsa to acknowledge the fire's occurrence and later to open a safety defect investigation. in addition, the subcommittee is also concerned about the preparedness of ntsa to regulate electric vehicles. in his 2011 state of the union address, president obama set the goal of one million electric vehicles on the roads by 2015. despite the government's strong encouragement of this technology, there was a fundamental lack at knowledge about how to handle an electric vehicle after it has been involved in a crash. this fire risk associated with the lithium ion technology is known. yet they failed to drain the charge if the battery creating a hazardous situation which let to the explosion. it appears this lack of knowledge was caused by a lack of preparation. according to documents obtained by the committee, ntsa qurd about the post vehicle krosh procedures in september of 2011, four months after the volt fire. this evidence strongly suggests that that's h agency had not paid cl attention to the lithium technology batteries in cars before the volt

how does ntsa say, no, we did it the same way we always do it. the fact of the matter is they didn't do it the same way. i understand halo product. it has to do with what we're doing. we can compete with anybody in the world at any level. but again, our success is driven by producing cars in mass quantities. so it truly is market driven. when i look at those two e-mails and trying to think, okay, if they're really not involved, and they really don't have an influence, why are these e-mails going back and forth? why are they advising general motors and how she they message these things? again, i admire what you're doing. you don't have to be here. you could do a lot of different things. danny speaks highly of you all the time. just help me to understand that and help the american people understand that, i would appreciate it. >> thank you for your question. i want to make something perfectly clear. i joined the board in july of '09. so these e-mails preceded any knowledge or specific knowledge i would have of the situation. i would allow that as w

well, so the only example of any safety concern with respect to that occurred in a laboratory or by ntsa? >> no. to be precise, the first one occurred in the field in a contractor -- i guess a contractor that did ntsa's, it was a test facility in wisconsin. and it -- we hit it with a severe side impact. and it sat alongside the road with three other vehicles. three weeks later, a fire occurred. and it took us a while not only to understand which vehicle started the fire and under what conditions, because it happened over a weekend. then we had to find the root cause. we had to dissemble the battery. you saw pictures of it. it was not all that easy to ascertain precisely what happened. subsequently, tests were conducted to try to simulate that again. you could have a bad test. >> sure. >> we ran tests. we could -- crashed it again. we could not replicate a fire with the same conditions. we didn't depower. we didn't do anything. >> well -- i was listening to the chairman of the full committee questioning you. and in the process of asking a question, he asserted some facts. i want to make s

when did ntsa say something about this? >> we responded on the 11th. we were close to making those -- >> but for the story, when were you going to tell us? >> fairly soon. we were in the process of doing. that. >> fairly soon? >> yes. >> but not until, i mean the way it worked out -- >> mr. chairman, it's my responsibility. i do not disclose to the public anything that we find -- we don't have proof that it is unreasonable risk to safety. >> let me ask you one more question before yielding. is it customary for the secretary of transportation to comment on the safety of a vehicle while there's a formal investigation going on? >> the secretary of transportation was fully aware -- >> wait a minute. >> and he made -- they made the statement based on the facts provided to him by this agency. >> but that's not what i asked. does he normally do that? in other investigations, does the secretary of transportation, while you have a formal investigation going on, does the secretary of transportation make a kplent about the safety of the vehicle, not any comment,

we want ntsa and general motors to be equally good. megyn: a correction on an earlier note.idized the chevy volt to the tune of $24,000 per vehicle, not $240,000. there has been a rare discovery in upstate new york. a sacred tapestry turning up after it vanished more than a century ago. country music legend singing a happy tune. details of his victory in court. president obama arguing in his state of the union address that the wealthy should be paying more taxes. but does that strategy appeal to a broad cart of the country or is it part of the class warfare that has divided some? our voting panel weighs in. >> he's creating a division saying put it on my desk and let me sign off on it and he's pushing the blame on congress. megyn: an amazing discovery in buffalo, new york. a religious tapestry believed to contain relics from hundreds of saints seen for the first time in 100 years. >> reporter: it's an incredible religious find, almost too good to be true and it's general rating for questions than answers. this mysterious masterpiece is causing quite a stir. the rare relic re