Is the Chevrolet Cruze radioactive? It may not turn its driver into the Hulk, but some Cruze owners in China think the cars might be emitting dangerous amounts of radiation—enough for GM Shanghai to start testing some vehicles.
In the city of Guangzhou, one Cruze owner tested his car with an electromagnetic reader. The amount of electromagnetic radiation inside the car while it was idling read 4 microteslas (µT), but jumped to 15 when the car started moving. The man found that the highest reading, 20 µT, was over the shifter while the car was in motion.
The British Health Protection Agency sets a maximum of 0.4 µT, while a Canadian research team found that radiation above that same scale led to an increase in cases leukemia. However, everything electronic produces some form of radiation; the average car produces around .27 µT when started, and televisions produce up to 20 µT. And despite the findings of the Canadian Radiation Protection Committee, the overall scientific community is still split on whether there’s a link between electromagnetic radiation and deadly health problems.
The obvious joke here, of course, is that it’s ironic for the Chinese to worry about radiation—does the Cruze have any lead in it?—but the concern has not reached deaf ears. GM has hired a third party to test owners’ cars for any possible defects and potential health risks. The Physical and Chemical Research Center of Science and Environmental Analysis (say that ten times fast) reported that their findings fell in line with Chinese and international standards. You can read the report here, but you may need to brush up on your Chinese first.
GM will publish an official response in the coming week or two.
Still, radioactive cars make for good headlines, and sales of the Cruze have been chugging along quite nicely: China bought 221,196 examples last year, and so far this January Chevrolet has sold a not-insignificant 22,711 Cruzes. It will be worth paying attention to see if this press will derail sales for the rest of 2012.
Sources: China Car Times, Want China Times
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