USA Today reports:

General Motors is contacting every owner of a Chevrolet Volt to assure them the extended-range electric car is safe and allay fears it could catch fire after a crash.

In addition, GM is going to give any owner who still has concerns another GM car while the federal investigation of Volt is underway.

The Volt has been a very poor market performer, though one wouldn't get a sense of the company's disappointment from the public statements of GM executives. Not only has the Volt been a tough sell for GM, it's had some serious technical flaws. More than one green-friendly Volt, an electric model which was launched following the government bailout of General Motors, possibly as a condition of the bailout, has caught fire, sometimes weeks following a crash. The Volt's lithium-ion battery appears to be the culprit.

It's uncertain how GM will "allay fears it could catch fire" when, in fact, the Volt has caught fire. Nonetheless, GM began sending letters to 5,329 Volt owners on November 28, 2011.

The GM mailing list may not have to reach more than 5000 buyers. This May, 2011, press release suggests that the US Government may be the largest buyer of the model.

Just speculating here, but, by sending only one letter to the federal government, GM's mailing list may not be much larger than many families' Christmas card lists. It's the season. GM should put Christmas stamps on their mailed reassurances (the secular ones, of course) and throw the underperforming US Postal Service a bone, too.