The Chevy Bolt has only been on sale a few months, but the Insurance Institue For Highway Safety knows a winner when it sees one. The group does not test low-volume vehicles, which is why it waited years to test the slow-selling Tesla model S. Everyone is predicting robust sales for the Bolt once its rollout is complete, and IIHS has opted to test it sooner rather than later.

This according to an IIHS tweet on March 10th, which said, "What we're working on today: The 2017 @chevroletbolt is in the house for safety tests." The group can take from a month to a few months to report its findings after it begins its testing. Partly because it often groups the vehicles into clumps. The Bolt missed the prior EV testing group due to the timing of its launch.

The Bolt has its work cut out for it. The top two selling EVs in America right now are the Chevy Volt in first place and the Toyota Prius Prime in second place. Both are IIHS Top Safety Pick Plus-rated vehicles. All Prius Primes earn this rating since all are fitted with forward collision prevention as standard. Only some Volts with optional safety equipment Chevy charges more for earn that designation.

In the recent testing, Tesla's Model S failed to earn a Top Safety Pick Plus rating for three reasons. We expect that Chevrolet, a company with vastly more safety testing experience than Tesla, Inc., will pass on the first round. We are not sure if all Bolts have forward collision prevention, but IIHS will be sure to make clear if they do or do not.

Image courtesy of IIHS.