The reputation of the Chevy Volt – part of the next generation of “green” vehicles – has come under fire (sorry) under increasing scrutiny since a few of them burst into flames recently. At the center of the controversy are the huge lithium-ion batteries, manufactured in Korea, which may be subject to some incendiary events which are making consumers nervous.

Always sensitive to the needs of their customers, GM is making buyers an offer they likely can’t confuse. They’ll just buy the cars back.

General Motors will buy Chevrolet Volts back from any owner who is afraid the electric cars will catch fire, the company’s CEO said Thursday.

In an exclusive interview with The Associated Press, CEO Dan Akerson insisted that the cars are safe, but said the company will purchase the Volts because it wants to keep customers happy. Three fires have broken out in Volts after side-impact crash tests done by the federal government.

Akerson said that if necessary, GM will recall the more than 6,000 Volts now on the road in the U.S. and repair them once the company and federal safety regulators figure out what caused the fires.

“If we find that is the solution, we will retrofit every one of them,” Akerson said. “We’ll make it right.”

A smart move on the part of GM, clearly. To be successful in marketing you need to be sensitive to what options consumers want and are willing to pay for, as well as identifying features which are less popular. Cars prone to suddenly turning into a human size barbeque grill, according to recent customer satisfaction surveys, clearly fall into the latter category.

All jokes aside, I like the idea of companies offering alternative design vehicles like this. They’re not for everyone, but if you don’t tend to travel great distances or have a need for lugging around a lot of stuff, an electric car might be a good option for you. (Assuming they ever come down in price to a range where people facing such considerations could widely afford them.) But yes… in terms of first things first, you should probably make sure they don’t catch fire.

Side-bar question: are we already making these types of batteries in the United States? (I would restrict that question to batteries actually usable for such heavy duty work and noticeably less.. errr.. flammable.) Why are we importing them from South Korea?