I'm sure it would be possible to build a system whereby the connection between each group of battery cells could be fed through (for example) normally-open relays. Any sign of catastrophic failure cuts power to all of these relays, and the result is that you have a car full of unconnected batteries, each one good for just a few volts.
The real trick would be to build the system that could reliably de-power the relays in the case of an accident, but would also be reasonably trivial to reset in the case of false alarm, e.g. when an accident ends up being sub-critical. An end-user reset might also restrict the car to 'limp mode' until it's inspected by a qualified person.
The real trick would be to build the system that could reliably de-power the relays in the case of an accident, but would also be reasonably trivial to reset in the case of false alarm, e.g. when an accident ends up being sub-critical. An end-user reset might also restrict the car to 'limp mode' until it's inspected by a qualified person.