General Motors’ ignition switch death toll has risen by another seven fatalities for a total of 64, Automotive News reports.
Compensation lawyer Kenneth Feinberg’s office released an updated report on GM’s ignition switch compensation fund Monday that indicated 64 deaths and 108 injury claims had been approved through the program. The deadline to file a new claim passed on January 31, however Feinberg’s office will be processing them through to late spring or early summer.
According to the report, Feinberg’s office has received 4,343 death and injury claims since opening the fund up for applications last August, while another 1,571 are still under review. GM previously set aside $400 to $600 million from its earnings in order to pay for the compensation fund, however it could end up costing the automaker over $600 million.
Comments
The issue was they KNEW and didn’t do anything until now. Doing the right thing, BEFORE it is required, is something GM isn’t good at.
Take the rear headrests of your brand new $50,000 GMC Sierra Crew cab. Any loved ones in the back seat will put their heads and necks through the rear glass in a strong enough rear end collision if they are over 4 feet tall. To have any new model come out this decade (or the last two decades, for that matter) and to have these tiny, ineffective things in place is absolutely inexcusable. Ford has had real headrests in their trucks for over ten years now, Volvo has never made a car without them.
Someone who designs, or gives the go ahead, for something like that, ask (1) is that person someone who cares about people at all, (2) is a $10,000 profit per unit not enough to expect real headrests in the back?
Even the experts disagree on many things in automotive design, but the necessity of effective headrests is one the those few things that are clear and there has never even been a discussion about it. How can we be in 2015 and GM’s highest volume vehicle does not have them??
On a funnier note, my password to enter this post today was “eetpu”.