Yes, it was bound to happen: with the revelation that General Motors may have known about ignition switch problems on several of its vehicles since 2001, the first shots have been fired in the courtroom. In this case, lawyers have filed a class-action lawsuit in federal court in Corpus Christi, TX seeking $6–10 billion for the loss of value of the vehicles, which includes models under the Chevrolet, Pontiac, Saturn, and Opel marques.
Bob Hilliard, one of the lawyers involved in the lawsuit, told Bloomberg, “These vehicles, all they have to do is get on the road for this defect to manifest. This is a true safety defect.”
Hilliard represents a family in Texas and two families in Wisconsin, all of whom had fatal accidents in Chevrolet Cobalts. He said that despite General Motors’ bankruptcy reorganization that generally protects companies from new claims, the New GM shouldn’t be shielded considering the full extent of the ignition woes weren’t previously disclosed.
So far, twelve deaths have been reported due to the faulty switch, according to General Motors. However, the automaker continues to review the data as it works with the government to determine why a recall didn’t take place sooner. The NHTSA also has questions to answer regarding why it didn’t pursue an inquiry upon receiving information of a potential problem.
“GM is focused now on ensuring the safety and peace of mind of our customers involved in the recall,” company representative Greg Martin told Bloomberg.
Stay tuned to GM Authority for GM news and up-to-date coverage of General Motors’ recalls.
Comments
This ‘non-discloser” of faulty ignition switches is the biggest cover-up since Watergate ! Only Nixons actions didn’t kill anyone ( as far as we know ) . I believe all the engineers that knew about this should be fired .They probably didn’t want to spend the money for fixing the defect , but it sure looks like they are about to pay now . Most of the public does not realize that GM isn’t in business to build cars , they are all about making money ! Here we just got done spending our tax dollars to keep the company from folding , and the goverment ( or we ) actually lost money helping them survive . Whether GM wants to call themselves ” The New GM ” , or whatever it sounds like they learned nothing . A name change doesn’t change corparete activity . Plus don’t forget the new CEO was an engineer , I hope congress gets to the truth to find out just exactly when did they know , who knew and why did it take 10 years for the recall . Heads need to roll .
Check your facts before you spout off,National Highway Traffic Administration (or whatever it is called) knew about the problem in 2007 and did nothing about it,didn’t make GM recall or fix. And if you check a little deeper you will find that toyota and the rest got gov’t money from the US. The banks that loaned Ford billions before the collapse also got bailed out so you can say that Ford survived because of gov’t money.