GM Agrees To A $5.75M Ignition Switch Settlement With California
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General Motors has agreed to a $5.75 million settlement over allegations that the automaker made false statements to investors and the California Public Employees’ Retirement System, or CalPERS, regarding the faulty ignition switch recall issued in 2014.
According to a recent report from Reuters, California Attorney General Xavier Becerra said that GM hid issues related to the ignition switch recall, failing to build reserves for expected losses and artificially inflating the automaker’s stock price. Bercerra concludes that CalPERS lost millions of dollars as a result of GM’s actions.
“General Motors cheated California twice – first by concealing a fatal flaw in its vehicles, then by concealing the facts about the flaw in its financial disclosures, which affected the retirement investments of public servants across California,” Bercerra said.
Meanwhile, General Motors said that it was “pleased to have cooperated with the state of California to resolve this matter.”
As GM Authority covered last year, General Motors agreed to a $120 million settlement for owners claiming that defective GM ignition switches resulted in lost vehicle value. In 2017, GM agreed to pay $120 million over claims made in 49 U.S. states and the District of Columbia regarding the faulty ignition switches. GM also previously paid roughly $2.6 billion in fines and penalties related to the faulty ignition switches, with a $900 million settlement in a U.S. Justice Department criminal investigation, and $1 million for a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission accounting case.
The GM faulty ignition recall was first issued in February of 2014, with an estimated 30 million vehicles worldwide eventually recalled, including Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, GMC, Oldsmobile, Pontiac, and Saturn models.
The issue is in the design of the ignition switch, which could potentially fall to the “Off” position while the vehicle is in motion, shutting off the engine and disabling the airbags. The defect is attributed to 124 deaths and 275 injuries.
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Too bad the press is so busy chasing clicks to really tell the story. Could rehash the whole affair but consider how this was solved. GM changed the size and shape of the hole in the ignition key. These phonies in the “safety” agencies embellished as much as they could but the simple truth is GM underestimated how mush trash people would put on a key chain. I also doubt that California Attorney General Xavier Becerra even covered the state costs to bring this load of bull to the front. But since he’s on his way to a national office, doubt he cares at all.
GM or anybody else have a hard time fight bad publicity these days. There’s no denying that virtually all local news broadcasts are bought and paid for by personal injury lawyers. And they make their living by influencing juries. A case settled isn’t guilt. It’s a payday for those charlatans. And GM or anybody else can’t fight all of them or the low brow smears and double talk they spew. And as a wise man said, juries are made up of people too stupid to get out of being on them.
I was a valet at a casino and the amount of junk that people would attach to their keychains was surprising. It’s no wonder that combined with the additional weight and the odd placement of the ignition that there was a problem. GM must have known that the location of the ignition wasn’t ideal as they had a rubber pad located underneath the keyhole to avoid wear.
California is so broke they are bilking money from any company they can in any way they can.
This money will not benefit anyone tied to this case legitimately or not.
This is even worse than a class action that only enriches lawyers while those they claim to represent get a free oil change.
40+ years as a GM technician, and never once had a complaint or mention of this problem.
I hate the fact that lawyers can convince a court that companies be forced to pay for the stupidity of people. I had a 2005 and a 2008 Chevrolet Cobalt, but l didn’t put extra crap on my Keychain. Hence, l never had any issues at with my ignition switch.
It’s a keychaki people. Not a place to attach all you stupid trinkets to.
Thy still did not fix the problem there fix you can’t put any more keys on your key ring they never fix the problem i own a 2009 Cadillac with a bad switch all they want is to me to bring my keys in to put a piece of plastic insert on them there fixing the problem
Your Cadillac uses a totally different switch, let your dealer put the key inserts in and you’ll be fine.
California is the one who should be paying GM for all the expensive pollution control and EV goofiness they make shareholders pay for.