Pennsylvania personal injury lawyer: More accidents may be tied to GM faulty ignition switch

In what the New York Times reported as the most concrete movement yet that GM intended to compensate victims and their families, the lawyer hired by GM to determine compensation of victims of GM cars with faulty ignition switches met last week with lawyers representing hundreds of people and their families who claim they were affected by accidents involving the vehicles.

This may mean that that the potential number of those affected is much larger than the 13 deaths and 32 crashes that GM has previously admitted are linked to the faulty ignition. The Los Angeles Times reported in March that there could be as many as 303 deaths linked to those faulty ignition switches. This was based on a new report commissioned by the Center for Auto Safety, an independent watchdog group. GM vigorously challenged the report, stating that other issues could also have caused the 303 deaths. […]

GM using service bulletins to report recalls

GM’s announcing of recalls by service bulletins to car dealers and owners is not an effective way of informing the public of serious problems that may cause car accidents and compromise the safety of the person driving, as well as other passengers in the vehicle.

Over the past year, GM has recalled vehicles due to an array of safety issues, including problems with airbags, power steering, and electrical systems. These recalls were preceded by countless bulletins alerting of the problems months or years in advance, yet not ordering repairs, according to regulatory findings.

Technical service bulletins are only meant to alert dealers, and occasionally car owners, about minor problems, like a faulty interior light or air conditioner. They are not intended to address serious safety issues, which according to the law, must be handled by recalls.

In just one instance, the company released three bulletins starting in 2005 addressing the problems for power steering in the Saturn Ion, […]

GM Accused of Cover-up in Faulty Ignition Switch Recall. Chevy Cobalt Subject of Many Investigations.

Senators grilled General Motors CEO Mary Barra this week about the years of delays in recalling vehicles with faulty ignition switches, and accusing GM of a cover-up to hide the problem that caused at least 13 fatal accidents.

Bara told the house committee that she first heard there was a problem with the Chevrolet Cobalt in December, while GM’s senior management was apprised of the full matter on January 31, when the company announced its initial recall of Chevrolet, Saturn, and Pontiac vehicles.

Senator Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut spoke up during the senate hearing telling Barra that he though “it’s pretty much incontrovertible that GM knew about the safety defect, failed to correct it…and then concealed it from the courts and the United States.”

Internal documents show the company knew about problems with the switch for at least a decade, but recalls did not begin until this February. […]

Munley Law Personal Injury Attorneys personal injury lawyer talks about Chevy Cobalt and other related crashes and potential GM cover up

The Department of Justice and committees in the U.S. House and Senate are now investigating whether GM delayed recalling Chevrolet Cobalts and other cars with faulty ignition switches, as well as whether the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) should have demanded the automaker act sooner.

According to depositions filed in a civil lawsuit against GM over the death of a 29-year-old pediatric nurse in the crash of her Chevrolet Cobalt, the company knew a decade before it issued a recall that its Cobalt had an ignition switch problem that could shut off the engine while driving. This would cut off the driver’s power steering and brakes, in addition to safety systems, such as airbags.

GM acknowledged the problem in a 2005 technical service bulletin, a routine notice from automakers to dealers about possible problems and fixes. The bulletin did not tell dealers to put new key covers on the keys of the new Cobalts before they were sold or to alert buyers of the possibility that the key might move out of place and the engine might stall. […]

Pennsylvania personal injury lawyer discusses GM safety recall

GM has announced a recall of 1.6 million cars in the U.S. for a faulty ignition switch that can cut power without warning, shutting off safety systems, including airbags. GM knew of 13 deaths linked to the airbag failures.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has launched an investigation into why GM did not promptly recall the vehicles after it learned that faulty ignition switches were causing fatal crashes.

An increasing number of defective airbags lead to a record number of recalls in 2013, according to NHTSA records. Airbags have, at times, failed to deploy in serious car crashes and deployed on drivers who weren’t in crashes, causing serious injuries.

GM recalled their vehicles in two phases last month, but documents filed with the federal safety agency demonstrate that the automaker first learned of the problem in 2004. GM told NHTSA that it knows of 31 frontal crashes and 13 front-seat deaths in cases in which the faulty ignition switch had moved out of the “run” […]