General Motors confirmed a dangerous and faulty ignition switch in about 1.6m now-discontinued small car models almost five years ago but denied the defect existed and even threatened victims’ families with retaliatory legal action, a US newspaper has alleged.
According to a feature length report published by the New York Times, at a meeting on 15 May, 2009, GM learned learned that data in the black boxes of Chevrolet Cobalts confirmed a potentially fatal defect existed in hundreds of thousands of cars.
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But, the paper alleged, citing interviews, letters and legal documents, in the months and years that followed, as a trove of internal documents and studies mounted, GM told the families of accident victims and other customers that it did not have enough evidence of any defect in their cars.
Only last month did the automaker finally recall 1.6m Cobalts and other small cars, saying that if the switch was bumped or weighed down it could shut off the engine’s power and disable air bags.
The New York Times report makes for disturbing reading, saying that, in one case, GM allegedly even threatened “to come after the family of an accident victim for reimbursement of legal fees if the family did not withdraw its lawsuit”.
In another instance, it allegedly dismissed a family “with a terse, formulaic letter, saying there was no basis for claims”.
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By GlobalData“We sent the paperwork for the car to them and they said there’s nothing to this,” Neil Kosilla told the paper. His 23-year-old daughter, Amy, died in a Cobalt accident in March 2010 after the air bags failed to deploy.
“They said we had nothing,” Kosilla added.
The report said that, since the engineers’ meeting in May 2009 referred to above, at least 23 fatal crashes had involved the recalled models, resulting in 26 deaths.
GM reported the accidents to the government under a system called Early Warning Reporting, which requires automakers to disclose claims they receive blaming vehicle defects for serious injuries or deaths.
A New York Times review of 19 of those accidents – where victims were identified through interviews with survivors, family members, lawyers and law enforcement officials – found that GM pushed back against families in at least two of the accidents, and reached settlements that required the victims to keep the discussions confidential.
In one of those cases, the company settled a lawsuit brought by the family of Hasaya Chansuthus, 25, who crashed her 2006 Cobalt in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. After resisting, the company negotiated a deal even though Chansuthus’ blood-alcohol level was more than twice the legal limit. Data from the black box – which records vehicle systems information – showed that the key was in the accessory or off position, according to court documents, and the air bags did not deploy. The accessory position turns off the car, disabling the air bags, but allows certain electronics, like the radio, to remain on.) The terms of the settlement were confidential.
In other instances, GM ignored repeated calls, families claimed.
“We did call GM,” Leslie Dueno told the New York Times. , His 18-year-old son, Christopher Hamberg, was killed on 12 June, 2009 – not quite a month after the critical 15 May meeting of GM engineers about the ignition data – while driving his 2007 Cobalt home before dawn in Houston. He lost control at 45 miles per hour and hit a curb, then a tree, the police report said.
“Nobody ever called me. They never followed up. Ever,” Dueno told the paper.
Late February’s recalls of the Cobalt and five other models encompassed model years 2003 to 2007, the New York Times noted. GM faces numerous investigations, including one by the Justice Department looking into the company’s disclosures in its 2009 bankruptcy filing as well as what it told regulators.
In the bankruptcy agreement, the automaker was shielded from liability for accidents that occurred before 10 July, 2009.
“We are conducting an unsparing, comprehensive review of the circumstances leading to the ignition switch recall,” GM said in a statement on Monday.
“As part of that review we are examining previous claims and our response to them. If anything changes as a result of our review, we will promptly bring that to the attention of regulators.”
GM has so far not responded to an email request sent by just-auto yesterday seeking comment on developments to date.
