However, when GM started recalling vehicles to fix these sinuously complex systems back in February 2018, they acknowledged only 13 deaths more related to the problem. Although it is unfortunate that 113 people had already lost their lives because of this faulty switch.
If your car’s ignition switch starts to appear out of place in the dash or if you hear that it goes “click,” you should call back your lawyer and then swiftly call a GM dealership. This is not yet a recall, but there is enough information on their website to choose which garage to go to.
Some of the victims have already agreed to settlements with the company; but hundreds more are currently involved in litigation, in hopes of recovering damages for severe injuries and wrongful death. The company is also facing a class action lawsuit and numerous pending charges from the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration.
RECALL INFORMATION for GM Ignition Switch Recall
GM’s faulty ignition switches can inadvertently turn into the “off” position. The AAA estimates that 805,000 people have been affected by one or more recalls announced between 2009 and 2014 for these faulty switches. When this happens, the vehicle is suddenly left without power to run the steering or the brakes, or to deploy the airbags. If a sudden injury occurs such as during an accident like when airbags cannot be deployed correctly, it can lead to worse casualties than those from
Following Amber Marie Rose’s death, her family and friends pleaded to General Motors for a recall of these key auto safety components. The company responded with an inquiry that lead to the creation of three Chevy Cobalt ignition switches.
General Motors Is Never Going to Totally Stop Recalling the Ignition Switch Again
New ignition switch failures have been divided into two categories: Category One and Category Two. For our article on General Motors recalls, we are going to focus on the first category: injuries that pose an increased risk for fatal injury.
Types of injuries in Category One include:
- Paralysis, quadriplegia
- Amputation
- Head injuries
- Brain damage
- Pervasive burns
Types of injuries in Category Two include:
- Broken bones
- Lacerations, serious cuts, and burns
- Spinal injuries
- Whiplash
- Head injuries, such as cuts and bruising, or concussion
- Neck injuries, such as those damaging the larynx or trachea
- Chest injuries, such as broken ribs or internal injuries
- Arm and leg injuries, including sprains and breaks
- Abdominal injuries, such as pelvic fractures and injuries to internal abdominal organs
- Foot injuries, including sprains and breaks
If you are injured by a flaw in the General Motors ignition switch, you might be eligible to file for a GM ignition lawsuit as GM is facing litigation from thousands of plaintiffs.
GM Ignition Switch Problems
GM provided recalls for their mass-produced cars because of the faulty ignition systems and had fixed the problem before it reached a critical point.
The 2003 incident led to national headlines as reports of millions of cars with the issue came in from those impacted by driving deaths. It is estimated that over 1 million vehicles may be rotten with the faulty ignition switch, which has frozen the engine and left drivers in a dangerous situation.
Nobody knows how Amber Rose came to die, but it was in July of this year that she crashed into the wall and died due to an ignition switch defect. General Motors finally took action after other people faced injury.
In December, General Motors sent out a warning that the ignition switches are defective in many of their models. With this recall of over 700,000 vehicles, customers have been advised to remove items from their keychain to avoid an inadvertent shut-off.
This wasn’t the last time General Motors was being linked to defective cars. Although they were investigated many times and suffered no repercussions, they recalled 149m Saturn Ions in 2014 and 46m Chevrolet Cobalts in 2007.
General Motors went through financial trouble in 2009 and 2010, causing the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to continue issuing warnings about the potentially dangerous problems associated with its lines of cars. However, GM wouldn’t take action until 2012, when 4 crashes and 6 injuries from accidents related to malfunctioning ignition switches occurred to result in 4 deaths.
GM cars recalled after 14 years
Despite their findings in 2012, GM didn’t implement a recall to actually repair the faulty switches until February 2014. This action was caused by more findings that the switch was to blame for at least 31 crashes and 13 deaths.
Starting February 13th, GM began recalling Chevy Cobalt and Pontiac G5 models. Three weeks later, Chevy followed up with more, including 2005-7 Chevrolet Cobalt and 2006-7 Chevrolet HHR models. Later on, in October of the same year, they concluded it by including Pontiac Solstice and Saturn Sky models as well.
General Motors has been recalling its vehicles for ignition switch issues over and over for the past few years. In the end, GM recalled 2.6 million vehicles because of their handling of this issue.
GM Recalls 1.6 Million More Vehicles
General Motors recalls also take in issues with fuel lines, and keyless ignitions or transponders. With General Motors getting in so many lawsuits over the dumb decision to rely on a mechanical feature rather than computer chips, that might not seem like the smartest thing for them to do now, does it?