GM expands vehicle recall by 971,000 cars built 2007-2011

In continuing coverage of the General Motors vehicle recalls over problems with ignition switches, the volume of coverage erupted following GM’s announcement yesterday of additional recalls. Several national outlets and wires are reporting on the new recall numbers, with many others addressing the overall recall scandal and the government’s response in both DOT and Congress.

The CBS Evening News broadcast that early yesterday evening, GM announced it would be enlarging the number of vehicles so that the list “includes newer models.” CBS reporter Jeff Glor says, “it’s a recall of every single car manufactured under six different models,” recalling 971,000 more cars. The broadcast continues, GM counts “at least 12 deaths in 31 crashes” because of the problem, although the company “didn’t start the recalls until last month,” despite having known of the ignition issue since 2001. Furthermore, the broadcast mentions that GM CEO Mary Barra will be appearing before Congress on Tuesday. The automaker is going to start repairs on the switches “in two weeks, but they could take months to complete.”

NBC Nightly News broadcast that the cars in this latest recall “were built from 2008 to 2011 and the vehicles include the Chevy Cobalt and HHR, the Pontiac G5 and Solstice and the Saturn Ion and Sky,” but “unlike the older vehicles no deaths have been officially linked to these models.” The broadcast explains that GM is taking “an abundance of caution” in dealing with the issue. Also, yesterday, GM further “told dealers to stop selling 2013 and 2014 models of the Chevy Cruze with 1.4 liter turbo engines” but “has not given a reason for that order.”

In a long “AP Impact” report, the AP focuses on how NHTSA handled 164 complaints submitted by 2005-2007 Chevrolet Cobalt drivers since 2005, which “was far more” complaints “than any of the car’s competitors from the same model years, except for Toyota Corolla, which was recalled after a government investigation in 2010.” Though the report implies that NHTSA should have done more to address the concerns, it also considers the difficulty of determining vehicle issues. The report mentions that Secretary Foxx last week requested an “internal investigation” of the agency’s response to the GM problems, noting the letter in which Foxx made the appeal, where he stated that there was nothing he knew of to suggest that NHTSA “failed to properly carry out its safety mission based on the data available to it and the processes followed.” Foxx also “said that GM didn’t give the government enough information.” Still, the report makes a point to say “sometimes NHTSA acts quickly ... the agency investigated electric car maker Tesla Motors after just two reports of vehicle fires and no injuries.” The AP also reports under the headline “Major Events In GM’s Recall Of 1.6 Million Cars.”

Bold Rid reports online that “NHTSA has had its staff cut by one fifth and its budget ‘stagnate’ in the years since the Ford Explorer safety scandal in 2000,” after which Congress passed a law to bolster the agency’s investigation powers. The report is sympathetic with the staff cuts, saying that “51 versus 248 million,” or the estimated number of cars in the US, “is a lop-sided contest, no matter the competition,” continuing by saying the agency “is terribly underfunded and understaffed.”

Bloomberg News reports that this augmented recall of 971,000 more vehicles “brings the total to 2.59 million small cars.” GM spokesperson Jim Cain explained in a phone interview with Bloomberg News, “We know that these vehicles were built with good switches but what we don’t know: Were any of them repaired with a bad switch ... So out of an abundance of caution we’re just going to replace the switches in all of them.” The report points out that, besides the congressional investigation into GM, the company “is conducting an internal review and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is also investigating,” as well as the Justice Department. Barra also issued a statement on the expanded recalls, saying that “Trying to locate several thousand switches in a population of 2.2 million vehicles and distributed to thousands of retailers isn’t practical.” The Los Angeles Times reports that Cain also said, “We need to make sure that one of these bad switches did not wind up in one of these newer vehicles. Rather than leave anything to chance, we are going to call them back and replace them.”

A 1000+ word report by the New York Times talks about Florida engineer Mark Hood, who was consulted in the lawsuit of the family of Brooke Melton against GM. Preparing for his role in Melton v. GM, Hood “had photographed, X-rayed and disassembled” the GM ignition switch from Brooke Melton’s 2005 Chevy Cobalt, but Hood “was at a loss to explain why the engine ... had suddenly shut off, causing her fatal accident in 2010 in Georgia.” Upon purchasing a replacement ignition switch from a local GM dealership, however, Hood discovered that, despite having the same identification number as Melton’s faulty switch, “a tiny metal plunger in the switch was longer in the replacement part. And the switch’s spring was more compressed. And most important, the force needed to turn the ignition on and off was greater.”

In a separate 1000+ word report on the additional recalled vehicles, the New York Times mentions that NHTSA Administrator David Friedman will also be testifying before Congress this coming week. The report notes that Friedman as well as Barra will face tough questions from lawmakers in both House and Senate committees.

The Washington Post reports that GM’s “slow recall” since becoming aware of the ignition issue “has also put the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration under fire for not detecting the problem and ordering a recall.” The report counters with NHTSA’s position, however, which is that the ignition switch defect was difficult to pin down, even “despite opening three special probes of accidents linked to the flawed switch.” Offering commentary in the report as well is one a former administrator of NHTSA, Joan Claybrook, who says, “What is so interesting to me is what the pressure of the public spotlight and the possibility of criminal penalties have done to force this company to behave.”

The Wall Street Journal reports that GM has calculated that a preponderance of the recalled vehicles have driven more than 100,000 miles, which means that many GM dealers are eager to offer their help to potential new customers bringing their recalled vehicles into GM dealerships. Although the company has stated that dealers should not take advantage of the influx of consumers bringing their cars in for repair, the report points out that GM has unveiled a promotion of $500 cash allowance for owners of recalled vehicles wishing to trade-in their models.

Bloomberg News reports that Barclay’s analyst Brian Johnson predicts that GM “will probably create a fund of as much as $3 billion to pay claims associated with” the ignition problems. Similarly, the head of crisis-management firm Temin & Co. Davia Temin says, “I don’t think they have a choice in terms of creating a fund,” because “I think Mary Barra has been doing everything right up until now, and the next right thing is to create this fund before someone orders it. You have to put your money where your mouth is.”

GM orders halt to 2013-2014 Chevy Cruze deliveries, gives no reason. USA Today reports online that “late Thursday,” GM notified dealerships that it would “stop delivering 2013 and 2014 Chevrolet Cruze compacts with 1.4-liter engines – models that account for about 60% of Cruze sales.” Calling the action “a mysterious move,” USA Today reports that the car company “won’t say why it issued the order,” adding that “It’s unclear how the secretive approach to details of the current order fits with the pledge of ‘transparency’ in all GM’s dealings made recently” by Barra. GM spokesperson Alan Adler comments, “I have no details,” only divulging that “I’m sure somebody knows.” Further according to the report, though, is that automakers often issue such notices of halts in vehicle deliveries, which is “almost always related to a safety problem.”

The AP reports, the GM directive for “dealers to stop selling” the affected Cruze cars is affecting 21,000 vehicles, “but the company won’t say why.”

House memo shows GM, regulators missed early chances to correct ignition problem. New revelations on Sunday regarding early knowledge of ignition problems in millions of GM vehicles by both the company and Federal regulators received significant media coverage.

The AP reports that a new memo “from the House subcommittee investigating” the GM recalls says that in 2005 the company “discussed two separate fixes for an ignition switch defect but canceled them without taking action.” The memo was put out on Sunday, “ahead of the subcommittee’s Tuesday hearing on GM’s recall of 2.6 million small cars for an ignition switch defect linked to 13 deaths.” The changes “were later canceled because they would take too long and cost too much.” Later in 2005, GM “also approved but then canceled a change to the key design.”

The Detroit Free Press reports the memo said that “there are indications GM approved the design of the switches in 2002 even though the company was aware they did not meet specifications.” Noting the 2005 action, the Free Press says that “revelations raise even more questions about why GM and federal regulators didn’t act sooner to address what appears to have been a longstanding problem associated with defective ignition switches linked to 13 deaths and 31 crashes.”

Reuters reports that Rep. Tim Murphy (R), chair of the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s Oversight and Investigations subcommittee, said that the documents portray an “unsettling picture” of the handling of the ignition problems.

NHTSA group opted not to pursue issue in 2007. In a brief piece, NBC Nightly News reported that “federal safety officials declined to launch a federal investigation into the problem more than six years ago, even after being presented by evidence about complaints and crashes.”

The New York Times reports that officials at NHTSA’s Office of Defects Investigation “decided not to initiate a formal investigation of problems with the ignition switches” of the GM vehicles “even after an investigative group reported that it knew about 29 complaints, four fatal crashes and 14 field reports that showed the problem was preventing air bags from deploying,” according to the House memo. That information was presented to the Office of Defects Investigation in 2007, but the regulators “told committee staff investigators that ‘the panel did not identify any discernible trend and decided not to pursue a more formal investigation.’”

The Wall Street Journal reports that in response to the memo, NHTSA said it “reviewed data from a number of sources in 2007, but the data we had available at the time did not warrant a formal investigation.” The NHTSA acting chief is expected to testify this week before both House and Senate panels.

The Los Angeles Times reports that despite concerns about airbag failures, “federal regulators twice declined to open formal investigations to determine the cause, according to a congressional investigation into delays in recalling the vehicles.” NHTSA and the DOJ “have opened investigations into why it took so long for GM to recall the vehicles. Documents indicate the company knew about the problem as early as 2001.”

Bloomberg News reports an NHTSA manager “recommended almost seven years ago investigating why air bags in some” GM cars “weren’t deploying, a memo issued by the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee shows.

We believe that obtaining legal satisfaction from those who harmed you shouldn’t require more hardship. That’s why we do everything we can to streamline the process, and we will file a lawsuit on your behalf if necessary. If you or a loved one has been affected by this recall, and you believe it caused an injury, contact Chhabra & Gibbs today by going to www.cglawms.com or by calling this number: 601-948-8005.

GM facing legal challenges on multiple fronts

The AP reports, “A northwest Alabama man is suing General Motors, claiming his daughter’s death was caused by an ignition switch that is the subject of a large recall.” The AP notes that “Steve Smith filed the suit Monday in Lauderdale County Circuit Court on behalf of his daughter, Aubrey Wallace Williams of Anderson.” The AP explains that “the suit says the ignition in her 2006 Chevrolet Cobalt went out on Dec. 4, 2013, causing the vehicle to become uncontrollable.”

Meanwhile, Bloomberg News reports that “plaintiffs in a lawsuit against General Motors Co. (GM) asked a federal judge in Texas to force the automaker to send a “Park it Now” warning to car owners not to drive recalled models until faulty ignitions are fixed.” Bloomberg News says that “Charles and Grace Silvas, who sued GM this month in a proposed class action for as much as $10 billion for the lost value of 1.6 million cars it recalled, filed the request two days ago with U.S. District Judge Nelva Gonzales Ramos in Corpus Christi.”

CNN reports on another suit, filed in San Francisco on Monday, “brought on behalf of 13 car owners in 9 states.” CNN says that “lawyers are seeking class-action status to compensate owners of the 1.4 million cars that GM recalled in the United States due to the faulty ignition switch.”

Observers ask if NHTSA “dropped the ball” on GM defects.

The Wall Street Journal reports that NHTSA is coming under increased scrutiny after evidence has surfaced that the agency missed signs pointing toward defective ignition switches in certain GM vehicles. In addition to congressional investigations, Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx has ordered a review that determines how NHTSA can improve its data analysis. The Journal also notes that Foxx has told Congress that agency officials didn’t know everything GM knew about the ignition switch problems. “It is our belief that had we known there was an issue, that might have changed the outcome of those initial crash investigations,” Foxx said.

Herb Weisbaum writes at NBC News that “consumer advocates want to see things change at the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration” because “they believe these dangerous vehicles would have been recalled many years ago had the safety agency done its job.” According to Clarence Ditlow, executive director of the Center for Auto Safety, “NHTSA is simply not protecting the public from safety defects as it’s supposed to do.”

Safety advocates question whether NHTSA has sufficient resources.

 Bloomberg News reports, “The U.S. office responsible for monitoring safety defects in cars has had its budget stagnate and its staff cut by one-fifth from highs more than a decade ago, when Congress tried to strengthen it.” Bloomberg News notes that “while no one has connected cuts to the failure to order a recall earlier of 1.6 million General Motors Co. cars linked to 12 deaths, safety advocates say U.S. investigators don’t have enough resources to keep up with data and detect patterns.” Meanwhile, Nathan Naylor, a spokesman for NHTSA, “defended the agency’s track record, saying its investigations have led to 929 recalls involving more than 55 million vehicles in the past seven years.”

We believe that obtaining legal satisfaction from those who harmed you shouldn’t require more hardship. That’s why we do everything we can to streamline the process, and we will file a lawsuit on your behalf if necessary. If you or a loved one has been affected by this recall, and you believe it caused an injury, contact Chhabra & Gibbs today by going to www.cglawms.com or by calling this number: 601-948-8005.

Civil suit filed against GM by families of two crash victims

ABC World News broadcast on “a new lawsuit against General Motors over that massive recall,” involving “the family of two teenagers killed in a crash filing suit against GM because of that faulty ignition switch that led to the recall of more than one and a half million cars.” Although, “GM did not comment on the suit,” the broadcast continued, the company “said it’s focused on insuring the safety of all customers involved in the recall.”

Bloomberg News  reports, the case was filed yesterday in Minneapolis by attorney Bob Hilliard of Hilliard Munoz Gonzales LLP of Corpus Christi, Texas, “involving two fatalities in a 2006 car crash.” Hilliard’s clients claim that GM was negligent “in designing and manufacturing the switch.” The report also notes that Hilliard filed a different suit last week that “proposed class action” against GM “seeking as much as $10 billion to compensate GM car owners for the diminished value of vehicles affected by the recall.”

The AP  reports that the October 2006 crash in question killed 18-year-old Natasha Weigel and 15-year-old Amy Rademaker. The vehicle was a 2005 Chevrolet Cobalt, driven at the time by another teenager, Megan Phillips, who has since “suffered permanent brain damage.” The report adds that this incident “was among the first blamed on the faulty ignition switches,” which GM “has admitted knowing about ... for at least 11 years before taking the action” to recall 1.6 million of its compact cars. According to a statement from Hilliard’s firm, “GM hid this dangerous, life-threatening defect from my clients and all other Cobalt drivers for over a decade just to avoid the cost of a recall.”

The Detroit Free Press reports that “legal experts say GM may be obligated to compensate victims from pre-bankruptcy crashes if the victims can prove GM did not disclose its knowledge of the defects while it was navigating bankruptcy.”

In continuing coverage, the Detroit Bureau (3/22, Eisenstein) reports that General Motors CEO Mary Barra will be in Washington on April 1 for “a grilling on Capitol Hill.” The GM chief executive will “testify on the same day as David Friedman,” NHTSA’s acting administrator, given that “the safety agency has also come under fire from some critics who question whether it failed to take action on its own to force a recall earlier.” A statement from House Energy and Commerce Committee Chair Fred Upton of Michigan said, “We look forward to hearing from both Mary Barra and Administrator Friedman.” Also, the report notes that Barra has put Jeff Boyer in charge of safety at GM. Barra said that “Jeff will have open access to me and our board. If there are obstacles in his way, he has authority to remove them. If he needs more resources, he will get them.       

Hundreds of thousands of possibly defective GM vehicles still on the road.

USA Today reports online about the “hundreds of thousands of General Motors cars” still on the road even though they have “the same steering system that prompted a big Chevrolet Cobalt recall four years ago,” and “even though federal safety officials say they have duplicated the Cobalt defect in the non-recalled Saturn Ion.” NHTSA states it has been “actively investigating the potential safety defect” with power steering in Ions from 2004 to 2007 “and will take appropriate action based on the agency’s findings.” TrueCar.com provided its own analysis to USA Today and “found 335,204 of those Saturns still are on the road.” Another statement from NHTSA yesterday, however, said that “there are additional external factors to consider even when evaluating the same component in different vehicles, such as wheelbase, size of the tires, weight of the vehicle – all of which can affect the steering.”

Fox Business reports that the fact that GM has recalled 3.2 million vehicles for ignition switch trouble, air bag issues, brake problems, and questionable front-end impact tests “hasn’t stopped some dealers from selling the flagged cars.”

A report for NPR notes that “the number of vehicles recalled has more than doubled over the past 20 years — but most recalls go unnoticed by the general public.” Edmunds Vice President Scott Oldham comments, “I don’t think there’s a manufacturer out there that isn’t executing a recall at any given time.”

Bloomberg News reports on one of GM’s chief design engineers Gary Altman, who told “more than a dozen managers” in some time “around 2000” that “they needed to find other ways to reduce costs” on Chevrolet Cobalts and Saturn Ions, “including a suggestion to pull parts from existing models.” The report thus summarizes Altman’s advice as “build them for less.” The report continues, the Cobalts and Ions “were the product of a culture of cutting costs and squeezing suppliers.”

GM probe expands to possible bankruptcy fraud.

The New York Times reports that Federal authorities’ “nascent investigation” into General Motors “is looking in part into whether the automaker committed bankruptcy fraud by not disclosing defects that could lead to expensive future liabilities, a person briefed on the inquiry said on Friday.” The issue “is whether G.M. knew about the defect – a faulty ignition switch – when it filed for bankruptcy in 2009, and failed to fully disclose the problem, while realizing that it could lead to a cascade of liability claims.” The Times notes that while “it has been known that the Justice Department was investigating G.M., the interest in the bankruptcy filing is the first indication of what direction the inquiry may take.”

DOT asks IG to open independent audit of NHTSA in GM recalls.

Coverage of General Motors in the wake of its extensive vehicle recalls continues to appear in numerous outlets nationally and locally, as well as on two of the major broadcast networks. On Friday, Transportation Secretary Foxx directed Inspector General Calvin Scovel to open an investigation into how quickly NHTSA responded to safety complaints, while NHTSA and the General Counsel are also conducting their own review.

The CBS Evening News broadcast on yesterday’s announcement by Foxx, saying that “Foxx ordered an independent investigation into whether the government acted quickly enough to reports of safety problems in General Motors cars.” The brief broadcast noted that the recall, due to “an ignition defect,” is “linked to 12 deaths.”

We believe that obtaining legal satisfaction from those who harmed you shouldn’t require more hardship. That’s why we do everything we can to streamline the process, and we will file a lawsuit on your behalf if necessary. If you or a loved one has been affected by this recall, and you believe it caused an injury, contact Chhabra & Gibbs today by going to www.cglawms.com or by calling this number: 601-948-8005.

GM CEO apologizes for delayed vehicle recall.

The CBS Evening News reported that General Motors’ new CEO May Barra apologized Tuesday “for the company’s failure to recall more than one point five million vehicles until years after it learned of a deadly defect.” CBS (Axelrod) added that Barra “admitted the company took too long to issue the recall saying, ‘I am very sorry for the loss of life that occurred and we will take every step to make sure this never happens again.’” CBS notes that while GM “has admitted to knowing that faulty ignition switches could cause engines to shut down and power steering and airbags not to work” it did not issue a recall for 13 years. Congressional hearings “are expected to be held some time in the next few weeks,” and Barra “plans to testify.”

NBC Nightly News reported that much of the controversy “centers on how the company quietly changed the design of a flawed ignition switch.” NBC added that Federal regulators “are formally demanding answers. Who signed off on the change and why they weren’t notified.” NBC added that “there’s a federal criminal investigation underway, and congressional hearings are being planned for next month.” Barra “reiterated the company is cooperating fully with regulators.”

 A front-page story in the New York Times reports that Barra “sought to restore some measure of confidence in the company’s new leadership, starting with herself,” and notes that her “performance was a marked departure from the norm in the auto industry, where corporate chiefs routinely avoid talking about recalls unless subpoenaed by Congress.” The Times notes that the recall controversy “is both an opportunity and a risk” for Barra, and her “straightforward strategy will be severely tested in the weeks ahead, as federal regulators and other government officials press for details on why G.M. waited years to reveal that ignition switches in its small cars could, if bumped or weighed down by a heavy key ring, cut off engine power and disable air bags.”

The Wall Street Journal reports that at a news conference Tuesday, Barra said, “Clearly this took too long. There have been times when the [recall] process has worked very quickly but in this instance, it took too long, and that is my concern, and that is why I want to understand what happened.” The Journal notes that the Justice Department, the NHTSA, and House and Senate committees are investigating how GM handled the recall.

The Los Angeles Times reports that GM appointed a vehicle safety chief, Jeff Boyer, on Tuesday. Boyer “will oversee the development of GM vehicle safety systems, safety performance and recalls.” Barra explained, “This new role elevates and integrates our safety process under a single leader so we can set a new standard for customer safety with more rigorous accountability. If there are any obstacles in his way, Jeff has the authority to clear them. If he needs any additional resources, he will get them.”

We believe that obtaining legal satisfaction from those who harmed you shouldn’t require more hardship. That’s why we do everything we can to streamline the process, and we will file a lawsuit on your behalf if necessary. If you or a loved one has been affected by this recall, and you believe it caused an injury, contact Chhabra & Gibbs today by going to www.cglawms.com or by calling this number: 601-948-8005.

GM in “damage control mode” after announcing more recalls.

NBC Nightly News reported that GM on Monday “announced a new round of recalls at the nation’s largest automaker dealing with investigations on multiple fronts.” Now, CEO Mary Barra is “in full damage control mode.” NBC  says that “More than 1.5 million SUVs, Vans and Cadillac’s are part of GM’s second wide-ranging recall this year.”

ABC World News refers to the recall as “new trouble” for GM. ABC  says that the problems in the new recall cover “air bag and brake issues,” and the story notes that the recall is “part of an effort to assure consumers GM is acting quickly to fix problems.” Barra said, “Something went wrong with our process in this instance. And terrible things happened.”

The CBS Evening News reported that the new recall is in addition to the recall of 1.6 million cars “for an ignition defect that is linked to 12 deaths. In an internet statement, GM’s new CEO Mary Barra had this to say.” Barra said, “I want you to know that we are completely focused on the problem at the highest levels of the company. We are putting the customer first and that is guiding every decision we make. That is how we want today’s GM to be judged.”

We believe that obtaining legal satisfaction from those who harmed you shouldn’t require more hardship. That’s why we do everything we can to streamline the process, and we will file a lawsuit on your behalf if necessary. If you or a loved one has been affected by this recall, and you believe it caused an injury, contact Chhabra & Gibbs today by going to www.cglawms.com or by calling this number: 601-948-8005.

Lawsuits, Federal scrutiny mount for GM over ignition switch recall.

Reuters reports on motorist outrage at the notion that GM sat on information concerning a faulty ignition switch in its cars for years without informing regulators. The article details the experiences of several drivers of affected cars, some of whom have posted complaints on the website arfc.org, which sends information to NHTSA. The article notes the ongoing NHTSA probe as well as the Administration’s description of the faulty switch that could get shifted from the “on” position to the “accessory” position. The article also references plaintiffs’ attorneys from civil litigation who scoff at GM’s offer of a $500 credit towards the purchase or lease of a new car for affected drivers.

The Detroit Free Press reports that a lawsuit has been filed stemming from a 2006 crash in Wisconsin that killed two teenage girls who were driving in a 2005 Chevrolet Cobalt, one of the vehicles affected by the recall. The suit is also being filed “on behalf of anyone who has bought or leased a vehicle suspected of having a faulty ignition switch” and seeks compensation for the decrease in resale value for the affected vehicles. Plaintiffs allege that the accident in question was not related to alcohol use but was rather affected by the shutting down of power systems caused by the malfunctioning switch. The article notes that the lawsuit “could be the first test of GM’s legal immunity from liability for deaths or injuries in accidents that happened before the current company was created” following the 2009 bankruptcy. The article notes that GM documents filed with NHTSA “show the company knew of a problem with ignition switches on early Saturn Ions as early as 2001.”

The New York Times reports that Canadian politicians are looking into how national transportation officials handled the information they had on the ignition switch issue. Transport Canada had recently announced “that it would investigate the links between General Motors’ ignition-switch defects and a fatal crash last June.” The article notes that 236,000 of the recalled vehicles across six models are in Canada. The accident from June 2013 occurred in Quebec and involved a “high-severity motor-vehicle collision when the vehicle went off road and impacted multiple trees,” killing the driver who was not wearing a seatbelt at the time.

USA Today reports that Transport Canada is analyzing black box data from the vehicle, identified as a 2007 Chevrolet Cavalier. The last known fatality to have been linked to the defect was in 2009, while the article notes that GM mechanics noticed the issue in 2004 while testing the 2005 Chevy Cobalt. The article also points out that NHTSA’s fine for GM could be as high as $35 million, while the Department of Justice is said to be examining the possibility for criminal charges.

Bloomberg News reports that the recall, which was only doubled to include 1.6 million vehicles on February 25, has “clouded the reputation of the biggest U.S. automaker ... and raised a question that investigators in Washington, New York and inside GM are pursuing in parallel: Why didn’t GM recognize the potential dangers sooner?” NHTSA Spokesman Nathan Naylor reportedly explained that NHTSA “didn’t force GM to conduct the recall sooner because GM hadn’t provided timely information about the connection between defective ignition switches and failing air bags.” The article discusses at length a wrongful death lawsuit being pressed by Georgia plaintiffs stemming from a 2010 crash. The article includes a statement from GM Spokesperson Greg Martin acknowledging that the company’s decision-making process “was not as robust as it should have been.”

The Automotive News reports on a fatal 2009 crash in Pennsylvania in which a 2005 Cobalt’s airbags failed to deploy, with NHTSA investigators unable to provide a connection to the ignition switch issue at the time. The article provides a timeline of the events in the case, including a related 2005 service bulletin that GM had sent out. The article also notes that GM must provide “reams” of information to House and Senate committees by March 25 and must address the 107-question list from NHTSA by April 3. One industry analyst compares the crisis for GM to the infamous Ford Pinto episode, and the article suggests that the $100 million in repair costs could pale in comparison to results from the wave of litigation and potential government fines.

GM retains two law firms to investigate how company handled ignition switch defect. Under the headline “General Motors Calls The Lawyers,” the New York Times reports at length on GM’s choice to retain law firms King & Spalding and Jenner & Block, to proceed with a thorough “investigation into why the company failed for more than a decade to alert regulators and consumers to the defect.” According to the report, “hiring outside counsel in these cases is part investigation, part public-relations gambit and part legal strategy.” The report notes that the company’s decision to retain the two firms happened “just days after” NHTSA sent GM “a detailed order” demanding answers to “107 specific questions related to the defect and the company’s handling of it.”

The Los Angeles Times reports that GM “has acknowledged to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration that at least 12 deaths and 31 traffic accidents have been linked to its vehicles’ faulty ignition switches.”

GM customers file class action suits.

TIME reports that a class action suit representing “customers claiming their vehicles lost value because of serious safety problems with General Motors vehicles” was filed on Friday, and will probably be just “the first of many.” The suit says that “GM’s mishandling of the ignition switch defect....has adversely affected the company’s reputation as a manufacturer of safe, reliable vehicles with high resale value.”

Bloomberg News reports that attorney Bob Hillard and other lawyers filed for a class-action suit against GM yesterday in Federal court in Corpus Christi, Texas, seeking “to recover $6 billion to $10 billion for the lost value of cars affected by the recall.” As for the fact that GM’s bankruptcy makes it no longer liable for accidents that happened before it sought bankruptcy protection, Hillard comments that “I’m going to go back to that bankruptcy judge and say, ‘You have to undo this, the liability of old GM, because it was the new GM’s continued coverup after the bankruptcy that allowed people to be hurt or killed.’” According to Bingham Greenebaum Doll LLP bankruptcy attorney Chip Bowles, however, “A few bankruptcy cases have been set aside for fraud on the court, but you have to establish deliberate fraud and concealment.”

The CBS Evening News broadcast briefly on the suit, while the Detroit Free Press also reports.

NHTSA reaffirms there was not enough evidence to warrant investigating GM. In continuing coverage of the General Motors recall of 1.6 million vehicles, most outlets are focusing on NHTSA’s and the company’s responses to highly vocal criticism. Several national outlets, such as ABC News, USA Today, Time, and CNN’s Money, are picking up the story that first appeared in the New York Times on a study by the Center for Auto Safety that counted 303 deaths in crashes involving the same type of GM vehicles that have been recalled. The CAS study further implied that NHTSA should have acted more swiftly to open a recall investigation.

The website of GMAuthority reports with continuing coverage of Secretary Foxx’s testimony to the Senate Appropriations Committee on Thursday. Foxx claimed that “Over the last decade there were complaints related to (these) particular vehicle(s), and despite three crash investigations and other research, the data was inconclusive. It just didn’t point to a formal investigation.” The report also notes that “Foxx said the NHTSA launched three crash investigations between 2004-2006, with two of those having their ignition switched moved from ‘run’ to ‘accessory,’ which may have disabled the air bags,” although “three people perished in those two accidents.”

WXYZ-TV Detroit reports from its website that Foxx added, “NHTSA is currently looking for ways to improve its own investigations and recall processes.”

ABC News reports online that the Center for Auto Safety conducted a review of Federal crash data and found that “303 people died after airbags failed to deploy in two of the General Motors car brands that were recalled last month.” GM dismissed the findings as being overly simplified, and, likewise, the report notes that NHTSA is claiming that “there was still not enough evidence to require a formal investigation into airbag defects.”

USA Today reports from its website, saying that the NYTimes noted that Friedman Research, the group commissioned by the Center for Auto Safety to go through the Fatality Analysis Reporting System, “looked for non-rear impact crashes in which the bags did not deploy.” USA Today conducted its own analysis of NHTSA files, though, and found that the agency’s records “show only 87 complaints involving the recalled GM vehicles in the ‘stall’ category,” and there were “no deaths are among those.”

TIME reports that on Thursday the Center for Auto Safety stated in a letter that “NHTSA could and should have initiated a defect investigation to determine why airbags were not deploying in Cobalts and Ions in increasing numbers.” GM spokesperson Greg Martin responded, however, to the NYTimes story, saying that “without rigorous analysis, it is pure speculation to attempt to draw any meaningful conclusions.”

For its part, the Detroit Free Press notes that “death counts can be misleading in the midst of a recall,” citing the case of Toyota’s sudden acceleration recall where a government probe later uncovered that “only five deaths were tied to unexpected acceleration in Toyota and Lexus vehicles.” The report also says that NHTSA reiterated, “When NHTSA finds a trend that indicates a vehicle may be an outlier, we take action.”

The Detroit Bureau reports that former NHTSA Administrator Joan Claybrook “said the current threshold for ordering an investigation is too tough and officials don’t seem to understand that it should be much lower.” Additionally, CAS Executive Director Clarence Ditlow says that GM should have been more proactive as well, because “the whole point of the recall is to eliminate the product liability lawsuit, which causes quite a bit of damage to (an automaker’s) brand as well as costing a lot of money in damages.”

We believe that obtaining legal satisfaction from those who harmed you shouldn’t require more hardship. That’s why we do everything we can to streamline the process, and we will file a lawsuit on your behalf if necessary. If you or a loved one has been affected by this recall, and you believe it caused an injury, contact Chhabra & Gibbs today by going to our website at www.cglawms.com or calling this number: 601-948-8005.

GM Recall

On Feb. 13, 2014, General Motors (GM) recalled 780,000 Chevrolet Cobalts and certain Pontiac vehicles to repair an ignition switch problem that can allow the key to unintentionally slip from its “run” position when the car hits a bump or if the keychain is too heavy. As a result, the defect can cause an engine shutdown and loss of power steering, brakes, and safety systems, including its airbags and anti-lock brakes.

On Feb. 25, GM expanded the recall to include hundreds of thousands of additional Chevy, Pontiac, and Saturn cars, bringing the total number of affected vehicles to 1.4 million.

GM has linked the defect to 31 crashes involving airbags that failed to deploy and the deaths of 13 motorists.
Depositions taken during a civil lawsuit against GM revealed the auto maker knew in 2004, a decade before it issued a recall, that its Chevrolet Cobalt had an ignition switch that could inadvertently shut off the engine while driving.

According to news reports Tuesday, the U.S. Attorney's Office in New York has opened a criminal probe into the circumstances surrounding the GM ignition switch recall.

We would like to talk to you about any cases involving serious injuries or deaths resulting from crashes involving the 2005-2007 Chevy Cobalt, or model year 2003-2007 Pontiac G5, Saturn Ion, Chevy HHR, Pontiac Solstice and Saturn Sky.

The process of demanding compensation for the harm you’ve suffered can be complicated, even if it doesn’t seem fair that you should have to go through even more trouble to be made whole again.

We believe that obtaining legal satisfaction from those who harmed you shouldn’t require more hardship. That’s why we do everything we can to streamline the process, and we will file a lawsuit on your behalf if necessary. If you or a loved one has been affected by this recall, and you believe it caused an injury, contact Chhabra & Gibbs today by going to http://www.cglawms.com or calling this number: 601-948-8005.