Whenever Missouri or Illinois residents learn that a loved one has died due to the negligence of another party, they can find themselves dealing with emotions that range from grief to confusion to anger. In the event that a fatal car accident responsible for the loved one’s death was caused by a defective product, that anger can be even sharper. If an investigation reveals that the company responsible for producing the defective product knew about the issues with the item years in advance — but failed to issue an appropriate safety recall soon enough to save precious lives — families may consider filing a wrongful death lawsuit through a St. Louis personal injury attorney.
Take the recent highly-publicized case revolving around car maker General Motors Co. with regard to the faulty ignition switch in certain models manufactured from the years 2003 through 2007. The models include the Chevrolet Cobalt, Chevrolet HHR, Pontiac G5, Pontiac Solstice, Saturn Ion and Saturn Sky. The danger related to these models is that the ignition key could be knocked out of “run” to “accessory” or “off” if a heavy key chain pulls on it, or if it is otherwise jostled unexpectedly. In the process, both the engine and safety gear such as airbags could be shut off. This has apparently led to a number of fatal car accidents and what many believe is a long-overdue safety recall by GM.
Did GM’s delay in safety recall cause avoidable fatalities?
According to U.S. safety officials, at least 303 deaths have resulted due to auto accidents involving 1.6 million of these compact cars that were only recently recalled by GM. This contrasts starkly with the numbers announced by GM — only 12 deaths in 34 crashes, according to the auto maker. Some are calling for GM to establish a victim’s injury and pain and suffering compensation fund in the neighborhood of $1 billion. It is too soon to tell whether the auto maker will actually take proactive steps to establish such a fund, or whether victims and surviving relatives will need to file personal injury and wrongful death lawsuits instead.
GM has admitted in filings that it submitted to the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration that it had originally discovered the problem with the faulty ignition switch back in 2001 when it was doing preproduction testing of the Saturn Ion. It wasn’t immediately clear why the company didn’t take steps to ensure consumer safety at that point, rather than allowing such a dangerous and defective product to be released across Missouri, Illinois and the rest of the nation.
Troubling factors to consider in GM safety recall case
This seems especially troubling when considering the following factors:
- GM waited until February of this year to recall 600,000 Chevrolet Cobalts — and then waited another two weeks to recall another 750,000 vehicles that were also known to have the same problems with faulty ignition switches.
- Some industry experts estimate that the cost to fix the defective ignition key could be as low as $2 to $5 per vehicle.
- The disparity between GM’s only linking 12 deaths to the defect while safety officials have tied at least 303 deaths to the faulty ignition key.
- A criminal investigation is now being conducted by the U.S. Justice Department to determine whether GM handled the defective ignition keys appropriately.
- According to Claire McCaskill, a U.S. Senator from Missouri, a Senate subcommittee also intends to look into the matter and “find out who dropped the ball and put millions of Americans at risk.”
Anyone who has been seriously injured or lost a loved one in a fatal car accident involving a company’s failure to issue a timely safety recall may wish to consider filing a lawsuit in civil court to seek restitution for medical expenses or even pain and suffering compensation. One good first step in this course of action can be consulting with an experienced St. Louis personal injury attorney. As an experienced trial attorney myself, I offer such consultations free of charge, and only collect fees in the event that I succeed in obtaining financial compensation for my clients. Please consider contacting my St. Louis personal injury law firm toll-free at 1-888-586-7041 so we can take steps to preserve vital evidence in your case as quickly as possible.
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