My understanding is the “new” GM was supposedly absolved from taking on the debts of the “old” GM.
However, any known flaws or defects were supposed to be declared to the bankruptcy court and supposedly this wasn’t.
Observing the obvious tragedy behind this (the deaths)...
...aside from that, the ‘old GM’ BS is what’s so laughably pathetic about all this.
Had GM just handled this on the up & up, it wouldn’t be ruled intentional (if it hasn’t already) and the problem might have cost them a lot less (plus fixed cars a lot faster and likely saved a few lives).
The sort of culture that’s responsible for this, top-down, doesn’t develop overnight and certainly doesn’t dissolve on the basis of a few personnel changes...