Posted on 03/03/2014 9:47:51 AM PST by jazusamo
For Laura Christian, July 29, 2005, was the worst kind of anniversary.
One year earlier, Ms. Christian had been reunited with Amber Marie Rose, the daughter she gave up for adoption at birth. But Ms. Christian did not get to call her daughter a year later. In the predawn hours that day, Amber, 16, died after her 2005 Chevrolet Cobalt crashed and the air bag failed to deploy.
Now, nearly nine years later, Ms. Christian knows that the air bag’s failure was the result of a defective car part. General Motors has recalled nearly 1.4 million cars in the United States, including those Cobalts, saying that the ignition switch can shut off a car’s engine and electrical system, and disable its air bags.
Amber’s death was the first of 13 linked to the problem, and was an early warning in what would become a decade-long failure by G.M. and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to address a problem that engineers and regulators had been alerted to years ago.
For a resurgent General Motors, which has twice apologized, the recall is a major embarrassment as it tries to escape the shadow of its bankruptcy and government takeover...
~snip~
The recall is also an embarrassment for federal safety regulators. After two of the Cobalt crashes, the regulators took a close look at the cause, each time raising the possibility of a defect. They also met with G.M. about the issue. But despite the red flags, they never opened a broader investigation into whether the car was defective.
“It was a complete failure of the system,” said Clarence Ditlow, executive director of the Center for Auto Safety, a nonprofit consumer advocacy group. “They got away with it because N.H.T.S.A. never opened an investigation.”
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Will the lawsuits be against the estate of old GM, or will New GM be held liable?
Earth to NYT...it’s YOUR company, not mine.
We conservatives would have sent that clumsy producer of yesterday’s shoddy junk to the dust bin a few year back, but some ill-educated idiot who never ran anything...lessee...I think he came from Hawaii...decided to screw the 1) stockholders, 2) bondholders, and 3) taxpayers by keeping that crowd O’losers in business.
I don’t give a smelly Obamastuffthing about anything that happens to GM.
Shove it and your silly editorials up your collective Obamaholes, NYT.
Don’t know but it seems GM and lawyers for pending lawsuits are not talking now.
New GM knew of this and I’m only guessing but think they will be named in lawsuits.
Whatever the outcome of the lawsuits, this does seem like a really reckless coverup. The problem had to get known eventually. I suspect that I'm not alone in it being the final reason to never consider purchasing a GM car.
This, the electric car fiasco, and the fed bailout....how can the company survive?
Absolutely right, it was reckless on GM’s part and astonishing to me the NHTSA knew about it, met with GM over it and still did nothing.
It looks like Government Motors and their largest shareholder, the UAW are in trouble.
The N.H.T.S.A was real quick to force a recall form Toyota a few years ago . . .
snip~
The recall is also an embarrassment for federal safety regulators.
And who are these regulators. Where did they work before they were regulators or where will they work after they are regulators.
Gm is alive and Osama is dead. Forward 2012!!!
The reason no action was taken was that GM appealed to the WH to get the NTSA off their back. WH wanted to protect Obama’s reputation so pressure applied and no Cobalt’s recalled.
I would not be at all surprised if that’s exactly what happened.
At least NY Times is criticizing GM. Don’t see the same from “conservative” Fox, which receives big ad bucks from GM.
You’re correct and previous articles have focused on the loss of power steering and brakes, GM will rue the day they blew off this recall.
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