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Report: GM Knew About Ignition Switch Defect in 2004
General Motors Co. knew ignition switches were defective in its Chevrolet Cobalt/Pontiac G5 small cars 10 years before announcing last week it would recall 778,600 of them to fix the problem, USA Today reports.
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General Motors Co. knew ignition switches were defective in its Chevrolet Cobalt/Pontiac G5 small cars 10 years before announcing last week it would recall 778,600 of them to fix the problem, USA Today reports.
The newspaper cites the deposition of a GM engineer in connection with a lawsuit over a fatality blamed on the flaw.
The switch in the recalled 2005-2007 models can be jostled into the "off" position by jolt to the suspension or the weight of too many other keys on the ignition key ring. GM reports more than 20 crashes and at least six fatalities where the car's airbags didn't deploy because the switch turned off power to the car before impact.
USA Today says a GM discovered the problem in 2004 and issued a service bulletin a year later advising dealers to add a snap-on ignition key cover if customers complained. The deposed GM engineer described the part as an "improvement" but "not a fix," according to the newspaper.
GM has declined comment because of a continuing dealer lawsuit related to the flaw.
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