General Motors knew about the defective airbags in 2001 and did nothing until this week. Then they lie about the number of deaths caused by their corporate greed. The government did nothing. The Federal government and General Motors have the blood of 303 people on their hands. Will anyone go to jail? Not a chance. We live in a country run by corporate fascists. GM will pay a fine and all will be well. Politicians will receive political contributions from GM and their PACs. All will be well.
Read the real report here:
GM Facing Allegations That 300 Deaths Were Caused By Failed Air Bags
GM – already facing criticism for delaying recalls due to defective ignition switches – is now facing accusations that 303 people died after the airbags in their cars failed to deploy following accidents.
“The review of the air bag failures, by the Friedman Research Corporation, adds to the mounting reports of problems that went unheeded before General Motors announced last month that it was recalling more than 1.6 million cars worldwide because of the defective switch. G.M. has linked 12 deaths to the defective switch in the two models analyzed, the 2003-5 Chevrolet Cobalts and 2003-7 Saturn Ions, as well as four other models,” the New York Times reported Thursday nights.
”General Motors criticized the use of the database, called the Fatality Analysis Reporting System.”
“As knowledgeable observers know, FARS tracks raw data,” Greg Martin, a G.M. spokesman, said. “Without rigorous analysis, it is pure speculation to attempt to draw any meaningful conclusions.”
Last month, General Motors said it would recall more than 1.6 million cars because of a defective ignition switch that, if jostled or weighed down by a heavy key ring, could turn off the car’s engine and electrical system, disabling the air bags.
Probably no better or worse than others, but I’ve always hated GM products – my entire family was a loyal GM fan until about the late 80’s. Long live the citation! Bring back the fiero! And my favorite?….the cadillac cimarron – hands down the biggest turd, ever. A chevy (?) with a caddy badge, and people bought this with real money!
Speaking of government corruption, did you see Holder just called the FBI off an investigation of Reid?
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/mar/13/fbi-blocked-in-corruption-probe-involving-sens-rei/
It’s just gets better every day in the land of freedom & justice!
Who has the government bomber today?
Correection…Who has the .gov bombed today?
Oh, forget it. I need Mavis Beacon teaches typing.
” … the cadillac cimarron – hands down the biggest turd, ever. A chevy (?)” —– Tommy
Yes, it was basically a “dressed up” Chevy Cavalier.
But ANY ’60’s Rambler would give it stiff competition. Then you’ve got the Pinto, Vega, and Gremlin.
But, IMHO, the worst piece of shit (mechanically) was the 1979 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme Diesel. Olds made a supremely shitty 5.7-liter diesel ….. this was an even massively shittier 4.3-liter. It could make …. wait for it ……. 90 hp before shattering into shrapnel.
Popular Mechanics called it “the most dismal design failure in automotive history”.
GM’s impetus for creating these engines came from the increasingly stringent federal emissions and fuel-economy regulations that began in 1972. But, wait!! Diesels were NOT subject to the same emissions requirements.
Great! So, let’s take the good old 350-cubic-inch V8, and convert it to a diesel. Let’s slap some new heads on a marginally reinforced block . Let’s ignore the fact of much higher compression ratios and combustion chamber pressures than what are present in a gasoline engine …. soooo, let’s just keep the same exact 10-bolt pattern and head bolts that are already there.
OK? Cool. Then let’s act all surprised when the insufficient head bolts stretched or broke and led to head-gasket failures …. which would result in coolant leaked into the cylinders ….. and because clearances in a diesel engine are so tight that this would lead to hydrolock and severe engine damage. Really, how in the fuck could they have known?
But, hey …. GM has really nice advertising.
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Stuck,,,had a friend who bought a Cimarron….he got pissed cause I told him it was a Cavalier with a luggage rack and gold trim….from then on I called it the CimaMORON !
I’ve worked in the automotive industry for 20 plus years as an engineer. I’ve had Ford engineers tell me that they factor in deaths ( pay-outs ) when trying to figure out if it’s worth issuing a recall .
Pinto exploding gas tanks. Ford knew about the problem BEFORE production began. It would have cost $11 per vehicle to fix. Ford decided human lives weren’t worth the eleven bucks.
I think chevy c-10 pickups had a little issue with side impacts and fireballs too, mustang’s gas tanks are held in with little more than baling wire as well.
And Stucky, don’t forget this fucktards used the same starter on their new diesels – they went through those like tap beer at the VFW.
American products are seemingly always rushed to market before they’re ready – diesels (which are awesome now), ABS, front wheel drive – remember how the under-spec’d the CV shafts/joints?…., fuel injection….fuel injection? Fuck sakes, we stole the plans for that from the Germans in WWII! Their fighter planes could fly inverted and such with injection – we couldn’t. The ‘vette and a couple offerings had it as an option – then it disappeared for several decades. I had a ’76 (as in, 1976) White tractor – semi to those not in the know, with ABS. A highway class 8 tractor, with a very early, very simple, and utterly useless piece of shit anti-lock brake system on a 1976 truck. Hilarious. The list of good ideas not ready, and rushed to production is endless.
Ah, but that was the “old,” evil, owned by the evil corporate GM.
Now, the new, union-owned, GM would NEVER do that.
So, they should not be made to pay.
My guess is that buried somewhere in their “bankruptcy” terms, is a statement about future claims concerning old issues.
My gut tells me that you, and I, and our children, or at least Benny’s printers (Yellen’s, whatever) will be on the hook for this one.
All hail the New World of GM!
The latest:
Cobalts Were Seen as Lemons From Start, State Data Shows
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/01/business/cobalts-were-seen-as-lemons-from-start-state-data-shows.html
Long before the Chevrolet Cobalt became known for having a deadly ignition defect, it was already seen as a lemon. Owners complained about power steering failures, locks inexplicably opening and closing, doors jamming shut in the rain — even windows falling out.
In more than 120 instances, General Motors was forced under state lemon laws to buy back faulty Cobalts, pay settlements to owners or let them trade in the cars, an analysis by The New York Times of state databases and court records shows. The buybacks came as dozens of claims were filed separately at G.M. from 2005 to 2009 that fit a specific pattern — moving cars, sometimes traveling at high speeds, would suddenly stop working.
“There were transmission issues, issues with the clutch, engine issues, air-conditioning issues,” James Gonzales of Riverview, Fla., said of his 2006 Cobalt, which G.M. repurchased under Florida’s lemon law. “Everything went wrong with that car, and everything that went wrong needed a big fix. Mechanically, it was a huge nuisance.”
General Motors declined to disclose how many Cobalts had been bought back under lemon laws, saying, “It is very difficult to answer questions about claims that may be more than a decade old.” That makes it impossible to calculate a precise nationwide total because reporting and disclosure rules differ from state to state, and federal regulators do not compile such data.
But in Florida, a state that collects data on repurchased lemons and some other buybacks, the Cobalt was the most-repurchased car in its class manufactured in 2005, its first model year. And in May 2005, G.M. was so alarmed by the early number of buybacks, according to a G.M. filing with federal regulators, that the automaker’s brand quality division urged its engineers to reopen an investigation into the car’s faulty ignition switch, which was one source of buyback complaints.
“It’s a vehicle with a poor track record, with deep concerns about its safety and performance,” said Rick Soletski, executive director of the International Association of Lemon Law Administrators, a group of American and Canadian officials that acts as an advocate for lemon programs.
The flawed switch, and G.M.’s failure to correct it for more than a decade, will be the focus of a congressional hearing on Tuesday, when Mary T. Barra, the G.M. chief, and David J. Friedman, acting head of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, are scheduled to testify.
The automaker has linked 13 deaths to the defect in Cobalts and several other models. In her prepared remarks, filed with House investigators on Monday, Ms. Barra said, “I cannot tell you why it took years for a safety defect to be announced.”
The Times review of the lemon law databases shows the Cobalt had problems well beyond the ignition switch. Complaints from buyers included such bizarre occurrences as the engine running after the key had been removed. At least four of the repurchased cars in Florida were resold to new owners, The Times found, including one that was identified as potentially having an ignition switch problem. There is no law against reselling lemons, and a G.M. spokesman, Greg A. Martin, said the automaker “complies with all state lemon law requirements, including the resale of repurchased vehicles.”
Ronald and Gwenda Heaster of Crawley, W.Va., knew right away that something was wrong with their car.
They had bought a red 2005 Cobalt for their 16-year-old daughter, Heather, but within weeks, it was repeatedly losing power and the family thought it was dangerous for her to drive.
“It would just die in the middle of the road,” Ms. Heaster said. “She could have gotten killed.”
The Heasters complained to dealerships and then to G.M.
“We told them those cars were not safe,” Ms. Heaster said. “They made all kinds of excuses and said it was our daughter’s fault.”
The Heasters noted another curiosity about their Cobalt: Heather could start the engine, remove the key, and the car would continue running. When Ms. Heaster mentioned the issue to the local dealership, the mechanic shrugged off her concern, she said, and told her, “All Cobalts do that.”
The Cobalt is among the six models of small cars that General Motors has recently recalled for the faulty ignition switch that is prone to turn off if it is bumped, shutting down the engine and disabling air bags. The automaker has recalled nearly 2.6 million of the cars, including over a million Cobalts, in the last two months. G.M. has made loaner cars available to customers who are uncomfortable driving their cars while they wait for them to be recalled and fixed. Already, 10,000 loaners have been provided.
In addition to the buybacks under lemon laws, details of the problems with the Cobalts were cited in complaints filed with federal safety regulators — more than 4,500 about Cobalts from January 2005 to March 2014, according to a review of the database by The Times.
“The car locks and unlocks itself regularly,” wrote one Cobalt driver in June 2010.
“I got in car closed door and rear window fell out,” another wrote in January 2006.
“When it rains, my car doors do not open,” wrote a driver in August 2008. “I took my car in to get the door locks replaced after being trapped in my car after the battery died.”
Dozens of complaints from owners focused on the same eerie scene: They would be driving, they would hear a chime and then they would lose control of their steering.
And then there were the cars that turned themselves off with no warning.
Arleen Karman of Evans City, Pa., said her two-month-old blue Cobalt shut off one day in 2005 as she approached a stop sign.
When Ms. Karman took her car in for service, she was told there was nothing wrong with it. The dealer said she was imagining things, she said. The engine died twice more and the dealership replaced her gas pedal, but the problem persisted.
She finally parked the car in her garage and never drove it again. She called a lawyer and, in April 2006, G.M. took the car back and issued a full refund, including the trade-in value of Ms. Karman’s previous vehicle, she said. As required by Pennsylvania’s lemon law, the automaker also paid her legal costs.
“They offered me my money or another car,” Ms. Karman said. “I said, ‘No way in this world do I want another Cobalt. Give me the money and I’ll go somewhere else and buy a car that runs.’ ”
Robert Silverman, her lawyer, said that while some claims like Ms. Karman’s were resolved quickly and with minimal resistance, others handled by his firm were not. “They did fight,” he said of General Motors.
Lisa Funk was also represented by Mr. Silverman’s firm, Kimmel & Silverman, after her Cobalt had engine problems in 2005. She complained to G.M. and her local dealer in Levittown, Pa., but was repeatedly dismissed. Her lawyer finally negotiated a replacement Cobalt for Ms. Funk, but that one acted up as well. She took a loss on the car, just to get rid of it.
“There is something wrong with these cars,” Ms. Funk said.
Mr. Martin, the G.M. spokesman, said it would be “inappropriate to draw any meaningful conclusions” from individual complaints.
“At this time our full focus is on taking care of current Cobalt customers and repairing their cars as quickly as possible,” he said in an email. “We also have initiated an unsparing internal review of the circumstances that led to this recall and we will hold ourselves accountable.”