GM Makes First Payments to Victims of Car Recall

 Posted on December 00, 0000 in Car Accidents

General Motors (GM) recalled several motor vehicle models this year due to faulty ignition switches that cause the car to fail and airbags not to deploy according to ConsumerReports.org. The Center for Auto Safety commissioned a report to review federal crash data and found that a whopping 303 deaths could be attributed to GM cars with un-deployed airbags. According to ConsumerReports.org, “this recall has cast a spotlight on serious, chronic failures in identifying safety defects in the vehicles we drive.” Some research alleges that GM has known about the faulty ignition switch problem in several of its vehicle models for years and failed to take the appropriate action to fix it.

This year, according to a recent report from ABC News, GM recalled 2.6 small cars across the world in an attempt to fix the faulty ignition switch. An estimated 23 motor vehicle deaths in the United States have been linked to the malfunction. GM CEO Mary Barra told ABC that the company has stocked suppliers with enough parts to fix all the faulty switches currently installed, but only an estimated 1.1 million cars have had the repair made.

If you are injured in an accident in which the car manufacturer was at fault—such as this GM case—you may be eligible for a personal injury claim. Barra told ABC that she was estimating GM would pay out a total of $400–$600 million in victim claims. The first car recall was made in February, and GM stocks plummeted 18 percent in 2014 alone as a result. In early October, when Barra addressed a Global Business Conference in Michigan, she announced that the first payouts had been made to victims and victims’ families. That same day, GM stock rose 2.6 percent.

Earlier this year, GM attempted to ward off other types of lawsuits, according to The New York Times, in which defendants wanted to claim that GM was responsible for the diminished value of their vehicle with a faulty ignition switch.

If you or someone you know has been injured in a car accident in which car mechanics failed or an airbag failed to deploy, you may be eligible for compensation. Contact a Chicago motor vehicle accident attorney today.