A Personal Injury Attorney Explains How the GM Recall Could Affect You
Vehicle safety has been on America’s mind lately, as our news is filled with one car recall after another. The road is not necessarily a safe place, but Fuller & Fuller, Attorneys – a personal injury attorney law firm where all the partners are family – can help you if you are involved in an accident on the road. The malfunctions that prompted the recalls caused deaths and severe injuries, and the recalls have come from three major automakers that Americans heavily depend upon for safe, reliable vehicles. General Motors, Chrysler, and Toyota have all been involved in separate safety-related snafus in the last month.
GM, long the face of American auto manufacturing, is embroiled in two simultaneous safety scandals. In mid-February, GM announced that they were recalling 2.6 million vehicles because of concerns over malfunctioning ignition switches. These dysfunctional switches could, in rare circumstances, lead to engine failure, faulty brakes, and airbags failing to deploy. At the end of March, they recalled 1.3 million more vehicles off the road because of malfunctioning in their electric power steering systems. Reuters uncovered information from internal emails within GM indicating that General Motors had known about the safety issues, which have been tied to at least thirteen deaths and numerous injuries, since 2001. The issue was made even more scandalous when it was discovered that in order to fix this issue, GM would only have had to spend less than a dollar per car to ensure that their ignition switches would not fatally malfunction.
Last week, the CEO of GM, Mary Barra, was grilled in front of a committee in the House of Representatives about why it took over a decade for GM to respond to a safety concern which cost Americans their lives. Ms. Barra did not have a satisfactory answer to the senatorial committee for why GM had stated that there was not “a good business case” for replacing the faulty ignition switches even though American lives were at stake. She consistently dodged questions by claiming that she would have more accurate information after General Motors had completed their internal investigation, which was begun in February.
The vehicles affected by the GM recall are: Chevrolet Cobalts manufactured between 2005 and 2010 and Chevrolet HHRs manufactured between 2006 and 2011; Pontiac G5s (2007-2010) and Solstices (2006-2010); and Saturn Ions (2003-2007) and Skys (2007-2010). GM has offered to repair the faulty parts free of charge.
If you suffer injuries as a result of a defective car part or because of someone else’s carelessness, please do not hesitate to contact Fuller & Fuller, Attorneys. We have offices in three locations in western Washington, and we will do our utmost to ensure that you get the compensation you deserve.
