Why did it take GM ten years to issue a recall for a faulty ignition switch that cost lives?

Question

Shouldn't the government mandate car companies to, if they know such damning information, make it public and help save lives? Ridiculous!

Answer 1

No one wants to take the fall for poor workmanship ! We are so (GM ) high up that we have the public in our favor. Our cars are supposed to be high standing, top of the line ,safe. reliable. How would the public look at us if we had this massive recall ? Sells would drop so don't say anything . UNTILL people start to report unsafe conditions. You can only hide things for so long. Lawers were called in by people making claims that happen too often. Lives were loss . We need to check this out ! What happen with these people lives can never be replaced , how much are you willing to pay us . It would still be a secret if no one told and made there voice heard ! Heads will spin now ! Jobs will be let go and it should. What does it take to make things half way right ? Money isn't everthing... to some it is and GM was that someone.

Answer 2

A couple reasons come to my mind. The most obvious is that a recall of any kind costs money. The part is cheap (in this case) but GM must also must compensate dealer shops for the time it takes them to make the repair. The cost of a recall involving this many cars goes well into the millions of dollars.



Then there's the (major) issue of the bailout they were asking for from our federal government. GM requested and ultimately received a bailout AFTER these ignitions were installed AND were reported to be problematic. If GM had admitted before the bailout to knowing of a looming liability time bomb like this, do you think they'd have been bailed out? I'm not sure they would have and they probably weren't sure either. So they denied the problem and/or kept it to themselves as long as practical before admitting to it.

Answer 3

It's government fault, they're mandating too much stuff already and that drives cost of cars so much that automakers have to save somewhere, add to that high cost of union labor in the US and there you go. Blame the feds, not GM. And Three55 is right, people are buying those tiny death traps to save on gas but sadly those boxes are not very good at saving your life, I'd rather be in an escalade than in smart during any kind of accident, but then everybody has different priorities…

Answer 4

It took them forever because the problem was caused by people having loads of keys on the key chain, therefore creating a hazard for any vehicle. If you look into most owners manuals, it says not to put a lot of keychains on the ignition key.



Besides, the cars recalled were the crappy econoboxes(cobalt, G6 etc). GM isn't going to give a **** about the owners who have the cheap cars, maybe if the issue was on a corvette they would have fixed the issue within a year of production. It's all about making money these days.



I remember that during the Toyota gas pedal issue, one guy in California tried to sue Toyota cause his Prius kept accelerating away. Turned out that it was fraud, the guy was in deep debt and needed money quick.

Answer 5

The CEO has been put in the hot seat as we speak, even though she's new to the job, she's probably going to be the sacrificial lamb.



This isn't over yet. They will pay a hefty price in government fines and lawsuits.

Answer 6

I think of GM as a bad boy that makes LOTS OF MONEY on defective and CHEAPLY DONE engineering. They sell an IMAGE and not ALWAYS technology that really works! They UNDER-ENGINEER and live by the 20-80 RULE< which means they EXPECT 20% of their "STUFF: to be relatively free of defects, and the other 80 % to need DEALERSHIP ATTENTION over the life of the car! THey have at least TEN MULTI MILLION DOLLAR lawsuits going nearly EVERY DAY, and NOTHING they do even surprises me! The ACTUARIANS have a FIELD DAY with them! THE WORST vehicle they ever had was the ASTRO VAN that would CRUSH YOUR CHEST and head, and break ALL THE LEGS of the front seats in a mild 20 MPH crash! THEN THEY ADDED ON AIR BAGS< and MORE AIR BAGS that were DEFECTIVE to cover up the inability of this vehicle to be SAFE from the drawing board. GM PEOPLE think that GM Is a GREAT COMPANY and that hey actuaLLY KNOW WHAT THEY ARE DOING! WRONG-O! I nearly lost my LEGS in a GM CAR that was UNFIT FROM THE START! MEANWHILE the EUROPEANS keep making BETTER ,SAFER more POWERFUL and ECONOMICAL cars EVERY DAY! ALL DAY LONG! They have DOUBLE FIRE WALLS that keep people ALIVE in bad crashes and most car SAFELY run at 140 mph on the BEST ROADS KNOWN! Most gm cars cannot even BREAK in a line and oLDER GM CARS had the WORST and most INEFFECTIVE BRAKES on the market! I AGREE WITH YOU and thank RALPH NADER fro starting NHTSA< which OVERSEES CAR ISSUES that rip the MONEY out of our pockets DAILY! MOST GM CARS are only ONE WHEEL DRIVERS with PUSH RODS and OLD IDEOLOGIES! They EXPECT you to dump your car before 100k miles of use! MEANWHILE a BMW or AUDI with 250k miles is JUST BREAKING IN! NOW our BIG THREE auto companies are even using ZF TRANSMISSIONS from GERMANY! JEEP, CHRYSLER< FORD< and GM use them. SO DID VW AUDI, BENZ and LEXUS INFINITI and MORE! ZF is a PREMIERE TRANS MAKER that also makes INDUSTRIAL and LIGHT DUTY trannies for industry! THANK YOU RALPH for protecting us from the EVIL OLD GM! More LAWYERS than SENSE Or GOOD SAFE PRODUCTS! Nearly ALL GM MODELS have disappeared now, and CADY PARTS cannot be found ANYWHERE! This would NOT HAPPEN to EUROPEAN CAR MAKERS< or JAPANESE Or even FORD! You should SE the area around GM HEADQUARTERS in DETROIT! I TOTal SHAME and INSULT to the BRIAN POWER of EUROPEAN and JAPANESE engineers! NOW FIAT Puts their engines in the new DART CAR! The NEW CAMARO is a JOKE! NO VISIBILITY and NO INGRESS Or Egress, with NO BACK SEAT< but a VERY HIGH PRICE TAG and 18MPG'a along with the rest of it! They had ONE GOOD ENGINE the ATLAS appearing in some BUICKS< the HUMMER< and the TRAIL BLAZER! They NEVER engineer anything ALL THE WAY! They seem to wait for the public RESPONSES to what they have to OFFER! Then they hire MORE LAWYERS> As it turns out a SECRET RECALL revealed that nearly ALL GM ENGINES from around the WORLD Had COOLANT PROBLEMS from decaying DEXCOOL coolants! It affects most cars made from 1996-2003! THis means that RIGHT AFTER THE WARRANTY you wil need another near $@000 IN REPAIRS to keep their cars GOING! The INTAKE GASKET dissolve and the PLASTIC MANIFOLDS disintegrate NICE WORK< GUYS! THEY HIDE their defects in PAPER WORK! I worked for CADDY ,BUICK and GM HQ! They STILL do not know what a REAL ROAD CAR IS ore how to MAKE ONE! The SRX CADDY features the TIPTRONIC ZF TRANS from Germany that is a SWEETHEART and TIME TESTED! EUROPEANS are suing DIFFERENT STEELS In different sections of the car to AID IN SERIOUS ACCIDENTS! MEANWHILE the SRX is only a REAR DRIVER with a BEAUTIFUL GERMAN BUILT ZF TIPTRONIC EIGHT SPEED GEAR BOX in it! Why not get the BMW or AUDI instead? They are TIME TESTED and SAFE as can be and will NEVER RUST! they NOW feature VARIABLE VALVE LIFT along with all the BOSCH SAFETY EQUIPMENT< INJECTION and IGNITIONS! And they do NOT kill PETS AND CHILDREN In crashes! Or with FAULTY IGNITIONS that STOP the car unexpectedly and LOSE CONTROL of BRAKES and STEERING as it does so! IT took DECADES for them to perfect their KEYSWITCHES and to rid their cars of GM DOOR SAGS! MEANWHILE a 200 POUND MAN can SIT on a VW or AUDI door and it will not SAG AT ALL! EUROPEAN GLASS will not even DISTORT from age and the SANDING effect as much! AND YOU CAN ACTUALLY SEE out the WINDOWS AS WELL! I WANT TO SUE GM as well for my ACHING BONES from a BAD CRASH In a poorly engineered GM MINI VAN! I spent MONTHS in a HOSPITAL OVER IT! I NO LONGER BELIEVE In the SLOGAN of "BUY AMERICAN" because so MANY PEOPLE get INJURED, MAIMED, and KILLED by BAD ENGINEERING or CHEAPLY MADE cars for HIGHER PROFITS! GOOD LUCK!! GM DESERVES TO LOSE! Thier ONE WHEEL DRIVE cars are STILL the laughing stock as AUDI has perfected QUATTRO and RULES THE RACING CIRCUITS with TURBO DIESELS! The new BUICK ENCORE is CHINES and KOREAN with a 35k PRICE TAG! IT does NOT cost that much to build cars in CHINA! WE are DUPED AGAIN!

Answer 7

Its all about money