On Thursday, General Motors held a town hall meeting to update the public on the continued investigation into a faulty ignition switch that allegedly led to the death of 13 people.
Mary Barra, CEO of the company, revealed that 15 people were fired and at least five more were disciplined after the company interviewed 230 employees and review more than 40 million documents. Additionally, GM is naming engineer Ray DiGiorgio as the individual who approved the faulty ignition switch despite knowing that it did not meet manufacturing specifications.
DeGiorgio approved the switch for production in 2012, however, the part did not meet technical specifications and have even failed rotational torque tests. Barra also said during the meeting that DeGiorgio had approved the switch because no performance issues were brought to his attention during development.
GM engineers working on the Chevy Cobalt also played a role in the problem going undetected. They failed to understand what others knew and categorized the problem as a convenience issue rather than one of safety.
Although DeGiorgio approved a better and supposedly safer version of the switch in 2009, he did not instruct the manufacturer to change the part number. If the part number would have been changed, GM could have then notified existing car owners of the defective switch.
Barra said that the investigation found that misjudgment led to safety issues being ignored, but that there was no conspiracy by the corporation to cover up the facts.
In Canada, more than 360,000 vehicles were recalled as a result of this ignition switch. To learn more about your legal rights if you have been injured in an accident caused by a defective GM vehicle, contact the car accident lawyers at Greg Monforton & Partners today. A Windsor injury lawyer from our firm can review the merits of your incident and help to determine if a path exists for a legal solution to your claim.
Greg Monforton & Partners – Ph: (866) 320-4770.