GM News: 300 Claims Have Been Filed To GM's Ignition Switch Compensation Fund

[William Maley]

It has been almost two months since General Motors announced a compensation fund for families who either lost a loved one or who were injured because of a problem due to the ignition switch. According to the Detroit Free Press, almost 300 people have filed a claim.

100 people who have filed a claim said their loved ones were killed because of defect, while 184 people said their injuries come as a result of the problem. These numbers come from Amy Weiss, a spokeswoman for fund administrator Kenneth Feinberg.

The Detroit Free Press says each person who has filed a claim has to provide evidence that it was the defective switch that was the cause of the injury/fatality. If the person is able to prove this, Feinberg will will use actuarial tables and medical cost data to determine individual payouts.

Source: Detroit Free Press

William Maley is a staff writer for Cheers & Gears. He can be reached at [email protected] or you can follow him on twitter at @realmudmonster.

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[G. David Felt]

Glad to see this and that GM is dealing with it in an open transparent way. I am also happy to see just how low this number is considering people I know that said it would be in the thousands or 10's of thousands. This is much lower.

[roadwarrior]

Reporting the numbers is a good step, though I'm somewhat skeptical that all 100 of those fatality claims will hold up.  Seems like the government would've stepped in way sooner had 100 people been killed riding in a handful of GM models for this problem.

[vegito12]

I reckon there will be, issues with the claims as some may be trying to make money easy trying to claim a family member died and blaming switch when it may not have been the problem in the first place. It will take time to process the claims, and will have to be looked at and reviewed and the company would see if it is true and if it is will payout depends on how much there is to pay the families compensation. The number is small, so it shows that only these have claimed at the moment there could be more numbers that have not been put in or accounted for at the time of the article was wrote so there could be more than these figures.

[hyperv6]

While painful to report GM has to do so and not be seen as hiding them. If they do not report them someone else will and point out GM's failure.

 

The issue is with most of these claims there were so many extenuating circumstances that while GM may have played a part in this with a failed Airbag deploying the driver also often at fault or responsible for moving this from a injury to a death.

 

I had done the home work on the original cases and things that were left out of the news often were of the first 12 deaths 7 had no seat belt on. 3 were drunk well over the limit one was twice the limit. One was impaired by drugs. One had a epileptic Seizer that lead to the accident. Speed often was involved including one case that also included drunk and no belt at 60 MPH plus into a 25 MPH  cul-de-sac. 

 

I am sure there are some legitimate claims and GM should share responsibility where they were at fault. But also I do not think people should be paid for a death that could have been survived if the driver was belted in and not speeding as they flew off the road drunk and unbelted.

 

One driver was well over 70 MPH and drunk and it a tree. He hit so hard his legs had to be removed as they were impaled trough the floor. Do you think a working air bag here would have saved him?

 

At this point GM is just going to pay out and settle with the families. In the end the only ones who will come out a winner here is the lawyers.

 

Now keep in mind that GM is looking at cases that to be honest may not be fully their fault so you can only figure what the other cases are like that get declined. I am sure there are many bogus claims that people are trying to just get a settlement.

 

I do not expect GM to be absolved of this but I wish the media would portray this issue as it really is. So much of one side was reported and not given full disclosure. The reality is if a car stalls it is not instant death. You restart the car and keep going. Many people do this as they keep cars in such poor operating condition they do not run cold.

 

The media failed to report the steering dose not lock as so many people think. They failed to report that the brakes keep vacuum and still have enough to give you a save power brake stop with the engine off. They failed to report you can put the car in neutral and restart it. They failed to report the conditions that the drivers provided that hindered their survival.

 

All I would like to see is the truth on both sides reported not just ones side.

[ignite1hp]

I'm glad GM is doing this but I have to agree with the person above me.  In the end, the lawyers will be the ones coming out on top.  There have been a few cases with the power steering loss, the ignition loss, air bag failures where people haven't been drunk, weren't speeding excessively etc, where this fund will come in handy.  Hopefully the families that have lost loved ones, or people who have been severely injured will be compensated.  I am just glad GM is doing what they can here.