GM fined 35 million

[jdsblueray2013]

Originally Posted by Muscle Car Memories

I agree what do you expect your ignition to do when you have 5lbs of keys on there?....I truly beleive some people are just looking to sue these big companies for any reason they can conjure up...

[McRat]

Note: Why are all cars switching (har) back to push button start?

Lawyers.

[Jackass]

Originally Posted by Comrando

If my wife or one of my children died because they bumped the key and didn't have the knowledge to turn the car back on I would guess I was a total failure.

Why aren't people educated to react anymore?

Drivers in Toyotas that ran away and call 911 instead of shifting to neutral?

Originally Posted by The_Blur

If someone close to you thinks they can jump from rooftop to rooftop, no matter how awesome they are, and they fall, is it anyone's fault but their own or is the fault that the buildings are too far apart? Does it change if the guy who died jumping gives to charity or has a newborn? It doesn't matter whether they're close to you, a good person, or anything else. These people tragically died, but those deaths were more likely caused by heavy keychains filled with crap rather than poorly engineered cars.

GM proved that the problem was not replicated with lightweight keychains.

Regardless of who died, blame is going to be attributed to someone, and it's pretty easy to blame a faceless company and forget that nice people make life-threatening decisions every day.

On the final note , someone show to GM top guys , that there was an issue with the ignition switches
GM decided to ignore it , for ten plus years , that what we find out
One only can imagine what they knew from early on and never came to light !
The issue I have with them (GM) in this case is , THEY knew , and did what ?
Someone even put a price on the fix , they ignored

The issue with the heavy chains on the keys , that a big BS , no other manufacture even talks about it , that I know of

When those GM big dogs no longer have the right for the ,,,,I TAKE THE FIFT ,,,, I bet they will start doing things differently , that's a fact

In some industries , when there is an acident , the person in charge on the job site can , and has been charged for negligence
I can't wait for the big dogs to be on the same boat

No one died from jumping buildings , that's not a good comparison at all !

[McRat]

Then how come since the 1950's not hanging huge weight off the ignition was druid knowledge?

Are you saying people today are retards?

This might be true. I don't think we could go to moon again. At least not after reading the Interwebbythingy.

[McRat]

Note: Do not hang huge weight on a lock cylinder and bounce it around. You will fk up the lock mechanism. It's not designed for abuse. No car likes this crap.

Hey? Why not work on your car with big metal belt buckle on and sue GM because it damaged your paint?

Or change your tire in the middle of the road?

Or smoke while pumping gas?

Or run on bald tires?

Or blast your radio full volume when emergency vehicles are present?

Or put mirror on you back window to blind people?



Do we HAVE to protect the world from idiots?

[McRat]

Fact: GM supplied a pair of keys with your car. If you want to fck up your keychain, why is GM to blame? Especially since this is a very, very old issue.

[Wizard1183]

Originally Posted by nickswe

Unfortunately things like these happens all the time. I've seen it countless times within the mining industry too, where large companies hide known defects. In the beginning of each new rolling 12 months, Safety is priority #1 - All documentation, presentations, marketing material are refreshed with things like "Safety first", "We believe in safety" etc etc... At the end of the day, when you are gathered in that meeting room starting to discuss how many units are affected and what that may cost you... Money talks.

Exactly! In the oil & gas sector, you hear them preach and preach safety. Its jjust a ploy. Every large corporate company dealing with construction or some kind of matter that could potentially kill ppl; has what is called an RBI (Risk Based Inspection) program implimented. They use this to see how far they can push a potentionally deadly risk before a predetermined date. They calculate the amount of potential profit to the amount theyd have to shell out for a lawsuit/lawsuits that take place when catastrophic failure hits. If profit exceeds payout by a large margin (which it almost ALWAYS does) then they roll with it. Workers are replaceable. Pure and simple. I dont care how smart you think you are or how well you perform your job, youre replaceable. It doesnt matter that the replacement can do the job as good, better or usually worse than you. The fact is youre replaceable and theyll do that in a heartbeat if it increases profit.

Not to mention, David Einhorn unloaded ALL of his 17M shares of GM at the end of Q4 in the 1st quarter. In addition, Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway cut its GM stake by 10M shares to 30M. That should tell you that GM's stock price is taking a huge dip. Its not a good sign for the General.

[JTruck]

The car is designed to have a key placed in the ignition. If I hang instead of a shit load of keys off of it, say a brick, is GM still to blame or am I just an idiot?

Too many sue happy people in the world that can't use common sense to literally save their own life.

[wayne watson]

Originally Posted by JTruck

The car is designed to have a key placed in the ignition. If I hang instead of a shit load of keys off of it, say a brick, is GM still to blame or am I just an idiot?

Too many sue happy people in the world that can't use common sense to literally save their own life.

exactly right, it's not just our brand who has this issue. maybe if all cars were push button start, everyone would be safer.

[c-57d]

So,
Let's review:
1. People are idiots.
2. People are 'sue happy'
3. People are idiots.
Did I miss anything?

[Squillo]

Originally Posted by c-57d

So,
Let's review:
1. People are idiots.
2. People are 'sue happy'
3. People are idiots.
Did I miss anything?

Yes,

4. GM knew about it and did nothing.

That sums it up pretty well now.

[jd10013]

Originally Posted by TxBandit911

What you just said had nothing to do with my statement...loss of engine power should not result in instant death, period.


Your engine can shut off for a thousand different reasons with no notice at all. If you crash because the engine shut off, then you're just an idiot. Not like I've been driving for 20+ years or anything...this has happened to me before, engine stopped running. Hell, why weren't cars flying off the road at random when vehicles didnt even come with power steering. Now if the steering wheel locked, that's another story, that would suck.

it has plenty to do with it. when the ion (which the Malibu was based on) was being tested, the engineers (not drunk teen on dirt roads) noticed a problem and recommended the ignition be redesigned. GM drug their feet on it, and the car went to market with the defective ignition. an ignition the engineers deemed defective. GM then decided that it would be too expensive to correct. do you really think the justice department is investigating GM and will probably seek criminal charges because people hung too much weight on the keys?

again, this has nothing to do with people not knowing how to drive their car as you seem to think, or hanging stuff off your keys as others seem to think. say this out loud, and it may sink in. GM engineers noticed a flaw in the ignition, alerted GM, but GM let the cars be sold with it, and failed to recall them when people started dieing.

[Jackass]

Originally Posted by Squillo

Yes,

4. GM knew about it and did nothing.

That sums it up pretty well now.

And that's the issue in here

If it was possible to count how many guys around here , that are calling people retards etc , by having other key together with the car keys , and have it on their car ignition while driving , they would have said , oh man , you know , I just never did that before you know

I have a feeling those people are just what they are ( GM ) can't do no wrong , kind off a bunch

[ChrisBlair]

Originally Posted by wayne watson

exactly right, it's not just our brand who has this issue. maybe if all cars were push button start, everyone would be safer.

Then again, I feel you really could hang a brick off a keychain for my '70 Buick's ignition switch and it would shut off by itself- and I replaced that back in the '90s. The new one was a sstiff as the old one.

Just as a guess, the electronic rotary switch has less mass and friction than an oldskool analog rotary switch that actually had to move parts over contacts by means of an actuating rod.