GM not liable for faulty ignition switches due to bankruptcy

So I heard a quick blurb about this story this morning on NPR before I hopped out of the car.  GM apparently has a serious issue with faulty ignition switches that can cause a car to stall out and the airbags not to deploy, knew about it for 10 years, and did nothing.  More than 200 people have been injured and more than 100 killed because of this.  A judge just ruled that people can't sue the company if the incident happened after their bankruptcy.  Yikes.

This was a huge scandal five years ago, when the story was all over the press for months.  There's lots more detail here: 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Motors_ignition_switch_recalls

I questioned this initially until i saw somebody shut a cobalt off with a light tug on a lanyard. This was also back in high school for me where I was seeing teenage girls with large quantities of nonsense clipped to their keys that were hanging from their neck on a lanyard. After those pieces of info clicked I saw where the problem probably could in fact be a real one.

In no way whatsoever am I trying to defend GM, but haven't we talked about NOT having 50 lbs of crap chained to your ignition key? 

In reply to RealMiniNoMore :

If my car has a key, it is a single key. Only. Solo. Nothing jingling or flying around.

What about people with 50 lbs.of crap swinging around the rearview mirror?

Shadeux said:

In reply to RealMiniNoMore :

If my car has a key, it is a single key. Only. Solo. Nothing jingling or flying around.

What about people with 50 lbs.of crap swinging around the rearview mirror?

I love that it's been more than 5 years since I've had a car with a keyed ignition.

In reply to z31maniac :

Well look at you over there with your collared shirt and clean shoes...

In reply to Daylan C :

College boy.

Appleseed said:

In reply to Daylan C :

College boy.

Pleb

This is why I don't recommend GM cars to anyone. Not because of the lawsuit. Because random stalling is the kind of quality experience I've come to expect from GM. You can't buy a Citation, Chevette, Aveo, or Cavalier today, which is evidence that GM has been well aware of their reputation for much longer than 10 years.

Daylan C said:

In reply to z31maniac :

Well look at you over there with your collared shirt and clean shoes...

"Wow Dad! You look like James Bond!"

Isn't that kind of what bankruptcy is for? What would be the point otherwise?

dculberson said:

Isn't that kind of what bankruptcy is for? What would be the point otherwise?

Indeed.  

The gubmint could use some of the $900 million fine to take care of the dead and injured.  

dculberson said:

Isn't that kind of what bankruptcy is for? What would be the point otherwise?

To absolve yourself from criminal negligence?...Good to know.

Good thing buttons are electrical components and electrical components never fail. 

On another note, I would expect nothing less from a large corporation. Going bankrupt excuses them from not fixing a known safety issue and, thus, protects the shareholders. (Also, don't hang E36 M3 from your keyring numbskulls)

I believe the shareholders value was wiped out in the bankruptcy. So no it didn't protect shareholders value at all. 

@Driven5: well, bankruptcy wipes out financial obligations yes. They also reorganized as an entirely new company so the "old gm" doesn't really exist any more. 

When a new company buys an London bankrupt company, doesn't the new company take on the liability of the old company? Isn't "new" GM the new company?

TopNoodles said:

This is why I don't recommend GM cars to anyone. Not because of the lawsuit. Because random stalling is the kind of quality experience I've come to expect from GM. You can't buy a Citation, Chevette, Aveo, or Cavalier today, which is evidence that GM has been well aware of their reputation for much longer than 10 years.

They aren't "stalling".  They're shutting off because 50lb of crap on the keyring is rotating the key.  The "fix" was keys that have the keyring hole completely centered, instead of oblong.  The car will still punish you for this abusive behavior by destroying the lock cylinder after a while, so you can't get the key inserted all the way to start the car, but it's a dish-served-cold kind of thing.

It's like saying the car suffers from unintended acceleration if you apply the accelerator like it was the brake pedal.  "It's the car's fault, not improper operation!"

In reply to Knurled. :

I was guilty of this with my Malibu.  I have a large collection of keys and was too lazy to unclip my car key every day.  I developed an odd intermittent stall.  No codes, the car always ran fine and restarted fine. I hate mysteries so I brought it to my friend's shop. He hit me in the chest with my wad of keys and yelled at me for hitting potholes.  I never replaced the switch but after separating my keys the stalling problem disappeared.

In reply to dculberson :

Bankruptcy does not wipe out ALL types of financial obligations, nor is it intended to. But if hey, if you've got enough taxpayer dollars funding your army of high priced lawyers...Apparently it can.