GM is Alive, And 13 Victims of GM Malfunctions Are Dead

The headline refers to the fact that 13 people died due to the ignition-switch defect, which would have cost fifty seven cents per car to fix.

The fix for a faulty ignition switch linked to 13 traffic deaths would have cost just 57 cents, members of Congress said Tuesday as they demanded answers from General Motors' new CEO on why the automaker took 10 years to recall cars with the defect.

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But as relatives of the crash victims looked on intently, [GM CEO Barra] admitted that she didn't know why it took years for the dangerous defect to be announced. And she deflected many questions about what went wrong, saying an internal investigation is under way.

Since February, GM has recalled 2.6 million cars - mostly Chevrolet Cobalts and Saturn Ions - over the faulty switch, which can cause the engine to cut off in traffic, disabling the power steering, power brakes and air bags and making it difficult to control the vehicle. The automaker said new switches should be available starting April 7.

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The 57 cents is just the cost of the replacement switch. The figure does not include the labor costs involved in installing the new part.

Barra testified that the fix to the switch, if undertaken in 2007, would have cost GM about $100 million, compared with "substantially" more now.

Obama touted the defective, deadly Chevy Cobalt as a Government Motors success story.

When Ray LaHood investigated Toyota -- a competitor to Government Motors -- he turned the scare-mongering to 11 and told people to stop driving Toyota cars, now. This was in 2010, when Government Motors was/is still shaky after its government bailout.

Of course no Obama official is telling people to stop driving Government Motors vehicles now. After all, Government Motors is officially one of this Obama Success Stories so beloved by the media.

But a Democratic Senator, Connecticut's Dick Blumenthal, is in fact telling people to stop driving Government Motors vehicles immediately.

Connecticut Senator Richard Blumenthal is among those calling for GM to make a stronger statement and tell owners to stop driving their cars immediately. Blumenthal believes GM made a decision to hide the defect of ignition switches.

I guess he feels the need to distance himself from his previous boosterism of GM (see the link).

David Harsanyi tries, in vain I imagine, to explain to our Democrat Front Group Media why this is a story.

In February 2010, the Obama Administration’s Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood told America, without a shred of evidence, that Toyota automobiles were dangerous to drive. LaHood offered the remarks in front of the House Appropriations subcommittee that was investigating reports of unintended-acceleration crashes. “My advice is, if anybody owns one of these vehicles, stop driving it,” he said, sending the company’s stock into a nosedive.

Even at the time, LaHood’s comments were reckless at best. Assailing the competition reeks of political opportunism and cronyism. It also illustrates one of the unavoidable predicaments of the state owning a corporation in a competitive marketplace. And when we put LaHood’s comment into perspective today, it’s actually a lot worse. Not only did the Obama administration have the power and ideological motive to damage the largely non-unionized competition, it was busy propping up a company that was causing preventable deaths.

Yes, Harsanyi actually is required the newsworthiness of this to our alleged "news" corporations.

And more from Geraghty, including the media's complete lack of mention of Steve Rattner, Obama's "car czar."

A Google News search reveals Rattner has gone largely unmentioned in the coverage of the GM defective-switch scandal. He’s not saying much on his own venues, and apparently no one wants to ask him any questions about President’s Auto Industry Task Force, just how thorough their review of GM was, and how they managed to miss so many consequential lurking safety issues.

posted by Ace at 05:21 PM

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