is 2,191,146.Īpril 1, 2014: GM hires Kenneth Feinberg, an attorney specializing in corporate payouts, as a consultant "to explore and evaluate options" in the automaker's response to families of the victims involved in the recall.Īpril 1-2, 2014: Barra and NHTSA Acting Administrator David Friedman testify at House and Senate hearings on the handling of the recall. March 28, 2014: GM recalls an additional 824,000 vehicles (including all model years of the Chevrolet Cobalt and HHR, the Pontiac G5 and Solstice, and the Saturn Ion and Sky), stating ignition switches could be faulty the new total number of recalled vehicles in the U.S. 19, 2008: Bush approves a bailout plan, giving GM and Chrysler $13.4 billion in initial financing from the Troubled Asset Relief Program.Īpril 22, 2009: GM says it will not be able to make a June 1, 2009, debt payment.Īpril 24, 2009: GM says that it will scrap the Pontiac brand to invest more in Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet and GMC. 18, 2008: President Bush announces bankruptcy is an option, if it's "orderly" and involves unions and other stakeholders.ĭec. Bush and President-elect Barack Obama and GM's announcement that it's nearly out of cash and may not survive beyond 2009.ĭec. Senate votes to oppose a government bailout for GM, despite support from outgoing President George W. 17, 2007: The Office of Defects Investigation at NHTSA concludes that there is no correlation between the crashes and the failure of air bags to deploy, ending the proposed probe.ĭec. September 2007: A NHTSA official emails the agency's Office of Defects Investigation recommending a probe looking into the failure of air bags to deploy in crashes involving Chevrolet Cobalts and Saturn Ions, prompted by 29 complaints, four fatal crashes and 14 field reports. March 2007: Safety regulators inform GM of the issues involved in Amber Rose's death neither GM nor the safety regulators open a formal investigation.Īpril 2007: An investigation links the fatal crash of a 2005 Chevrolet Cobalt in Wisconsin to the ignition defect, but regulators do not conduct an investigation. July 26, 2006: GM loses $3.2 billion in the second quarter, absorbing costs of early retirement buyout packages to 30,000 blue collar workers. July 29, 2005: Maryland resident Amber Marie Rose, 16, dies when her 2005 Chevrolet Cobalt crashes into a tree after the ignition switch shuts down the car's electrical system and the air bags fail to deploy.ĭecember 2005: GM issues a service bulletin announcing the problem, but does not issue a recall. the customer should be advised of this potential and should.
#NHTSA TSB 2001 DRIVER#
May 24, 2005: GM posts a $1.1 billion first-quarter loss, blaming it on union overhead and high gas prices harming SUV sales.ĭecember 2005: GM sends dealers a bulletin stating the defect can occur when "the driver is short and has a large and/or heavy key chain. May 2005: A GM engineer advises the company to redesign its key head, but the proposal is ultimately rejected. March 2005: GM rejects a proposal to fix the problem because it would be too costly and take too long. The Chevrolet Cobalt was among more than 2 million GM cars recalled for a faulty ignition switch.
It's long and winding, and it presents many questions about how GM handled the situation: How long did the company know of the problem? Why did the company not inform federal safety officials of the problem sooner? Why weren't recalls done sooner? And did GM continue to manufacture models knowing of the defect? NPR looked into the timeline of events that led to the recall. Because this part produces weaker tension, ignition keys in the cars may turn off the engine if shaken just the right way. More than 2.6 million cars have been recalled so far.Īt the core of the problem is a part in the vehicle's ignition switch that is 1.6 millimeters less "springy" than it should be. In February, General Motors issued sweeping recalls for several models suspected of having a faulty switch that automatically turns the car's engine off and prevents air bags from deploying - while the car is in motion. The firm helped to conduct the engineering investigations and failure analysis that resulted in the GM recall. Consulting materials engineer Mark Hood shows the ignition assembly that has a faulty ignition switch (black piece at left), in the mechanical testing laboratory at McSwain Engineering Inc.
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