— People might still be buying cars from General Motors, but GM is doing its part to throw out money as fast as it comes in. GM had been paying a daily fine of $7,000 to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) for a delay in answering questions about defective ignition switches.
NHTSA had submitted 107 questions to GM about its failure to recall millions of cars with a defect traced to numerous deaths and accidents. GM didn't respond to all the questions by the deadline and incurred the $7,000 daily federal fine, claiming some of the engineering questions were too technical to answer by the deadline.
NHTSA responded by saying GM had failed to answer over a third of the questions, many of those not related to technical engineering issues.
That was about two months ago and NHTSA has announced GM won't face additional daily fines because the automaker finally met its obligations. The cost to GM for its missed deadline? $420,000.
The federal fine is separate from the $35 million the government nailed GM with for its recall failures. That's also not counting the other government investigations and growing number of lawsuits against the automaker.
One of those law firms think GM's recent internal report of its recall failures is nothing more than “a cynical attempt at masking the truth.”
Hagens Berman is one of the law firms representing owners of the cars named in the ignition switch debacle. Lead attorney Steve Berman says consumers should keep in mind where the report originated.
“Let’s not lose sight of the fact that GM commissioned and paid for the report, and its primary author is an attorney who represents GM,” Berman said. “I see this as nothing more than a cynical attempt at masking the truth, at the expense of GM owners.”
Read what people complain about the most concerning the cars named in the ignition switch recall:
- 2008-2010 Chevrolet Cobalt
- 2008-2011 Chevrolet HHR
- 2008-2010 Pontiac Solstice
- 2008-2010 Pontiac G5
- 2008-2010 Saturn Sky
- 2008-2010 Saturn Ion
