WASHINGTON -- General Motors (IW 500/5) has agreed to extend the deadline for compensation claims related to an ignition-switch problem that has been linked to 32 deaths. The largest US automaker has been under fire over the defect in many models sold from 1998-2011 in which the faulty ignition system could turn off power to a car's power steering and safety airbags while it is in motion. The company has set up an independent compensation fund for victims, run by attorney Kenneth Feinberg, with plans to pay $1 million per fatality plus $300,000 to each surviving spouse and possible beneficiary. The GM fund was to accept compensation claims through December 31, but announced it had heeded a call to extend that deadline. "We agreed with Ken Feinberg's recommendation to extend the compensation program deadline," the company said in a statement. "Our goal with the program has been to reach every eligible person impacted."