The federal safety agency officially has been asked to require General Motors to explain why it only now has recalled 619,122 U.S.-market 2005-2007 Chevrolet Cobalt and similar 2007 Pontiac G5 cars to replace faulty ignition switches blamed for at least six deaths.
Documents in a now-settled civil lawsuit against GM show the car company knew of a potential faulty ignition defect leading to engine stalling in 2004, before it launched the 2005 Chevrolet Cobalt.
Federal safety rules mandate that an automaker notify the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration within five business days after the company identifies a safety problem.
"Testimony of GM engineers and documents produced in Melton v. General Motors et. al., show that the automaker actually knew about the defective ignition switch in these vehicles in 2004 before it began selling" the 2005 Chevrolet Cobalt, says the letter to NHTSA from Lance Cooper, the plantiff's lawyer in the lawsuit.
He hopes to trigger a formal process bysaying he wants NHTSA to "open a Timeliness Query investigation into General Motors" over the recall.
The letter is dated Wednesday, and Cooper is the attorney for the estate of Brooke Melton, 29, of Hiram, Ga., who died in a 2010 crash of her 2005 Cobalt. The "black box" data recorder in the car showed that the car's ignition switch was in the "accessory" position, not the "run" position, at the time of the crash.
If a car's ignition switch isn't in "run," the engine stalls, and power is shut off to safety systems, as well as power accessories.
GM has argued in the depositions and in at least one public statement that even without power assist to the steering and brakes, cars can be steered and stopped safely.
NHTSA hasn't responded yet to Cooper's "timeliness" request.
NHTSA isn't required to do as Cooper asks. But it was information, and a request, from a lawyer that triggered the agency to begin a probe within three days, examining a Toyota recall's timing. The government decided Toyota had failed to promptly report potentially deadly steering relay rod problems on some trucks.
NHTSA fined Toyota a near-maximum $16 million for that. Maximum now is $35 million.
Contributing: Fred Meier
Copyright 2015 USATODAY.com
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