Death toll for GM’s ignition switch defect rises to 27
The compensation program that General Motors launched in response to it the ignition switch debacle that began plaguing the American automaker earlier this year. General Motors has paid 27 of the 178 fatality claims so far, twice the initial figure, as well as 25 of the 1,193 injury claims, according to the updated totals from Attorney Kenneth Feinberg.
The fund has somewhere around half a billion dollars allocated to it which will be dispersed at Feinberg’s discretion. While the most clear-cut cases should be processed within 90 days of application, more complicated cases could take as long as 180 days to be processed. The fund began accepting claims in the beginning of August.
Camille Biros, deputy administrator of the fund that General Motors created to offer victims financial compensation, believes that the number of death claims will most likely continue to rise. This is due in large part, she claims, to the fact that the fund is using a much broader standard for who qualifies for financial compensation.
General Motors has acknowledged that it was aware of the faulty ignition switches in Chevrolet Cobalts and other small cars for more than a decade. However, despite knowing of the issue for such a long time, the automaker didn’t begin recalling the 2.6 million affected cars until February of this year.
Read more about the story at Reuters.
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