What happens if a GM or Chrysler car blows up?

Editorials

June 25, 2009

Editorial

by Don McNay, CNHI News The Commonwealth Journal Thu Jun 25, 2009, 10:53 AM EDT

"I know I'll never forget that horrible sight,

I guess I found out for myself that everyone was right.

‘Won't come back from Dead Man's Curve.’”

— Jan and Dean

•••

Dead Man's Curve was a song about hot rod drivers. Not all accidents are caused by driver error. Some cars were not designed properly or manufactured properly.

Ford’s Pinto had exploding gas tanks. Over the years there have been several cars with serious safety defects. People have died or been severely injured by them.

If you are driving a defective Chrysler, the Bankruptcy Court has two words for you: Tough Luck.

It looks like the Court is going to tell General Motors drivers the same thing.

I have a friend who is paralyzed for life because of a defective seat belt. Her medical bills are well over $100,000 a year. Another friend had three family members die because of a faulty gas tank on a car.

These accidents happened several years ago. They went to court and won.

If it happened today, they wouldn't receive a penny.

We don't know how many defective cars are on the road. You won't know if you seat belt is defective unless you are in an accident. Many times, like in the Ford Pinto case, it takes years for the truth to come out about a problem.

I’ve also wondered if companies actually do what Edward Norton’s character in Fight Club did: quietly pay claims instead of fixing a defect on a bunch of cars.

If Chrysler had been using Norton’s business style, they just won the lottery. They can get out of billions of dollars in damages.

If your seat belt doesn't work on your Chrysler, you are out of luck. If your Jeep rolls over due to a defect and you are paralyzed for life, you are out of luck there too.

It looks like those Americans driving GM cars are going to suffer a similar fate.

There are a lot of potential claims on the road.

According to a Securities and Exchange Commission Filing, General Motors paid $1.1 billion in products liability claims in 2007 and $921 million in 2008.

Chrysler didn't go out of business. It will be owned by Fiat. Somehow Fiat wiggled out responsibility for Chrysler's actions. The government gave its blessing to the deal.

General Motors will not be owned by another car manufacturer. It will be owned by the taxpayers of the United States of America.

As part owner of the new General Motors, I'm unhappy that we are putting the screws to injured people.

Chrysler and General Motors have deluded us into bailing them out with the pretense that they will be making cars that we want to buy.

How many people are going to buy a car from a Chrysler or GM that doesn’t own up to its errors? They can buy a Ford, Toyota or Honda that will be liable when they make a mistake.

Hyundai has been helped by a marketing campaign which allows someone to return the car if she loses her job.

Hyundai has another edge now. If the car blows up, it will compensate the victims.

You can't say that about a Chrysler or a Buick.

We've spent billions paying for the mistakes that GM and Chrysler executives made.

If a GM or Chrysler defective automobile maims or kills someone, we need to pay for those mistakes too.

Don McNay writes for the Richmond (Ky.) Register.

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