The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has started investigating the timeliness of malfunctioning ignition switches of General Motors. The investigation will be attempted to decide if the official process for reporting recalls has been followed by GM or not, reports Left Lane News.
NHTSA has given GM a time frame of 5 days to inform them about finding out an automobile safety defect. One of the accusations against the company is that they had the knowledge about the defected ignition switches but they did not take any appropriate action and just dealt with the situation with a technical service bulletin.
The problem in the ignition switches causes the affected cars to swing to off position when a heavy key ring is attached. Not only this, but it disables the air bags, power steering, anti lock brakes and brake assist and the engine turns off too.
GM had to concede about 31 accidents and 13 fatalities due to this recall notice. GM was charged by the estate of one driver who faced this problem and visited GM dealers in 2010. There was no fixation given by the GM dealer and thus the driver died in an accident the very next day after losing the car power at 60 mph.
Rumors are that GM will have to pay the fines of about $35 million if the NHTSA declares GM as the violator of federal regulations.
Source: Left Lane News
