GM Recall : The Switch From Hell - the fifth estate

My grandma had a cobalt back in 2006 the car would always stall on her on the highway and when she took it to the Chevy dealership they would Always say the same thing “We can not duplicate your problem” after that my grandma got a corolla and then 8 years later she gets a letter in the mail saying their was a recall and if she bought another Chevy she would get her money back and she always told me “Why would I buy a Chevy after I was almost killed in one.” It was ridiculous GM didn’t care about this problem.

All because GM management ignored the lower level Engineers screaming about the issue for over a decade.

why are the senior executives not in jail

It's not just a problem in Canada and it's not just the Cobalt. This is so sad that anyone should lose a life because of a defective car.

I remember reading about this back in '06, '07 or so here in the States. Initially, people were told to remove heavy stuff from their key-rings, or just keep the key separate from all other keys. When they finally fixed the problem, they were going to add a 1 (or something like that) to the new part number. They didn't. The part number remained the same. This compounded the problem immensely- after the recall, dealers had no way to know if they were changing a defective switch with a new one... or if that switch had already been changed. Chaos. The decision to keep the part number the same clearly came from upper level management-- to keep the whole thing quiet. Result? Numerous cars had new switches installed multiple times, and many cars never got the new switch. Absolutely no way to tell one from the other. Ridiculous and irresponsible. Criminal, even. I'm sorry, Canada, that your Transport Canada department is so spineless, and that they are a "hand-me-down" organization only following what US NTSB decides. That, too, is criminal.

people actually need to go to jail for this, if no one does then it will continue since the cost benefit analysis will always show the cost of people dieing is low enough to justify it

All car manufactures do this, they silently update parts and never notify the consumer unless they're forced to.

I've been an avid GM enthusiast for over 45 years . It's video evidence like this that prove how stupidly naive I have been and I am ashamed of the level of deceit the upper management has positioned themselves in and I am both humbled and appreciative to the fifth estate for their every effort taken in exposing these not so slick white collar criminals for who they really are .

I was an independent shop owner during the time that GM was hiding the facts regarding that "detent pawl" issue . I had begun advising customers to never place more than 2 keys on the same ring as the ignition switch key due to the fact that the switch was so easily turned to the accessory position as early as 2004, due to 2 other GM compact models that exhibited the same type of defect. Hiding problems and lying about problems to preserve profits is the hallmark of American corporations. Killing people to preserve profits should be a criminal offense, with those guilty parties prosecuted.

Why did the government bail them out again?

No accountability, leads to a sense of false entitlement. Many modern corporation believe their is no cost to great in the name of profit. We are to told to be proud of this, when in fact we should be ashamed.

The Fifth Estate , Great Canadian Program !!!!

I remember back when that recall happened. My mom had one of the affected vehicles we got second hand, so we just took the switch out entirely and just touched the wires together to start, and pull a fuse to turn it off. I think we ended up selling it for its weight in scrap because there were simply so many parts going bad at once that it was cheaper to get the scrap money and buy another car with fewer problems.

I'm on a fifth estate binge

It wasn't until after watching this program that I realized how fortunate that I am. The Chevy that I drove did the same thing and the key could be pulled out with the ignition in the "on" position. I didn't think much of it except that it was odd. Now I know just how dangerous that was. Thanks for sharing.

Laws should be passed to hold GM execs criminally responsible for such actions. Transport Canada, the same goes for them. Fire the whole lot and rebuild the program. As for the politicians, they too should be held to the same standards and go to jail when found to be lying like she did. Where are our so called Canadian ethics? I feel for all the people that have been affected by the greed of all the above horrible people. Thanks to institutions like The Fifth Estate. Regards.

This decision by GM is no different than any other publicly traded company. The motto is, "If the stockholders are happy, everyone should be happy". I've owned mostly GM vehicles over the past 44 years. I still have 7 in my 'collection' and daily drive an '89 Buick. That being said, when the 'bailouts' were occurring I said back then "LET THEM FAIL". Even though I like GM vehicles AND worked for a supplier for GM, incompetence in running a business, whether a car company or a banking firm should NOT be an excuse to ask for a bailed out. Pain is a lasting lesson , be it physical, emotional, or FINANCIAL. Had the car companies AND banks NOT been bailed out PERHAPS a lesson would have been learned and history would NOT repeat itself.

My wife got messed up by a bad airbag sensor in her gm Saturn. We weren’t informed of the recall until after the wreck!

I've turned off my ignition while driving to test a problem I was and having and all it does is gradually bring you to a stop. Steering is a little stiffer and brakes require more effort. but no loss of control. There is way more to these accidents that we are not being told

I have a Cobalt that I got in 2008 and it's been the best car I've veer had. 85,000 miles and not one problem. I got a letter about the ignition switch and was told to bring it into the dealership to be fixed immediately. I did that and they replaced it. I feel terrible for the victims but I love my car. I will have had it for 12 years in January.