Bush Official Ignored Lethal Problem With GM Ignition. More Deaths Than Benghazi

"A former head of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is asking for a probe of why NHTSA knew as early as 2007 about a potentially fatal problem with General Motors ignition switches, but didn't demand a recall. Now a safety activist, Joan Claybrook says the safety agency 'failed to carry out the law' when it didn't force GM to fix the problem back then. GM recalled 1.37 million cars in the U.S. last month because faulty ignition switches can shut off power to the front airbags. GM says it knows of 31 crashes and 13 deaths linked to the fault." James R. Healey in USA Today.

A member of the Senate also puts pressure on NHTSA. "A Massachusetts senator urged the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to improve disclosure of safety-related defects, while two safety advocates urged the Transportation Department to review the agency's handling of reports of ignition switch problems in older Chevrolet Cobalt and other General Motors Co. vehicles." David Shepardson in The Detroit News.

Auto regulators dismissed complaints about defect. "Federal safety regulators received more than 260 complaints over the last 11 years about General Motors vehicles that suddenly turned off while being driven, but they declined to investigate the problem, which G.M. now says is linked to 13 deaths and requires the recall of more than 1.6 million cars worldwide. A New York Times analysis of consumer complaints submitted to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration found that since February 2003 it received an average of two complaints a month about potentially dangerous shutdowns, but it repeatedly responded that there was not enough evidence of a problem to warrant a safety investigation." Hilary Stout, Danielle Ivory and Matthew L. Wald in The New York Times.

Now comes the hard part for GM: The repairs. "The process, particularly for older vehicles like the ones G.M. is recalling, is time-consuming and requires many steps, from designing the new parts, testing them to make sure they solve the problem, finding and informing owners, and actually completing the repairs. It will not be until early April, G.M. said, that the repairs will begin." Matthew L. Wald in The New York Times.