The former head of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration wants General Motors to forcefully warn owners of 1.6 million vehicles of the risks of driving unrepaired older vehicles with ignition switch defects that have been linked to 13 deaths and 31 crashes when frontal airbags failed to deploy.
A chronology that GM turned over to NHTSA last week showed GM downplayed the ignition switch issue in prior years, including canceling in 2005 an approved redesign of the ignition key head. By the end of 2007, GM said it knew of 10 frontal crashes in which air bags didn't deploy — linked to the ignition problem — but the automaker opted not to recall the cars. Of the 13 deaths reported by GM as linked to the issue, the last occurred in December 2009.
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