Report: Fed investigators negligent in GM faulty ignition switch recall - CNN
The Office of Inspector General's report released on Monday concludes that National Highway Traffic Safety Administration investigators did not follow up on leads about the faulty ignition switches that went back as far as 2003. "Some of these... The engine would switch off, and that would disable the power steering, power brakes and turn off the vehicle's airbags -- sometimes while the car was in motion. The report lists numerous examples of consumers, car dealers and mechanics reporting the problem to National Highway Safety Administration. Federal watchdog investigators pointed to a letter sent to both GM and the highway administration from a car owner who described how her 2005 Chevrolet Cobalt had turned itself off three times while she was driving. A police report filed by a Wisconsin state trooper listed the ignition switch as a possible cause of a deadly accident involving another 2005 Chevrolet Cobalt in which the airbags did not deploy. A separate highway administration special crash investigation team also looked into the Wisconsin accident, and also noted a possible link to the ignition switch. "The vehicle's air bags failed to deploy possibly due to 'power loss due to movement of the ignition switch just prior to the impact,' among other potential. Source: www.cnn.com
