The decision is in for the General Motors’ ignition defects case. The Justice Department announced on Friday, May 22 that there was criminal wrongdoing on the part of GM.
There may be a huge fine for GM to pay after this finding is now made. The settlement will likely take a while, with the end of summer being predicted by insiders to be when it finishes.
The fine may be upwards of $1 billion and even top the $1.2 billion fine that Toyota had to pay last year for its own defects case. For Toyota, it was about acceleration issues of the vehicles rather than the ignition switch.
For the criminal inquiry, GM is fully compliant, and so it will be receiving a cooperation credit, which may mean that the penalty is lessened a bit as a result. The penalty might have been more if GM did not cooperate with the investigation done by the US government.
However, even with the reduction for cooperative efforts, the financial settlement amount will still likely be considerable. The ignition switch defect is being blamed for 104 deaths, and that is going to weigh heavily on the monetary amount decided upon.
As well, there will be criminal investigations into several GM employees, some of whom were let go by GM last year, for their involvements with the vehicle defects. The investigation is still ongoing, and GM is fully cooperating with any requests made by the government.
Many people say that 2015 has been the worst year ever for recalls. GM will certainly face examination by future purchasers of their vehicle, particularly in the area of safety features and vehicle reliability.