Automotive News: GM Ignition Switch Settlement Derails - Plaintiffs Vow Lengthy Legal Battle, Audi CEO knew about diesel manipulation up to 9 years before scandal broke
GM Ignition Switch Settlement Derails, Plaintiffs Vow Lengthy Legal Battle
General Motors and those who have sued the automaker over its ignition switch scandal are likely in for series of long legal battles. The trust that holds GM liabilities prior to its 2009 bankruptcy has canceled a pre-determined settlement that would have cost “New GM” $1 billion in stock.
The settlement, in total, called for the trust to accept $10 billion in claims and would have triggered a provision in GM’s bankruptcy that would force the automaker to hand over the $1 billion worth of shares to help pay for the settlement. GM was not pleased and the automaker’s lawyer claimed the entire settlement was worked out between plaintiffs and “Old GM’s” creditors.
Now, the plaintiffs’ lawyer, Steve Berman, plans for even greater legal action that could go as far as seeking the trust’s assets entirely. read more »
Audi CEO knew about diesel manipulation up to 9 years before scandal broke
Revelations would confirm that decision to use software to manipulate diesel emission filters went right to the top
Audi chief executive Rupert Stadler, his board and leading VW managers were informed about diesel emission manipulation in their cars up to nine years before the Dieselgate scandal broke, it has emerged this morning.
It is the central claim of a former Audi technician, on remand in Munich, in a 28-page statement to Bavarian prosecutors.
The claims, backed up with mails, presentations and minutes of meetings, contradict claims by senior managers that they only learned of the massive fraud at the VW group shortly before the scandal broke in September 2015.
If confirmed, the revelations would confirm what VW critics have claimed from the start: the decision to use software to manipulate diesel emission filters to work only in test situations, not on the road, went right to the top. read more »
How a dangerous Takata air bag made its way into a used car
A dangerous Takata air bag should have been recalled before going from a wrecked car to a salvage yard, eventually ending up in a 2002 Honda Accord and nearly killing a Las Vegas woman, a lawsuit alleges.
The Accord had been fixed up and sold in March of 2016 to the family of Karina Dorado, a 19-year-old woman whose trachea was punctured by shrapnel spewed by the faulty air bag. The family claims it was never informed that the air bag was subject to a recall.
How that air bag got into the Accord is detailed in the lawsuit filed Friday in Nevada. It highlights the sometimes suspect world of auto parts recycling and shows how dangerous recalled parts can find their way into used cars that are sold to unsuspecting buyers. read more »
