The GM ignition scandal and the case for public ownership

The… sacrifice of human life on the altar of corporate profit underscores the necessity, for the health and safety of the public, of placing the auto industry under public ownership and the democratic control of the working population…”

Shannon Jones, wsws.org

_New evidence is emerging on a daily basis of a systematic cover-up by General Motors and government regulators of an ignition switch defect known to be potentially fatal. Reports in the press point to dozens, if not hundreds, of needless deaths resulting from management’s determination to save money and prevent a recall.

There is no doubt that those who drove the more than 2.6 million vehicles ultimately recalled by GM were at risk of death or injury. The ignition switch can be accidentally jarred out of the “run” position, shutting off the engine, power steering and power brakes, and disabling the airbag system. The result is a sudden loss of control of the car, without the benefit of airbags in the event of a crash. A number of the fatal crashes linked to the defect were head-on collisions.

In the midst of the mushrooming ignition switch scandal, GM on Monday recalled an additional 1.3 million cars for an unrelated defect that can result on the sudden cut-off of power steering.

The human cost of the company’s evident indifference is incalculable. Most of the cars involved were low-cost models and many of the drivers were young people. Families will never recover from the sudden loss of loved ones. The cold cash calculus of the company is indicated by the words of a GM project engineering manager who ordered an investigation into the defect closed in 2005 because, according to a report in Monday’s Wall Street Journal, “the tooling cost and piece price are too high” and none of the proposed fixes “represents an acceptable business case.”