These companies are all about money. X amount of people usually have to die or get seriously hurt before they actually issue a recall.
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In the majority of recall cases, that statement is NOT correct. With the huge number of recalls issued yearly just by the auto/truck manufacturers very few people actually die from the cause of the recall. In the ignition switch recall on the Saturn Ion's, Chevy Cobalts, etc., there was probably more ignorance than there was actually disregard for life. We used to call this a cluster F when I was in the Army.
The ignition switch in question was first reported to GM engineering by Saturn Service Engineer with testing and warranty results determined by the Saturn service engineering development center (SEDC) in Spring Hill TN. The major problem in the beginning was the switch just failed. Evidently, in later years it was found to turn the ignition to the Off position during a major shock to the vehicle and this would shut down the electric motor on the electric assist power steering system, and with the SIR system used, the SDM only holds enough power to deploy airbags for a few seconds.
GM did not want to redesign the switch. In later years, when the switch was redesigned, some idiot; probably at that time overworked due to all the cutbacks (not an excuse just a statement) didn't to the paper work correctly and did not change a part number so now, they have no idea if when a switch was replaced, was it replaced with the new part or not.
But, if the ignition switch fails at a high speed, the person will not even know the power steering has failed until the speed drops. For those who aren't familiar with speed related PS systems, on many vehicles PS is basically shut off at speeds over 30 mph since it is not needed and on some vehicles (Corvettes for example) it is not wanted.
In the 13 deaths attributed (so far) to the ignition switch, over half would have died if the air bags had worked since the crashes were at a high speed, into solid objects such as trees, and the people killed did not have their seat belts on. (They don't call it "supplemental" inflatable restrain system for laughs; it is a supplemental system that can be dangerous during a high speed impact and no seat belts are used.) (As for the articles that it could be over 300 deaths attributed to the switch, I'll wait and see that ironed out since that number is being thrown out by trail attorneys who smell GM blood.) In one case, a young girl was estimated to be doing over 70 mph in a cul-de-sac, in a residential area, launched the vehicle when it hit a curb and hit at least three threes while airborn. She had no seat belt on. Her mother is one of the most vocal of the group of parents.
I am in no way saying GM should get off on this since it kind of pisses me off (actually, it really pissed me off for personal reasons). And since GM bought all of us "white collar" workers out of their retirements I have no allegiance left to GM except for employee pricing on new vehicles and a nice Verizon discount. But to imply that a bunch of us engineers and/or attorneys sat around waiting for people to die before we would issue a recall is NOT true.
RANT OVER
