Protecting Consumers in Wake of Chrysler / GM Bankruptcy

Cecelia Prewett

Contributor

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It’s obvious that U.S. car manufacturers are going through tough times. The bankruptcy proceedings for GM and Chrysler are painstaking, with ripple effects throughout the economy.

But that doesn’t mean individual consumers, those who have bought these cars and have every expectation they are safe, should be swept aside. But the bankruptcy proposals do just that.

According to the Chrysler bankruptcy plan, families driving any Chrysler now on the road (about 10 million vehicles), whose occupants are severely injured in a collision or otherwise because the car was not made safely, will have no recourse against the company. Pending cases will likely never be resolved. The GM bankruptcy proposes the same thing (about 30 million vehicles).

It is estimated that every year, there are about 500 to 1,000 serious injuries or deaths due to cars that are designed or built with defects. The rights of all of these men, women and children are extinguished under the Chrysler and GM bankruptcy plans. Some of these defects include:

• seatbelts that fail and strangle children;
• seat backs that collapse and cause brain injury;
• unstable vehicles that flip and roofs that cave, crushing occupants;
• cars with gears that “self-shift” from park to reverse and run someone over; and,
• gasoline tanks or brake fluid containers that are improperly positioned and catch fire or explode, severely burning or killing the occupants.

But the word is spreading on what this bankruptcy means for those injured by defective vehicles or current owners. CNN yesterday interviewed Jeremy Warriner from Indianapolis. His Jeep Wrangler was hit, and during the accident, the cheap plastic brake fluid container broke apart, causing a fire and burning his legs so badly that both legs had to be amputated. The Chrysler plan, as approved Sunday by the bankruptcy court, would completely destroy his legal rights and ability to obtain compensation for injuries caused by the defectively designed or built cars that injured him. The video is embedded below, and other news coverage is here (ABC World News Tonight, Bloomberg).