When forensics expert Erin Shipp began looking into the cause of an accident in West Virginia involving a 2005 Chevy Cobalt, she turned to an obvious source: The U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. On its website, she found a 2007 research report concluding that, in a similar crash in Wisconsin, the ignition switch might have disabled the airbags. Shipp, hired by the plaintiffs attorney in a lawsuit, thought the same thing might have happened in her case.
To her surprise, General Motors Co.’s attorneys, when informed of her finding, appeared to have been caught completely off guard. They quickly settled the case.
