The stories about General Motors’ failure to reveal information about ignition defects affecting the safety of millions of car owners is not GM’s first effort to keep its dirty laundry secret.
Memories are short, even when it comes to outrageous corporate behavior, and even when that behavior relates to hundreds of accidents and deaths and hundreds of millions of dollars paid. So here’s a pop quiz: How many people remember the story in the 1980s and 1990s of GM’s side-mounted gas tank fires? Here’s a reminder: For years, many GM trucks had side-mounted gas tanks that did not sit within the frame of the vehicle. Eventually consumer groups and news organizations began claiming these gas tanks were defective because of how easily they could catch on fire or explode in side-impact accidents. But GM insistently denied there was a problem. And there was virtually no evidence that crash victims had been suing GM.
