GM Classifies Fatal Ignition Switch Defect as “Extremely Minor”

When Tanner Tucker was killed on impact in a car accident at the age of 17, his family, friends, and community lost an honor student, young athlete, 5-time class president and Purdue University engineering degree candidate. Four years later, Tucker’s parents received a recall notice for their son’s 2002 Pontiac Grand Am for a defective ignition switch, shedding new light on the cause of their son’s previously unexplained death. Tucker’s parents have filed a lawsuit against General Motors over the decade-long cover up of the ignition switch problem, which has been linked to at least 100 deaths and many more injuries. While GM has established a fund for victims of ignition switch failures, only certain recalled cars are eligible for compensation—unfortunately the fund excludes Tucker’s vehicle in which GM implausibly classified the ignition problem as “extremely minor.”