GM Ignition Death Toll Climbs, Affected Vehicles Remain on the Road

84 families have now been approved to receive payments of at least $1 million from General Motors’ compensation fund, after losing loved ones in crashes caused by defective ignition switches installed in their GM-manufactured vehicles. In addition to this death toll, nine new injury claims were also deemed eligible to collect from the fund, bringing that total to 157. GM’s faulty ignitions, embroiled in a decade-long cover-up, cause the entire key system to slip out of the “on” position, powering down the car and rendering useless safety features, such as airbag deployment.

While ignition switch-related injury and death claims approved for compensation keep climbing, GM is still scrambling to fix all of the 2.3 million cars affected in the massive worldwide recall. The automaker has yet to fix the ignitions of nearly 1 million vehicles that remain on the road today—potentially posing great danger to motorists, passengers, and drivers.