GM Fund Leaves Out Scores Hurt or Killed in Cars With Switch Flaw

Ben Pillars always wondered why his wife crashed her Pontiac Grand Am in 2005, sending her into a coma from which she never recovered. Then last year, General Motors Co. recalled the car for a faulty ignition switch and Pillars thought he had his answer. But when he submitted a claim to a compensation fund set up by the company, he was turned away.

Last year, GM agreed to compensate victims killed or hurt when an ignition switch shut off accidentally and cut power to the brakes and steering, a defect hidden from the public for more than a decade. But the compensation fund covers only 2.59 million vehicles with that specific flaw. GM says a similar defect subsequently detected in an additional 10 million vehicles, including the model Pillars’s wife was driving, is ineligible for compensation because the company recalled the cars immediately after discovering the flaw and because employees made no efforts to keep it under wraps.