GM Says ‘Accidents Happen’ in New Ignition Switch Flaw Trial
- Trial over 2014 crash in New Orleans begins in Manhattan
- Carmaker claims victims' injuries predated multicar pileup
A shop foreman installs tumblers for the key cylinder during a service recall on a GM 2005 Chevrolet Cobalt.
Photographer: Jeff Kowalsky/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
“Sometimes, accidents just happen,” a lawyer for General Motors Co. told a U.S. jury in defense of the carmaker at a test trial over a deadly flaw in millions of ignition switches.
The accident in question was one of dozens that occurred on a New Orleans bridge during a January 2014 ice storm, GM attorney Mike Brock said at the start of a trial that may affect the outcome of hundreds of other cases. Even the police cruiser that responded to the crashes was rear-ended by an ambulance near the site of the pileup, he said.