Oregon will receive $1.7 million as part of a consumer protection settlement over faulty General Motors ignition switches, installed in various car models between 2004 and 2014, that led to hundreds of deaths and injuries.
Oregon is receiving only a small part of the $120 million, multi-state settlement because the number of affected vehicles sold here was relatively small. GM has said there were 64,930 affected vehicles in Oregon, of which 44,836 have been repaired pursuant to a recall, according to the Oregon Department of Justice.
The Justice Department will retain the money from the settlement, which was announced earlier this week. Typically, consumer settlement funds go to the Justice Department's consumer protection and education account, while consumer restitution money goes into a client trust fund. In this case, Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum will get some discretion, said the agency' spokewoman, Kristina Edmunson.
In early 2014, GM issued a recall for some 2.6 million Chevrolet Cobalts, Saturn Ions and other small cars with ignition switches that could turn to the "off" position while the vehicle was underway, disabling a car's power steering, power brakes, and the sensor that controls airbag deployment.
When accidents took place with the ignition in the "off" position, some vehicles' airbags failed to deploy. The defect left 124 people dead and another 275 injured. GM failed to issue any recalls until 2014 despite having known about the problem a decade earlier, according to the lawsuit filed by the state in Multnomah County Circuit Court.
The settlement with 49 states and the district of Columbia comes on top of previous penalties and payouts of some $2.5 billion. It does not resolve a class action suit still underway.
Edmunson said the Justice Department is not aware of any deaths or injuries related to the defect in Oregon.
-Ted Sickinger
503-221-8505; @tedsickinger