GM Ignition Switch Recall Could Be Tied to 74 More Deaths

The death count from General Motors' faulty ignition switches, which now stands at 13, could be higher than previously thought.

According to a Reuters analysis of a national crash database, at least 74 people have died in GM vehicles in accidents that had characteristics similar to those involving the 13 deaths already linked to the switches.

Searching the Fatality Analysis Reporting System, a database that compiles information from local law enforcement agencies around the country, Reuters found that "single-car frontal collisions where no front air bags deployed and the driver or front-seat passenger was killed" occurred more frequently in GM vehicles compared with top competitors.

GM's report of 13 deaths was based on claims and lawsuits filed against the carmaker. The company declined to tell Reuters whether or not information from the FARS database was used to arrive at the total.

The Reuters analysis compared GM's Chevrolet Cobalt and Saturn Ion, which made headlines during the 2.6 million-vehicle small car recall, to the Ford Focus, Honda Civic and Toyota Corolla.

Reuters found that accidents where air bags failed to deploy and a front passenger was killed happened in the Saturn Ion six times more frequently compared with the Corolla and twice as often compared with the Focus.

Since crash reports don't usually include data that would detail whether or not an ignition switch was faulty, it isn't clear if the crashes uncovered in the analysis were connected with the same switch problem. The air bags may have failed to deploy for another reason.

"The final death toll associated with this safety defect is not known to NHTSA, but we believe it's likely that more than 13 lives were lost," NHTSA Acting Administrator David Friedman told Reuters.