CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas, April 17, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, Texas law firm Hilliard Munoz Gonzales LLP (HMG) released initial findings from Safety Research & Strategies, Inc. showing that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has received over 500 consumer complaints about General Motors vehicles with faulty ignition switches.
Bob Hilliard, lead lawyer and partner at HMG, is leading the charge to make GM take responsibility for the loss of life caused by the faulty switches. He filed the first class action suit in the nation against GM on behalf of victims and fought hard for an emergency motion to force GM to issue a "Park It Now" alert to drivers of the dangerous vehicles.
Hilliard says:
"This confirms the basic problem. America can't depend on the NHTSA for protection from GM and good judges should not have to defer to the NHTSA when lives are on the line. This is the heart of the fallacy. When NHTSA has guard duty, the inmates have control."
NHTSA DATA REVEALS HISTORY OF COMPLAINTS
The data he released today proves that the faulty ignition switch has been a problem for years - the data was mined from NHTSA Vehicle Owners Questionnaires reaching back to 1990. Complaints from 565 drivers targeted ignition switch failures identical to the malfunctions that caused the deadly accidents that have occurred since 2004.
THE CLASS ACTION LAWSUIT
In March, Hilliard filed the first class-action lawsuit in the nation against GM on behalf of victims, families and survivors of those injured or killed in crashes caused by a faulty ignition switch in eight GM models. It is believed that over 300 deaths have occurred because of the problem, which GM admits it has known about since 2004. GM recalled 1.6 million affected cars in February 2014, ten years after discovering the dangerous equipment failure.
ABOUT HMG
Hilliard Munoz Gonzales LLP (HMG) specializes in mass torts, personal injury, product liability, commercial and business litigation, and wrongful death. Hilliard Munoz Gonzales LLP has been successfully representing clients in the United States and Mexico since 1986.Bob Hilliard obtained the Largest Verdict in the country in 2012 and the #1 verdict in Texas in 2013.
HMG is actively seeking to represent other victims of GM's defective vehicles.
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SOURCE Hilliard Munoz Gonzales LLP
