Despite the amount of news coverage the GM ignition switch recall has received, less than half of the 2.4 million affected cars have been repaired, according to a recent CNN report.  That means more than 1 million General Motors cars are on the road with a dangerous defect that causes the vehicle to shut off while being driven and disables the air bags, anti-lock brakes and power steering. At least 30 confirmed deaths have been linked to the GM ignition switch defect.

The GM ignition switch recall was first announced in February but repairs on vehicles did not begin until April due to delays in the arrival of replacement parts. Despite these delays, many GM owners are still ignoring the recall notice, according to reports, either purposefully or by misidentifying recall notices as junk mail.

A number of class action lawsuits accuse General Motors of knowing about the ignition switch problem more than 10 years ago but failing to fix the defect or alert vehicle owners, even though it requires an inexpensive and quick fix.

In addition to GM ignition switch class action lawsuits, more than 125 families have filed individual wrongful death lawsuits against General Motors, claiming that the company’s ignition defect caused their loved ones to die in fatal accidents. In response, GM has set up a settlement fund to compensate the families of victims.

The number of GM ignition switch lawsuits filed reached such a high that in June 2014, the U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation (JPML) established coordinated pretrial proceedings for the GM ignition defect litigation. It is being centralized before U.S. District Judge Jesse Furman in the Southern District of New York.

Overview of the GM Recall

GM has faced mass criticism from the general public and the legal community for taking years to address the ignition switch defect despite allegedly knowing about the problem and the source of the defect.

According to General Motors, it could not begin repairing vehicles affected by the recall any earlier than April 2014 because it had to wait for its auto parts supplier, Delphi, to supply them with the replacement parts for the ignition barrels. Since then, at least 10 million GM vehicles have been recalled for the ignition defect, which is problematic for GM because it has only set aside funding to cover 2.6 million vehicles in their settlement fund.

According to experts, only about two-thirds of recalled vehicles across the industry actually get repaired, which puts GM ahead of the curve. GM has historically repaired about 85% of recalled vehicles in two years.

General Motors urges any GM owners who have a recalled vehicles to remove any key chains or unnecessary attachments to their keys, and to submit their vehicle to repair immediately. The company is offering a loaner vehicle to those who require replacement cars until the defect is fixed.