Although General Motors has been able to use its 2009 bankruptcy as a legal shield from some ignition switch defect class action lawsuits, the automaker may still face federal criminal charges, according to news reports.

The ignition switch defect has allegedly caused the deaths of over 100 people, resulting in national and worldwide GM recalls of numerous makes and models.

GM Ignition Switch Federal Litigation

According to reports by The Wall Street Journal, the U.S. Department of Justice is seeking to bring criminal charges against GM for making alleged misstatements about the GM ignition switch failure in various vehicles, including Saturn Ion and Chevy Cobalt.

The ignition switch failure allows the switch to be turned to the “off” position if a driver’s knee came in contact with the ignition switch while driving or just by the weight of a heavy key chain. If the ignition switch turns to “off” while a car is moving, a driver will no longer have control of braking or power steering. Safety features like airbags will not deploy.

It is still not known what charges GM could face.

Another issue likely to brought up in this GM ignition switch litigation is whether GM employees will also face federal prosecution, since some were reportedly aware of the ignition switch defect even before some of the affected GM vehicles went into production.

GM engineers did eventually fix the ignition switch defect by making and installing a revised switch, but no recall was initiated in older GM model cars, meaning thousands consumers on the road were left at risk, operating cars with the ignition switch defect.

Last year, reportedly more than a decade since the ignition switch defect was first discovered, the GM defect became public knowledge and the company recalled 2.6 million vehicles.

At first, General Motors only acknowledged 13 fatalities resulting from the ignition switch defect. The automobile company was limiting the official ignition switch death number by only attributing the deaths that happened in the front seat of recalled GM vehicles while an airbag did not deploy because the ignition switch had inadvertently turned to “off.”

This accounting by GM left out deaths of rear seat passengers, victims in other cars killed in a resulting collision, or pedestrians hit by a GM vehicle that lost control because of the ignition switch defect.

The automobile company did eventually set up a GM ignition switch compensation fund and has since received thousands of injury and fatality claims, though the company has so far only acknowledged 100 related deaths.