As General Motors (GM) performs damage control in the wake of the lawsuits following disclosure of an ignition switch defect, the company announced it is ready to compensate the families of 19 victims who died in GM vehicles with faulty ignition switches.

Legal experts expect that the compensation amount for the families of GM ignition switch victims will be high, in the hope of steering them away from filing legal action against the company.

The ignition defect resulted in the recall of 2.6 million GM automobiles. When the key is in the ignition slot it can turn off due to the weight of key chains or other attached items. This causes the engine to turn off, which disables the car’s airbags and safety features.

Members of Congress and safety advocates have heavily criticized GM for failing to take immediate action to deal with the ignition switch defect. The company acknowledged that people inside GM had known about it years before any action was taken. Previously, GM recognized 13 deaths that were caused by the ignition defect, but later expanded that to 19 as a result of additional evidence, such as photos of crashes.

Critics state that this number is still far too small as it more likely that more than 100 fatal crashes occurred because of the defect. GM representative and victim’s fund deputy administrator Camille Biros acknowledged that by expanding the company’s official recognition to 19, that it is possible more deaths may have been due to the ignition switch.

Biros did not name the families of the victims who will be offered compensation or how much compensation they will receive. A total of 125 death claims have been submitted to the fund, as well as 320 injury claims. However, GM’s review board has either rejected or is still in the process of reviewing 106 death claims and 308 injury claims. Biros would not confirm on the amount of claims that have been accepted or rejected.

Overview of GM Recall

The 2014 GM defective ignition switch recall has led to potentially thousands of injuries, hundreds of deaths, and a class action lawsuit. Across the country, thousands of people accuse of the company of keeping these dangerous vehicles on the market, despite knowing about the ignition flaw since as early as 2001. According to an independent review by The Center for Auto Safety, as many as 300 automobile deaths have been linked to the GM ignition defect. Since the formation of the class action lawsuit, GM is now facing more than 80 ignition defect lawsuits with the number expected to grow.