WATCH: Stewart Wails On GM for Its Utter Disregard for Human Life
Jon Stewart put GM's utter cheapness and callousness in sharp relief last night in a segment called "True Defective." The late night comedian simply laid out the shocking facts and timeline of a company that found out in 2001 that a tiny part in its cars, essentially a cheap spring in the ignition switch, was too short and was causing the cars to suddenly shut down, with deadly consequences.
And the company's response? A quick recall and fix? Stewart asked hopefully. No, after four years of study, cost beneift analyses, algorithms, etc, .. . . etc . . . , GM "came up with 'F*ck it!' he said answering his own question. That was in 2005.
The cost to fix the problem, .57 cents!!! Which, even if you strapped for cash, Stewart pointed out, is an amount the carmaker might have been found in change between the seats.
Instead, the carmaker did nothing but warn customers not to carry heavy keys. The result: 13 deaths, 32 crashes. Those are the ones GM knows about in 2014, 13 years after they knew there was a defect. Consumer advocates say there were likely more.
Watch Stewart cleverly explain the whole shocking and deplorable example of corporate malfeasance here:
