Digging deeper in to the fatal Cobalt crashes, one-by-one

"DCCARGEEK" (dccargeek) 03/31/2014 at 10:35 • Filed to: None

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Over the past month the media has highlighted and "investigated" reports of fatal accidents related to the GM ignition recall. They've gone through all the court documents, talked to engineers, executives. And now Congress is spun up and ready to go forth and get to the bottom of things.

Yet for all the research and effort put into this topic many of the accidents presented in the media are not full reports of the accidents. Does the media fear that if they present facts that point to human error it could make them appear as if they'd taken the side of evil corporate America?

I took the first four accidents routinely mentioned by many of the news outlets and pulled the FARS data for those specific crashes and summarized it below.

My only agenda is to ensure that all the information, and not just cherry-picked headlines, are provided to the public. I'm not saying that an air bag that doesn't deploy is acceptable.

My grandfather once said, "Before you run to the streets, pitchfork in hand, be sure to have all the facts. Because when you're burning a witch at the stake, it's comforting to know you are in fact burning a witch."

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Accident 1

October 24, 2006. St. Croix County, WI. FARS 2006: Crash no. 534

Summary: 17 year-old female driver of a 2005 Chevrolet Cobalt, driving in violation of learner's permit, ran off road right and struck a tree at 50MPH.

Fatalities: 2

Driver: Unbelted . Air bag did not deploy. Injuries: Incapacitating.

Passenger 1: Seated: front row, middle, unbelted . Injuries: Fatal.

Passenger 2: Seated: behind driver, unbelted . Injuries: Fatal.

http://www-fars.nhtsa.dot.gov/QueryTool/Quer…

________

Accident 2

October 16, 2007. Lyndhurst, OH. FARS 2007: Crash no. 970

Summary: 42 year-old female in a 2005 Chevrolet Cobalt traveling 75MPH in a 35MPH zone ran off the road right, struck a guardrail and two trees.

Fatalities: 1

Driver: Belted. Air bag did not deploy. Injuries: Fatal.

http://www-fars.nhtsa.dot.gov/QueryTool/Quer…

________

CORRECTION: Accident 3

September 13, 2008. Stevensville, MI. FARS 2008: Crash no. 560

Summary: At 3AM a 19 year-old male in a 2005 Chevrolet Cobalt driving 98MPH , "at an excessive amount of speed"* with a BAC of .12 and THC in his system, crossed the center line and struck a tree.

Driver: Belted. Air bag did not deploy. Injuries: Fatal.

Passenger: Front passenger seat, unbelted . Air bag did not deploy. Injuries: Fatal.

http://www-fars.nhtsa.dot.gov/QueryTool/Quer…

*The speed via FARS was indicated at 98 which is coded as note reported. According to news reports from 2008 the investigation determined that "excessive speed and alcohol" were factors in the crash.

_______

Accident 4

April 4, 2009. Knox, PA. FARS 2009: Crash no. 0212

Summary: 49 year-old male, with a BAC of .24 traveling at 70MPH in a 55MPH zone driving a Hyundai Sonata crossed the centerline and struck a 2005 Chevrolet Cobalt driven by a 73 year-old female head on.

Fatalities: 3

Driver 1 (Hyundai): Unbelted . Air bag did deploy. Injuries: Fatal.

Driver 2 (Cobalt): Unbelted . Air bag did not deploy. Injuries: Fatal.

Passenger 1 (Cobalt): Front passenger, 13 year-old female. Unbelted . Air bag did not deploy. Injuries: Fatal.

Passenger 2 (Cobalt): 1 year-old male. Child seat. Injuries: Non-incapacitating

http://www-fars.nhtsa.dot.gov/QueryTool/Quer…

As you can see many of these fatalities involve an excessive rate of speed or improper use of seat belts, like not wearing one at all. That doesn't mean that the air bag shouldn't have deployed. But it would be wildly absurd (and irresponsible) to conclude that in these specific crashes an air bag deployment would have saved lives, as many journalists erroneously contend in their media-whoring headlines.

N/A POWAAAHH > DCCARGEEK 03/31/2014 at 10:43

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Holy shit. I was waiting for the "all these drivers are stupid" before I raged. Good job, this is great info.

Party-vi > DCCARGEEK 03/31/2014 at 10:43

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What surprised me the most is that a Cobalt could do 98mph!

*rimshot*

Ok but really, I didn't know people drove around without wearing a seatbelt.

Jeremy H formerly Kalakaboooom > DCCARGEEK 03/31/2014 at 10:50

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I truly am still amazed that people do not wear a seatbelt when they are driving, I mean, I wonder what is genuinely going through their head when they make the conscious decision to not wear a belt?

I mean I guess it was just scared into me, my dad grew up in the late 60's racing his old Grand Prix, told me about the wrecks hes got into, and this and that, told me how a cop rear ended him, and since he wasn't wearing a belt ended up in the back seat all sorts of messed up. Didn't want to end up experiencing something like that

spanfucker retire bitch > DCCARGEEK 03/31/2014 at 10:52

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Not even going into the topic of speeding, lack of airbag deployment, BAC levels, etc:

Holy shit, I can't believe how many people still don't wear a god damn seat belt.

jariten1781 > DCCARGEEK 03/31/2014 at 10:53

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Accident 4 is really odd. It seems like a total fluke that the ignition would have switched off exactly when a drunk driver was crossing the median straight at you. Odds are that either the angle of impact or something else caused the airbags not to deploy on that one.

DCCARGEEK > spanfucker retire bitch 03/31/2014 at 10:54

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We are at 89% IIRC in the U.S. but over 52% of 2011's fatalities were not belted. That is a bigger issue than an airbag.

spanfucker retire bitch > DCCARGEEK 03/31/2014 at 10:57

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That's just utterly ridiculous. Why am I even still shocked and surprised by general stupidity these days? You think I would be used to this by now.

Sigh..but really, that's incredibly depressing to see those kinds of numbers. There's literally no excuse.

N/A POWAAAHH > DCCARGEEK 03/31/2014 at 10:59

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89% of Americans don't wear seat belts? That's crazy.

DCCARGEEK > N/A POWAAAHH 03/31/2014 at 11:00

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No 89% DO wear a seat belt.

My Other Engine is a Wankel > Jeremy H formerly Kalakaboooom 03/31/2014 at 11:02

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I could be mistaken, but don't the airbags deactivate if the seatbelt isn't fastened? This being the case, the cars probably acted as they were supposed to for the idiots not wearing seatbelts.

Jeremy H formerly Kalakaboooom > My Other Engine is a Wankel 03/31/2014 at 11:06

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Honestly I don't know, all the cars I work on, didn't have airbags with them in the first place. They should deploy regardless depending on what the ecu detects, but I doubt that if the airbags deployed it would have saved them. Airbags are a supplement to the seatbelts, just to make sure you don't have your steering wheel for lunch. All the airbag would have done is instead of going out the windshield they would have gone out the side or the back, that energy has to go somewhere and without something keeping you planted, that energy is going to make you it's bitch.

DCCARGEEK > jariten1781 03/31/2014 at 11:06

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Well it's interesting that you mention that. IIHS did a study a few years back that looked at airbags. They concluded that some of the new standards on dual stage deployment (something about not getting hit in the face causing injuries from a slight impact) made non-deployment numbers even higher for modern cars.

spanfucker retire bitch > My Other Engine is a Wankel 03/31/2014 at 11:12

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They usually have a pressure sensor in the seat. I know that's how my car works. If I put my laptop bag in the front passenger seat and buckle it in, a little light will pop up and tell me the front passenger airbag has been deactivated because even though the seat belt is buckled, it can tell there's no person actually sitting in the seat.

BaconSandwich is tasty. > My Other Engine is a Wankel 03/31/2014 at 11:13

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I originally thought this as well, but it turns out, I was wrong.

This is what I've heard, so I'm not sure how accurate it is, but it does make sense: Some of the newer airbag systems read data from the seat belts during an accident. Depending on the tension of the seat belt, it will deploy the air bag differently. If there isn't as much tension, only a single stage of the air bag fires. If there is a lot of tension, it fires both stages. If it doesn't have any data from the seat belt, it will think worst case and fire both stages. Either way, the air bag should still fire if the accident is severe enough. In the above examples, it's still pretty absurd that people are blaming the car rather than the individuals who were driving.

Jayhawk Jake > DCCARGEEK 03/31/2014 at 11:30

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So is the airbag not deploying presumably caused by the ignition switch being off?

DCCARGEEK > Jayhawk Jake 03/31/2014 at 11:32

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Yes, that is correct.

area man > DCCARGEEK 03/31/2014 at 11:36

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Excellent service you're doing here.

WhiskeyGolf > DCCARGEEK 03/31/2014 at 11:44

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This is a very interesting analysis, thanks. Accident 4 has really weird circumstances to be blamed on a Cobalt ignition switch. I wonder how many of the other crashes have other details that would cloud the waters?

Dusty Ventures > DCCARGEEK 03/31/2014 at 12:03

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You're right that there's no guarantee air bags would have saved those people, in fact I would say its almost certain at least the unbelted ones would have died anyway. However, regardless of the negligent driving of the owners, and regardless of whether or not the air bags would have saved them, the fact that the air bags didn't go off shows a serious safety defect in the cars that (unless GM covertly developed a "Darwin" system that turns off the air beads when the car detects blatantly negligent drivers) potentially puts ALL drivers of these cars at risk, not just the unsafe drivers. In other words, no matter who was at fault in the crashes, and no matter what the drivers of said cars may have done, GM still done fucked up.

Nick Bunkley > DCCARGEEK 03/31/2014 at 20:47

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This post seems to be largely targeted toward my reporting (I'm the only journalist who has published details on 3 of the 4 accidents listed here, contrary to the assertion that these are "the first four accidents routinely mentioned by many of the news outlets"), so I'd like to add a few points.

In Accident 2, I spoke to an officer who pulled the police report for me. I asked him to tell me about the factors that played a role in the crash. He didn't mention speed. It's also uncertain with FARS entries whether the speed is a pure guess, data from the black box, based on reports from witnesses, the speed at impact or before the driver lost control, etc.

In Accident 3, an entry of "98" in FARS for vehicle speed means "not reported." The car was not going 98 mph. My story — again, the only one that has identified this crash — does note that the driver had a 0.12 BAC.

In Accident 4, regarding the skepticism posed in some comments, one possible explanation for the ignition cutting off 1 second before the crash is that the driver panicked when seeing a car about to hit her head-on and accidentally bumped the ignition — which is one of the ways that the ignitions in these cars can be turned off. I did note that both victims were unbelted, and I specifically pointed out that the airbag might not have been enough to save them, given that the other driver had a working airbag but also died.

One factor that has made getting and reporting information about these fatalities difficult is that GM has volunteered details for only 1 of the 13. Any information about the rest has been dug up by me and other reporters who are investigating this issue. It's not as if everyone gets a full report handed to them and then picks and chooses which facts to report to fit some agenda.

gmporschenut also a fan of hondas > DCCARGEEK 03/31/2014 at 20:55

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My cousin was in an accident at 25mph. Broke his colloar bone, cheek and massive bruising on his chest.

Second accident, concussion and a bunch of other bruising. Still will not wear a seatbelt.

I still don't get what insurance company would insure him.

DCCARGEEK > Nick Bunkley 03/31/2014 at 21:09

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Nick - My reason for putting all this out was mainly to show people the the theory that had these airbags been functional lives would have been saved is somewhat misleading without providing all the underlying facts. Now, I doubt as many people contacted the police as you did in these cases.

I updated Accident 3. When I checked the FARS cheat sheet I remember the speed being listed all the way to 151MPH as 0-151, but that was for 2012, not 2008.

As for Accident 4, I won't debate as to if or why the air bag didn't deploy. Frankly, when you start looking at all accidents where the driver is killed and the air bag doesn't deploy you come across far more than just Cobalts and faulty ignition. What blows my mind, and many in the comments, is that not only was the driver not buckled but the 13 year-old girl in the front seat wasn't either. Tragedy really.

I really wish I had more time to spend digging into stories like this, but with a full time job and two kids, I'm spending way too many nights up staring at fatality reports which is kind of disturbing.

DCCARGEEK > gmporschenut also a fan of hondas 03/31/2014 at 21:10

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Blows my mind. It's Russian roulette.

Nick Bunkley > DCCARGEEK 03/31/2014 at 21:51

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I agree that stories like this always need to be put in proper context. And, having spent much of the last month reading accident reports that describe in detail horrible things that happened to these families, yes, it's hard to comprehend a lot of these. The kid who's described in FARS as having "non-incapacitating" injuries is now a 5-year-old who can't walk.

axiomatik > jariten1781 05/21/2014 at 11:47

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I know your comment was almost 2 months ago, but I thought I'd mention that according to the data GM released in their timeline of events, not all of the cars had the ignitions off: some were on, some were off, some were in accessory. There may have been some other fluke in that particular car that prevented the airbags from deploying.

axiomatik > Dusty Ventures 05/21/2014 at 11:53

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Late reply to an old comment, but GM isn't the only automaker where airbags haven't deployed. Every major manufacturer has had cars where the airbags didn't deploy, for a variety of reasons. This is certainly not a GM-only event, GM is just the center of the media storm due to the backstory on the issue.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-05-1…

Dusty Ventures > axiomatik 05/21/2014 at 13:12

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True. And I think it's a serious concern worth looking into every time they fail to deploy when they should, be it in a GM, a Ford, a Hyundai, or a Dacia.

maximum_sarge > DCCARGEEK 05/21/2014 at 20:20

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Well, you've covered 8 of the 14 deaths, in a mere four of the total forty-six accidents.

If the car hadn't shut off:

(1) the airbags would or should have fired (I assume the ignition defect played a role?)

(2) the driver would not have lost control

Ergo, but for the car shutting off unexpectedly, those crashes would not have happened. There's a good lesson about always wearing your seatbelt to be sure, as well as driving under the influence, but 'not wearing a seatbelt' is not what caused the unexpected loss of control of the vehicle, and the resulting deaths.

In fact, despite the irresponsible behavior of some of those drivers, you cannot prove for certain at all that they would have crashed if the car had been safe to drive. Statistically, the average DUI violator drives under the influence 600 times before they are even TICKETED for the offense. Thankfully, it's an exponentially smaller number who kill someone. This is further to the point that but for the defect, innocent people would be alive and well today (i.e. people other than the drunk or reckless drivers).

The coverup of the situation by GM cost lives, and it is flatly inexcusable.

Elan12 > DCCARGEEK 05/13/2015 at 00:25

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You should be ashamed to write this article. As of today’s current date May 13th 2015, there have been 100 confirmed deaths from this defective vehicle. Most of these deaths occurred from the ignition switch failing and the key turning to the off position while driving. This directly resulted in the airbags not being deployed. Yes, in the examples you listed these drivers were speeding and intoxicated, but the problem is not the driver, it is GM. Although GM has admitted fault and is still fixing recalled cars, parts to fix the cars are still back ordered to this day so dealerships can not offer the fix. You should be embarrassed that you are picking apart the wrong side of this issue. As a chevy cobalt owner, I have experienced these problems first hand and no longer feel safe in this car. Aside from ignition switch and airbag problems, the car also has power steering failure occurring at random intervals. Earlier today I was commuting to work in this car (since I can not afford to purchase another), and my power steering failed. I am thankful to be alive after nearly crashing while trying to pull off the road in six lanes of traffic in the DC area. This car only has 48,000 miles on it, this is not what should be occurring. Please do more research before you post a bias piece without all accurate information, and take into account the people who are still driving these unsafe cars today.