Eager to speed up its bankruptcy proceedings, GM has agreed to take responsibility for any future injuries or deaths that result from faulty cars and trucks it sold before bankruptcy, according to the Associated Press.  GM had originally planned to follow Chrysler’s lead and include any potential liability for defective vehicles sold before its bankruptcy in the list of bad assets that will be left behind after the bankruptcy.

Consumer groups and state officials had threatened to block the sale of GM’s assets to a new company owned primarily by the U.S. government if the new company wasn’t liable for GM’s existing vehicles.

As part of Chrysler’s bankruptcy agreement,  anyone injured by a Chrysler product sold before the bankruptcy will have to sue the ‘old’ Chrysler, which is made up of all the bad assets that the company needed to get rid of in order to be viable.  Any customer injured by a Chrysler product sold before the bankruptcy will have to sue ‘old Chrysler’ and will join the list of unsecured debtors who have little chance of being paid what they’re owed.

GM did not agree to take responsibility for any pending lawsuits against the company after the bankruptcy, which will mean anyone currently suing GM over a faulty product will be in the same situation as those injured by pre-bankruptcy Chrysler vehicles.

If only this guy had built all of GM’s vehicles.  Then this wouldn’t even be an issue.

Picture via the New York Times.