not a crash test

GM Airbags Blamed for 303 Deaths

Defective in two models.

Between 2003 and 2012, 303 people died after the airbags of two models of General Motors cars failed to deploy. Last month GM recalled those models, the 2003-5 Chevrolet Cobalts and the 2003-2007 Saturn Ions, along with four other models in a 1.6 million-car recall. The review of airbag-linked deaths was carried out by Friedman Research, which did not evaluate the causes of the crashes, and was commissioned by the Center for Auto Safety. A GM spokesman criticized the database for only tracking raw data and not rigorously analyzing it. The Detroit News, however, has pointed to a 2009 study that found the U.S.'s database on air bag failures makes the problem seem much worse than it actually is.