GM knew for a decade its ignition switches could cut power and disable airbags — and did.

General Motors, the largest US automaker, sold millions of small cars (including the Chevrolet Cobalt and Saturn Ion) with a faulty ignition switch. The switch could slip out of the 'run' position while driving, cutting power to the engine, power steering and brakes — and, critically, disabling the airbags. A driver who hit a bump or had a heavy keychain could inadvertently turn the car off at speed.

The most damning fact was not the defect but the delay. GM knew about the problem for over a decade — engineers had flagged the faulty switch as early as 2001, and the company had even changed the part's design without updating its part number, making the problem harder to track. Yet GM did not recall the cars until February 2014, after years of crashes, injuries and deaths that it had failed to connect to the defect.

When the scandal broke, it was enormous. GM ultimately linked the defect to 124 deaths and hundreds of injuries, recalled 2.6 million vehicles, and paid about $2.6 billion in penalties and compensation, including a $900 million criminal penalty. Chief executive Mary Barra, who had taken over just before the scandal, led the response and a sweeping internal reform. The case became a landmark in product safety and corporate accountability — a lesson in how a known defect, left unaddressed for a decade, becomes a moral and legal catastrophe.