Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, February 9, 1993 TAG: 9302090353
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: A-5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
GM SUES NBC, CLAIMS SHOW RIGGED CRASH TESTS
General Motors Corp. sued NBC on Monday, alleging that the "Dateline NBC" program rigged two car-truck crashes to show that 1973-87 GM pickups were prone to fires in side-impact crashes.GM said it was the first time it had ever sued to protect its reputation.
"The 11 million households that viewed the program were never told that NBC used incendiary devices to try and ensure that a fire would erupt, seemingly due to the collision," GM Executive Vice President Harry Pearce said.
NBC acknowledged on its "Nightly News" program Monday that it used the incendiary devices in the test crash. The network didn't disclose that fact when it aired the show Nov. 17 because another factor - a spark from a broken headlight - caused the fire, NBC News President Michael G. Gartner said.
The lawsuit was filed in an Indiana state court. GM asked for a jury trial.
The offensive by the world's largest automaker came four days after a jury in Atlanta found GM negligent over the "sidesaddle" fuel tank design of its older pickup truck models. The jury awarded $105.2 million to the family of a teen-ager killed when the 1985 GMC truck he was driving was smashed in the side and exploded in 1989. GM is appealing the verdict.
Safety groups claim 300 people have died in side-impact crashes in which fires resulted. Dozens of lawsuits have been filed, many of them settled out of court by GM.
Using videotape obtained from a fire chief and pictures from other witnesses, GM's Pearce said the Institute for Safety Analysis, which conducted the Oct. 24 simulation used in the NBC show, attached model rockets to the bottom of a truck that was smashed by a Chevrolet Citation.
Just before impact, there were two plumes of smoke beneath the truck, which he said were the rockets being started by a remote transmitter.
Gartner said that, while a particular crash might not produce sparks needed to ignite a fire, NBC wanted to illustrate the danger that a gas tank rupture poses if there is some other heat source, so it attached the rockets. But he said a broken headlamp wound up starting the fire.
"We emphasize that GM does not claim that the sparking devices caused the fire," Gartner said in a statement. "Nothing GM said challenged the conclusion of the experts advising NBC that the fire was caused by the headlamp broken in the collision. Had the fire been caused by the sparking devices or anything else, NBC would have disclosed that fact in its broadcast.
"We remain convinced that taken in its entirety and in its detail, the segment that was broadcast on `Dateline NBC' was fair and accurate," Gartner said.
Gartner accused GM of trying to divert attention from the large jury award in Atlanta. But in a news conference Monday at GM's Detroit headquarters, Pearce said the automaker filed its declaration of intent to sue NBC before Thursday's verdict.
"I am absolutely genuine when I tell you that this is not a public relations campaign," Pearce said. "We want the truth before the public."
GM alleged that the "Dateline NBC" program was part of an orchestrated campaign to "poison" public opinion against GM and to give other product-liability lawsuits against the automaker a greater chance of winning.
Critics contend the automaker knowingly endangered lives by putting the gas tanks on the outside of the truck frame rather than inside, where the heavy metal channels of the frame would serve as a protective steel barrier.
GM said it was suspicious of the NBC report but had no evidence until an anonymous tip from a journalist who had heard of the rigged tests from a firefighter at the scene.
GM dealers attending the National Automobile Dealers Association convention in New Orleans were pleased by GM's action.
"I definitely would have to let the consumer know the truth," said Haywood Hyman, a Richmond GM dealer. "I couldn't sit there and take the negative publicity of the thing. I would definitely fight."
\ BIGGEST PRODUCT-LIABILITY AWARDS
The $105.2 million verdict in favor of a Georgia family whose son was killed in a wreck of a General Motors Corp. pickup truck is one of the largest product-liability awards on record. Others include:
\ $128.5 million against Ford Motor Co. in 1978 for a Pinto gas tank explosion that severely burned a 13-year-old boy in California. It later was reduced to $6.6 million.
\ $127 million against Upjohn Co. in 1991 for failure to warn about proper use of an ophthalmological drug that caused a 70-year-old man in Illinois to lose the use of an eye.
\ $106.8 million against Ford in 1983 for a defective Mustang fuel system that exploded and killed a 21-year-old woman in Texas. It later was reduced to $26.8 million.
\ $100 million against Ford in 1986 for a defective Pinto gas tank. The award to a couple in Texas later was reduced to $10 million.
\ $76 million against Celotex Corp. in Baltimore in a case in which a 68-year-old man became ill from exposure to asbestos.\ \ Source: Jury Verdict Publications, Horsham, Pa.