GM Charges NBC Rigged Test Crash

General Motors Corp. on Monday filed a defamation lawsuit against NBC, charging that the broadcast company rigged a car-truck crash in an effort to portray a line of GM pickups as susceptible to fiery explosions in side-impact collisions.

In staging what analysts called a major public relations counteroffensive, the nation’s top automaker alleged the test crash--aired Nov. 17 on the “Dateline NBC” program--was part of an “orchestrated campaign” by plaintiffs’ lawyers and others to unfairly sway public opinion concerning the safety of GM’s 1973-1987 full-size pickup trucks.

Harry Pearce, GM executive vice president and general counsel, alleged that NBC and the Institute for Safety Analysis, an Indiana company that conducted the tests, “grossly misrepresented” how the crash tests were conducted. He charged that they used “remotely controlled incendiary devices” to spark a fire in one test. The use of igniters was not disclosed on “Dateline.”

“The 11 million households that viewed the program were never told that NBC used remotely controlled incendiary devices to try to ensure that a fire would erupt, seemingly due to the collision,” he said.

NBC issued a statement saying its original broadcast, taken in its entirety, was “fair and accurate.” But NBC President Michael G. Gartner said in a letter to GM officials that “Dateline” would describe “further aspects” of its crash tests, including the presence of sparking devices, during its program tonight.

Michele Gillen, the reporter for the “Dateline” segment titled “Waiting to Explode,” and Robert Read, the producer, could not be reached for comment.

In addition to the use of igniters, GM said the NBC crash test had several other major faults:

* An improperly fitting gas cap was used on the fuel tank of the 1977 pickup. The tank was also topped off with fuel just before the crash test. These two events ensured the cap would fly off, releasing fuel that was ignited by the incendiary devices under the truck.

* NBC told viewers that the gas tank was punctured. But an X-ray inspection of the fuel tanks, which GM obtained access to under court order, shows no holes in the tanks.

* The impact cars in the test crashes were going much faster than NBC stated. GM officials said expert analysis of “Dateline” videotapes shows that the vehicle involved in the crash resulting in a fire was traveling at 39 m.p.h., not 30 m.p.h., as NBC reported. In a second test, which resulted in no fire, the vehicle was traveling at 47 m.p.h., not 40 m.p.h. as reported. GM says federal regulations require crash tests at 20 m.p.h.

GM’s lawsuit comes five days after the firm was found negligent--because of the fuel tank design-- in the death of a Georgia teen-ager who was killed when the GMC pickup he was driving exploded in flames after a collision. An Atlanta jury ordered the company to pay the youth’s parents, Thomas and Elaine Moseley, $105.2 million in damages.

Pearce said GM’s decision to sue NBC was made several days before the Moseley verdict was announced and was not connected to that trial. GM plans to appeal that ruling, which included a $101-million punitive damage award.

GM officials insisted that the filing of the lawsuit in Indiana state court was not the beginning of a public relations offensive. But industry analysts said it clearly was the launching of a major counterattack against plaintiffs’ attorneys and some of the media.

“The big issue is the product liability feeding frenzy that has developed over this case,” said David E. Cole, director of the Office for the Study of Automotive Transportation at the University of Michigan. “My guess is GM wouldn’t have stepped into this unless they had a convincing case.”

The issue is over the safety of the fuel tanks on GM’s Chevrolet and GMC C/K series full-size pickups. The fuel tanks are mounted on the side, outside the truck’s main frame.

Auto safety watchdogs say the design makes the vehicles more susceptible to deadly fires in side-impact collisions. The Center for Auto Safety claims 300 deaths are attributable to the vehicles. That is more than 10 times the number killed in the Ford Pinto, which was recalled in the 1970s after the government found its fuel tank could explode in rear-end crashes.

The Center for Auto Safety, a Washington-based consumer advocacy group, has asked the government to recall the trucks.

The National Highway Transportation Safety Administration is investigating whether to recall the 4.7 million GM pickup trucks. GM said it is cooperating in that investigation, but maintains the pickups are safe.

“There is no safety-related defect in these vehicles,” Pearce said at a two-hour press conference at GM’s world headquarters. “The statistics show that.”

After the “Dateline” program aired in November, GM immediately asked to inspect the test vehicles. The request was denied, and NBC said the vehicles had been junked, Pearce said. Last month, the company sued the Institute for Safety Analysis in an effort to gain access to the firm’s records.

Pearce said the company began a serious investigation of the Dateline crash tests after receiving a tip from an Indiana journalist on Jan. 15 of a “possible deception” in the test conducted in Hendricks County, Ind.

GM located the trucks through a search of junkyards in the area. The fuel tanks had been removed from the trucks. Pearce said the company reconstructed the test procedures by interviewing firefighters, sheriff’s deputies and others who were present. It also obtained photographs and videotapes of the test.

Pearce said the used cartridge of an incendiary device--used to launch toy rockets--was found in the back of one pickup. Through digital image enhancement the company discovered that two such devices were mounted beneath one pickup and were ignited by test officials even before the pickup was hit by the crash vehicle.

He said a review of the NBC videotape shows that the fire was started by the igniters under the trucks. Experts hired by NBC allege that the fire was started by the hot filament in the headlights of the crash cars.

Pearce alleged that the tests were rigged by consultants hired by NBC who have a financial interest in proving GM’s pickups are defective. He noted that Bruce Enz, chairman of the Institute for Safety Analysis, frequently testifies in auto safety cases, as does Byron Bloch, an auto safety consultant who worked on the crash tests for NBC.

Bloch disputed several of GM’s charges. He said the gas cap was not original equipment for the truck, but it fit properly. At the crash scene, Bloch detected “weeping” of the fuel tank, which he assumed indicated it was punctured. He argued that the speed of the vehicle was not a major issue.

Bloch said he was surprised when he first learned that igniters were to be used in the test, but not troubled by it. He said there was no question that the headlamp started the blaze.

Kelley said the use of igniters is standard procedure in demonstration crash tests. “It (the use of igniters) has been for years an accepted and well-known practice in conducting fuel tank safety tests,” he said.

GM Gas Tank Designs

1973-87 Chevrolet and GMC full-size pickups were built with “side-saddle” fuel tanks, which installed outside the vehicle’s frame. The design was changed on 1988 models. GM models 1973-1987: Fuel tanks positioned outside vehicle frame GM models ‘88-Present: Single Fuel tank positioned inside vehicle frame

Source: Court documents