Local

Father says GM recall came too late

PAULDING COUNTY, Ga. — The father of a Paulding County nurse killed in a violent wreck told Channel 2's Jim Strickland that General Motors should be investigated for a recent recall he says comes too late.
 
Ken Melton blames a recalled ignition switch for his daughter's crash.
 
"I knew the minute I kissed her forehead, her cold forehead in the ICU, I knew there was something wrong with the car," Melton said.
 
Melton was speaking of a 2005 Chevy Colbalt his daughter Brooke was driving on a Paulding County stretch of Highway 92.  It was March 2010.  The accident report shows she lost control, was hit by another car and wound up in a creek.  It was Melton's 29th birthday, and she was dead.
 
"I'm extremely angry.  I am boiling over angry," said Melton after Strickland showed him for the first time, documents in which GM recalls a defective ignition switch.  
 
The recall notice came out two weeks ago.
 
It admits the switch is too weak, and can turn by itself, with the key moving to the ACC position will switching off power to the car's steering and brake systems.
 
GM settled a lawsuit months ago blaming the switch for the Melton crash.  Evidence against GM, much of which is sealed, shows the company knew of the problem in 2004 before the car ever went to market. 
 
"And yet they did nothing and so comes March 2010. (Melton) doesn't know anything about the problem," said her family's lawyer Lance Cooper.
 
A demand from Cooper to the government dated Wednesday states federal regulators should investigate the timing of the Cobalt recall.   
 
Melton says he wants to hold GM accountable, and to spread the word.
 
"It's to have her represented and to not have it not happen to someone else," he said.
 
GM's recall spokesperson emailed Strickland refusing comment.