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GM Reaches $900 Million Settlement Over Ignition Switches

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GM Plant Readies For Third Shift As U.S. Sales Increase In February
General Motors employees assemble a GM crossover SUV on the assembly line at the GM Lansing Delta Township Assembly Plant in Lansing, Mich.Bill Pugliano—Getty Images
By Benjamin Snyder/Fortune

It’s official. General Motors, the largest automaker in the U.S., will pay a massive $900 million settlement over defective ignition switches that have been linked to at least 124 deaths, Reuters reported Thursday.

The automaker also admitted to misleading the government, ending a criminal investigation as a result, the report said.

GM will be monitored for its safety practices over the next few years. GM’s CEO Mary Barra reportedly had 15 executives of the company removed, too, according to Reuters. In 2014, the company created a fund to hand out payments to victims’ families. Shares of GM rose sharply following the news.

According to the news wire:

GM, the No. 1 U.S. automaker, took charges totaling $4.2 billion in 2014 to reflect costs associated with recalls, and a special fund was established to compensate victims of the ignition switch defect. It was not immediately clear whether GM would take additional charges to account for a settlement of the criminal probe.

The $900 million settlement isn’t the largest paid by an automaker in recent history. That distinction belongs to Toyota, which paid $1.2 billion in March 2014 over allegedly hiding an acceleration issue in its vehicles.

For more on GM and its CEO Mary Barra, check out Fortune’s recent Most Powerful Women list. Barra also recently quashed the rumor that GM would merge with Fiat.

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