General Motors Co.’s GM has asked for federal judges in California and in Texas to delay litigation over faulty ignition switches that may compromise public safety. Plaintiffs told a judge in California, according to Bloomberg News that the automaker’s claim that its 2009 bankruptcy shielded it from the old GM’s liabilities was “irrelevant” and a “red herring.”

The idiom “red herring” is used to refer to something that misleads or distracts from the relevant or important issue. It may be either a logical fallacy or a literary device that leads readers or characters towards a false conclusion. GM has defeated the consumer effort to have a court order the company to tell owners of recalled vehicles to stop driving their cars until the defect has been fixed. It has been reported that GM waited a decade or more to fix the defects. According to a February 17 court filing, GM reported that “GM’s argument regarding the impending filing with the Bankruptcy Court is a red herring and must be rejected,” they said.

  

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The Detroit-based company GM has said, according to the Huffington Post that, at least 13 deaths have been linked to the switch problem. The switch can unexpectedly slip out of the “run” position, shutting down the engine, knocking out power-assisted steering and power brakes, and disabling the air bags. A GM spokesman, Kevin Kelly, wrote in an e-mailed statement according to Bloomberg News that, “Our full efforts are on our customers’ safety and fixing their vehicles as quickly as we can,” and that “We also are conducting an unsparing, comprehensive review of the circumstances leading to the ignition switch recall to make sure something like this does not happen again.” GM’s motion says more than 30 cases have been filed against the company since February. Bloomberg reports that, Kevin Kelly has declined to comment on the litigation.

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