GM Reaches Out to Family of First Ignition-Related Fatality

General Motors has contacted the family of Jean Averill, a Connecticut woman whose death was the first of 13 the company reported to safety regulators in connection with the ignition switch recall.

Before hiring compensation expert Kenneth Feinberg to administer an uncapped fun to compensation victims of accidents caused by defective ignition switches, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and GM identified 13 related fatalities.

Since then, Feinberg has approved settlements offers to 32 families, who have provided evidence that the defect was the substantial cause of the crash which saw their loved ones die, according to Reuters.

GM spokesman Jim Cain said the automaker started notifying the 13 families after hiring the compensation expert to run the fund back in May. All but one had been reached so far, according to the Detroit Free Press.

Earlier this week, The New York Times identified Averill as the first victim. Her name was disclosed in a 315-page independent report conducted by former federal prosecutor Anton Valukas for GM.

Though the public copy of the Valukas report redacted Averill's name, GM's report identified her.

Averill died in 2003 when her 2003 Saturn Ion crashed into a tree without the air bag deploying.

Clarence Ditlow, executive director of the Center for Auto Safety, sent a letter to Feinberg on Wednesday offering help reach potential victims who may be unaware they are eligible for compensation, according to the Detroit Free Press.

Feinberg and his team had received 1,851 applications as of Monday, and determined that 67 were eligible for some type of settlement. At least 32 were families who claimed a loved one died in an ignition-switch related accident.

"GM knew the family had a claim and didn't reach out. And the GM Ignition Compensation Program which you head didn't reach out to the family," Ditlow wrote this week, according to the Detroit Free Press. "How many other victims didn't you reach out to?"

"We have received Mr. Ditlow's letter and have taken it under advisement," Feinberg said. "We have already recognized almost triple the number of deaths attributable to the ignition switch defect previously acknowledged by GM."