by Our Foreign Desk

US CAR giant General Motors agreed on Thursday to pay $900 million (£575m) to fend off criminal prosecution over a deadly ignition switch scandal.

The deal sparked criticism of the Justice Department for not bringing charges against engineers and managers.

The ignition switches, which can slip out of the “run” position and cut off the engine, have been linked to at least 169 deaths.

Despite evidence that GM legal and engineering staff concealed the problem for nearly a decade, no-one was charged on Thursday, though US Attorney Preet Bharara insisted the investigation was continuing.

GM also announced it would spend $575m (£367.7m) to settle the majority of civil lawsuits filed over the scandal.

Under the deal with prosecutors, an independent monitor will be appointed to oversee GM handling of safety problems.

Charges of wire fraud and scheming to conceal information from government regulators will be dropped after three years if the firm co-operates fully.

GM agreed to a statement of facts that described in scathing terms its deceptive and dismissive approach to the defect.

“They let the public down,” Mr Bharara admitted. “They didn’t tell the truth… about this serious safety issue.”

The agreements bring the cost to more than $5.3 billion (£3.39bn) on a problem authorities say could have been handled for less than a dollar per car.

GM chief executive Mary Barra appeared before several hundred employees in Detroit on Thursday and again apologised to the crash victims.

When asked whether individual managers should have been charged, she referred the question to Mr Bharara’s office.

The settlement brought bitter criticism from safety advocates and family members.

Consumer advocate Clarence Ditlow, who heads the Centre for Auto Safety organisation, observed bitterly that GM officials would “walk off scot-free while its customers are six feet under.”

“If a person kills someone because he decided to drive while drunk, he will go to jail,” said Laura Christian, the mother of a woman who died.

Yet GM employees whose decisions led to scores of deaths “are able to hide behind a corporation because our laws are insufficient. It must change.”