text: The families would not discuss the precise terms of their settlements — most are subject to confidential terms — but some said the payments were not large and the process was sometimes unpleasant. “Those attorneys dragged my son through the mud, and he wasn’t even there to defend himself,” said Ms. Erickson, mother of the man killed here in Texas in 2004. In 2008, G.M. settled the suit she brought against the automaker. 
   
   In fighting lawsuits and in its public statements, G.M. has pointed to other factors that could have been responsible for the deaths. “All of these crashes occurred off-road and at high speeds, where the probability of serious or fatal injuries was high regardless of air bag deployment,” the company said in February, when it had acknowledged only six deaths tied to the defect. “In addition, failure to wear seatbelts and alcohol use were factors in some of these cases.” 
   
   In fact, The Times found, alcohol was listed as a factor in just four of the 10 accidents that the newspaper identified — including one in which the drunken driver was actually driving another vehicle that crashed into the defective G.M. car. The driver of the G.M. vehicle, a Chevrolet Cobalt, was Esther Matthews, 73, who was killed along with her granddaughter, Grace Elliott, 13. Her 1-year-old great-grandson survived but was paralyzed from the accident. 
   
   G.M. has not indicated how it will compensate the families of the 13 dead, or the relatives of other victims who might be added to the list. Federal safety regulators said last week that it was “likely that more than 13 lives were lost,” and G.M. has not ruled out that the tally would increase. In the next few weeks, Kenneth R. Feinberg, the victim-compensation expert hired by G.M., is expected to unveil a plan for addressing the thousands of claims filed against the automaker. 
   
   Blaming the Driver 
   
   The day of the accident, Ms. Anderson was driving Mr. Erickson to retrieve his car from a friend’s house before he went to welding school. It was just before noon. 
   
   On a peaceful Texas country road flanked by tall grass and fenced-off pastures of cows, she lost control of her beige Saturn Ion with zebra-print seat covers. At a slight curve, the pair rode straight off the road and into a tree. Neither was wearing a seatbelt. 
   
   At least an hour went by before a passing driver heard Ms. Anderson’s cries and bushwhacked through briers to reach the couple. The blood on Ms. Anderson’s face and hands had dried and the car had settled on top of her legs. ||||| DETROIT -- On Thursday, General Motors will make public the results of its own investigation of how it responded to a deadly defect -- specifically, why it waited more than a decade to recall 2.6 million small cars with faulty ignition switches linked to at least 13 deaths. 
   
   Mikale Erickson, the father of two young children, died in November 2004 while riding in a Saturn Ion in Canton, Texas, when the car went off the road in the middle of the day. His fiancee, Candice Anderson, was driving. 
   
   There were no skid marks and no obvious cause. The airbags did not deploy. 
   
   Anderson was thrown through the windshield and barely survived. 
   
   Anderson had a trace amount of anti-anxiety medication in her system, but no other drugs or alcohol. She was charged with manslaughter, and pleaded guilty to criminal negligent homicide. 
   
   She told CBS News, "...it's been a question if I was at fault for his death, and I've carried it for so long." As a convicted felon living in a small town, she said, "every part of my life's been affected from it." 
   
   CBS News 
   
   In late May, Anderson learned Mikale's death was one of the 13 GM has linked to a faulty ignition switch. Mikale's mother, Rhonda Erickson, contacted the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and they confirmed it in a letter. 
   
   Erickson said GM has not been in contact with her. She told CBS News, "I think they owe me an apology. They can't give me my son back. But, I mean, they could at least give me an apology." 
   
   Erickson believes since the car was defective, Anderson's record should be cleared. They are both hoping to get more answers from GM's internal investigation.
target: – On a November 2004 morning in Texas, Candice Anderson was driving her fiance, Mikale Erickson, to pick up his car from a friend's house when her Saturn Ion failed to negotiate a slight curve, went off the road, and hit a tree. The airbags did not deploy and there were no skid marks; Erickson was killed, and Anderson barely survived. She had a trace amount of Xanax in her system at the time, and though there were no other drugs nor alcohol present, authorities charged her with intoxication manslaughter. She ultimately pleaded guilty to criminally negligent homicide and served five years' probation, though she always wondered what caused the accident—she has no memory of the day. Late last month, she found out: Erickson's death is one of the 13 GM has linked to its faulty ignition switches; the car had lost power, which would have also disabled the airbags. "It's been a question if I was at fault for his death, and I've carried it for so long," Anderson tells CBS News. "Every part of my life's been affected from it." Last month, Erickson's mother, Rhonda, explained to the New York Times that she had initially been angry with her son, who was 25 at the time, and Anderson, who was 21, assuming their recklessness (they had both experimented with recreational drugs, possibly as recently as the night prior to the accident) was the cause of the accident. But now she knows the truth—she wrote to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to have it confirmed—and she believes Anderson's record should be cleared. Both women also want an apology from GM, which never contacted the Erickson family to assume responsibility for the crash.