Defense counsel for General Motors told jurors it was not a faulty part, but a run-of-the-mill fender bender partly caused by inattention to the road, that caused any injury suffered by the plaintiff as trial for the seventh General Motors bellwether ignition defect case opened Tuesday.

But the plaintiff's legal team blamed their client's leg injuries on a defective ignition switch that they say allowed a driver's knee to knock the car key out of position.

Mike Brock of Kirkland & Ellis, in his opening statement in New York federal court, said the switch played no part in the collision.