Thats the other thing. The passenger bag went off 2 days later when I had the car running in the drive while I loaded stuff to go to the post office. Luckily noone was sitting there...I gotta dig up the pics, but I will post them when I locate the cd they're on...

was the airbag light on?

I'm assuming that you took the $1500, as you state: "offers me $1500 for the car, and they take it from me...." You should not have settled. You may have no grounds for a lawsuit. In taking their offer you accept their recognition of liability, and take the $1500 as settlement for their neglegence.

Always reject the first offer.

I didnt take the money...the cars in my driveway, runs awesome, looks awesome...except for the busted dash and windshield...Im tryin to figure out what to do next!

Ah ok, excellent then! I would think that your best chance lies in their counter-offer, as they will be willing to settle for much higher than their initial offer. I bet they would go as high as double that, maybe even $4000. Or there is a possibility they would settle to pay for the repairs needed and allow you to keep the car.

As far as getting an attorney and taking the matter to court, I don't think it would be worth the time and money. If we look at this from a legal perspective:

The judge (assuming he/she rules in your favour, I don't know if juries are used at a low level in US court, they are not in Canada, but I admit my ignorance of the US system) will probably rule that the cost of the vehicle should be payed to you. The only problem is that he/she will most likely use Blue book value, as it is the standard for insurance issues, which will net you next to nothing for your car. As far as punitve damages, I can't forsee him/her issuing any, as it is not an issue that plagues a large portion of vehicles produced. That only leaves you with damage for your injuries, which are minimal, and there isn't much room to claim psychological damage. And on top of all of this, your laywer will probably take 1/3 of any settlement you reach.

So my advice (for what it is worth) is that you should negotiate with GM, and issue a counter-offer, and then prepare to consider theirs.

You could fix the car. I know up here , you don't HAVE to replace the airbags. So fix what you have to but not re-install the airbags.

The states is a little more anal from what I know, but it varies from state to state. I'm not sure about Michigan.

Make them fix your car and tell them all about your sore neck.

Yes I would make them fix the car including the rust hole, if you like it that much.
Report it also to your DMV dealers repairers div. as well as the NHTSB web site.
Makes me want to check out my trunk. Maybe there was a Mfg defect in that area that allows it to corrode.

This needs to be looked in to. Something like an airbag going off without warning is no joke and can seriously hurt people.

If I had my way id take out the airbag from my car entirely.