In a way, the consumer would be getting benefits if there is a BRIDGE LOAN, which is the proper name for all of this, not bail out (which happens for banks). If one of the Big Three dies, and especially GM or Ford, then you will see economic chaos in the country with the stock market probably even worse, the recently laid off workers from those companies will be scrambling for smaller jobs that are already sacred, and these two things will make prices for the regular consumer much different, perhaps better or worse, and everything will be messy.
Plus, these companies will have money to pay back, even though this might sound unrealistic. It is safer to give a loan to the auto companies than to citizens that have bad or awful credit which will put the US economy in an even bigger hole.