WASHINGTON — The fix for a faulty ignition switch linked to 13 traffic deaths would have cost just 57 cents, members of Congress said Tuesday as they demanded answers from General Motors’ new CEO on why the automaker took 10 years to recall cars with the defect.
At a hearing on Capitol Hill before a House subcommittee, GM’s Mary Barra acknowledged under often testy questioning that the company took too long to act. She promised changes at GM that would prevent such a lapse from happening again.
“If there’s a safety issue, we’re going to make the right change and accept that,” said Barra, who became CEO in January and almost immediately found herself thrust into one of the biggest product safety crises Detroit has ever seen.
But as relatives of the crash victims looked on intently, she admitted that she didn’t know why it took years for the dangerous defect to be announced. And she deflected many questions about what went wrong, saying an internal investigation is under way.
Since February, GM has recalled 2.6 million cars — mostly Chevrolet Cobalts and Saturn Ions — over the faulty switch, which can cause the engine to cut off in traffic, disabling the power steering, power brakes and air bags and making it difficult to control the vehicle. The automaker said new switches should be available starting April 7.
Barra was firm, calm and polite throughout the proceedings. But she struggled at times to answer lawmakers’ pointed questions, particularly about why GM used the switch when it knew the part didn’t meet its own specifications.
Government Motors was too busy with “Cash-for-Clunkers”…
but just think about the global warming that was suspended. Hopefully the families of the dead will understand.
That goes BEYOND insult to injury.
Go under Goobermint Motors…
There may be just a little bit more bubbling under the surface. What did they know and when did they know it?
From a 3/21/14 Human Events article by John Hayward:
“…Owners of the recalled cars, along with the families of two teenagers killed in a 2006 Cobalt crash in Wisconsin, filed a class-action lawsuit last week seeking $6 billion to $10 billion in damages for GM’s alleged negligence. But GM enjoys legal immunity from all incidents before its 2009 restructuring.
A liability shield isn’t unusual in bankruptcy cases, but what is unusual is that GM and Chrysler, which also filed for bankruptcy protection, weren’t required to put money in special trust funds for prospective victims. Instead, the corporate giants can treat injured customers as shabbily as unsecured creditors. What little compensation that is available will come from the sale of closed GM plants being held in a shell corporation.
The NHTSA did eventually learn of the problem with GM cars… and that’s where the story heats up, drawing attention from congressional investigators:
The only way victims can get adequate compensation is by suing the restructured GM, but that would require proving that the company knowingly withheld information to obtain its shield. What is now mostly a legal and regulatory story could explode into politics if it turns out during congressional investigations that GM disclosed the liability issues with the Cobalt and related vehicles to Treasury Department officials negotiating the bailout before they offered to protect the company from liability.
If NHTSA knew about the problems, why didn’t Treasury? Car owners aren’t the only ones hurt by the bailout deal. GM’s competitors are being harmed, too.
For example, notes Center for Automotive Research’s Sean McAlinden, the shield gives GM an unfair competitive advantage. The company has avoided millions in annual payments on product-liability claims on top of the lower debt-service costs and special post-bankruptcy tax write-offs that GM received through the bailout…”
I say we hold the real CEO responsible, Baraka Obumbles and the congress. Bring up the short bus folks, the line forms on the left.
And if we really want to place blame what about CAFE standards that have killed 10’s of thousands? Thirteen people died, thats unfortunate but 10’s of thousands have died because environmental wackos have forced car makers to build unsafe autos. Who is going to hold congress to task for those deaths? And now Baraka has a pen and a phone. What further damage is he going to cause when he signs executive orders for the EPA on additional CAFE standards?
If I heard her testimony correctly she said that the engineers at GM did not know that the air bags would be disabled if the ignition switch was turned off. MY BS meter just pegged. The GM design engineers designed the circuitry, is she saying they were so incompetent that they could not read a basic automotive circuit diagram?
So glad Barra’s not my Mom.
GM didn’t want a recall at that time because it would have gotten in the way of the Government’s dishonest persecution of Toyota.
Trabant Motorski.
What color you want in three years tovarisch?
http://trabantusa.yolasite.com/trabant-colors.php
Ignition is an option.
Is there some secret school somewhere that pols, SES bureaucrats, PR flacks, C*Os, and other “ethically challenged” creeps go to learn how to weasel and lie? I’m really tired of their transparent crap.
(Now there’s an interesting mental image: transparent crap.)
Sure the part was $.57 but the labor to install it would be 2 hours and cost over $200. It’s never cut and dry but of course, did they solve the problem in later production?
I have one of those cars. A 2005 ION. Its been a pretty good car, I have to say. I got a notice telling me that it was recalled but they did not have the parts to fix it currently, but they would get back to me. However, in the meantime, I was instructed to use the ignition key by itself – not as part of a key ring. Still waiting for the notice that they have the parts.
Anyway, this reminds me of “Fight Club”…
“JACK (V.O.)
You take the number of vehicles in the field (A) and multiply it by the probable rate of failure (B), multiply the result by the average
out-of-court settlement (C). A times B times C equals X. If X is less than the cost of a recall, we don’t do one.
INT. AIRPLANE CABIN – TAKING OFF – NIGHT
Next to Jack, a chubby, middle-aged LADY gawks at him, appalled.
LADY
… Which … car company do you work for?
JACK
A major one.”
Mary Barra looks like a capybara.
You know what’s really weird? They all look the same.
I saw a little bit of Barbara Boxer grilling Ms. Barra today. Basically taking her to task for being head of a major organization and not knowing what was going on during her watch. Gee, Babs, you mean like your president and Benghazi, Fast-n-furious, etc. etc.?
Obamacar?
The CEO that was in charge BEFORE this dense Woman, should have been the one giving answers.