General Motors Co. (GM) new chief executive Mary Barra was grilled by lawmakers during a panel investigation regarding the company's failure to recall its vehicles with faulty ignition switches for roughly a decade.
In March, The New York Times made an analysis on the complaints filed to the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and found that several complaints narrated scary situations such as the cars suddenly stalling on freeways, while crossing railroads, or in the middle of city traffic. However, GM reportedly ignored numerous complaints of the dangerous car shutdowns due to insufficient evidence that warrants investigation.
According to the timeline of the Detroit, Mich.-based automobile maker, it was aware of the issue for about 10 years now and had replaced some switches with a new one. However, it failed to issue a new part number that would identify the changed switch. Additionally, it only started recalling affected vehicles with model years starting 2003 recently and has already recalled 6.3 million units as of March 31.
During the congressional panel investigation, Barra was questioned about the delay to recall its automobiles, its core values, and other things.
When asked by Iowa Democratic Rep. Bruce Braley if safety has really been GM's top priority, the Wall Street Journal quoted Barra saying, "I can't speak to the statements that were made in the past. All I can tell you is the way we're working now, the training that we've done, we've changed our core values."
"Today's General Motors, all I can tell you is today's General Motors we are focused on safety. We have over 18 vehicles that have a five-star crash rating," she added.
And when asked if the company accepted full responsibility for the accidents, she said that the company is conducting a full investigation on the matter to understand things.
