The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) knew about the defects in General Motors' Chevrolet Cobalt and other models as early as 2007, but failed to act on it due to disparity in assumptions, a report by a House committee concluded.
The federal regulators repeatedly ignored information about the defects, such as faulty ignition switches and air bags that did not deploy, according to the New York Times.
The House Energy and Commerce Committee report was drafted based on agency documents, a total of 15,000 pages, and interviews with the agency's staff. The committee scheduled a hearing on Tuesday and invited current NHTSA administrator, David J. Friedman, to testify.
It further explained that the information about the flaws may have been misconstrued or overlooked, which caused the agency to avoid productively addressing the problems. The report cited an incident in 2007, when staff members initiated an investigation focusing on the GM Cobalt, but a panel within the agency ordered to stop the probe. An email coming from a top-level official stated that they should focus on the problem with the airbags, but there was no re-evaluation or analysis conducted regarding the matter.
"It is tragic that the evidence was staring N.H.T.S.A. in the face and the agency didn't identify the warnings," Representative Fred Upton, Republican of Michigan and the chairman of the committee, said to the New York Times. "N.H.T.S.A. exists not just to process what the company finds, but to dig deeper. They failed."
It seemed that the agency staffs were not aware of how the new air bag systems worked, and were evaluating air bag concerns based on the function of older air bag systems, according to Free Press. The source, whose name wished to be kept confidential, stated that the agency staffs have no knowledge of the link between the ignition switch and the air bag system.
"Only after the GM recall, in February 2014, did ODI investigators realize the chasm in their understanding of air bag technology," the report said.
The NHTSA has not released any comment yet regarding this issue.
