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GM names new vehicle safety chief in wake of recalls | |
(about 3 hours later) | |
DETROIT— General Motors chief executive Mary T. Barra, facing intense scrutiny for the automaker’s failure to repair an ignition defect that the company has linked to 12 deaths, named a new vice president for global vehicle safety on Tuesday. | |
Barra said the new vice president, longtime GM executive Jeffrey Boyer, will oversee the safety of new cars and handle all safety recalls. She said the job “elevates and integrates our safety process under a single leader so we can set a new standard for customer safety with more rigorous accountability.” | |
Barra, speaking to a group of reporters in a conference room at the company’s headquarters overlooking the Detroit River, said the appointment is just one step GM is taking to tighten the oversight of vehicle safety. | |
“We want to make sure this problem never happens again,” said Barra. | |
The appointment comes with the company in the midst of an unfolding investigation over why it did not fix flawed ignition switches that, if jostled or weighted with too many keys, could cause cars to stall, disabling their air bags. The flaw led to 12 deaths and the recall of 1.6 million Chevrolet Cobalts and five other models last month. | |
GM has told safety regulators that it had fielded complaints about the problem as early as 2001, but the company said it could not firmly pinpoint the problem and did not issue a recall until last month. | |
On Monday the automaker announced three more recalls, unrelated to the faulty ignition switch problem. | |
The long inaction on the ignition switch defect has made the company the focus of investigations by two congressional committees and federal safety regulators. The company is also facing a preliminary investigation from federal prosecutors who, sources have said, are considering a criminal investigation. | |
Staffers from the House Energy and Commerce committee, one of the congressional panels preparing for hearings, were meeting Tuesday with GM staffers, mainly to go over GM’s version of events as laid out in chronologies it has filed with federal regulators, GM officials said. | |
Meanwhile, Barra has named a former federal prosecutor to lead an internal investigation that could stretch over months to create a more precise record of “what went wrong and why,” Barra has said. | |
Barra was noncommittal when asked whether she would waive the immunity GM enjoys from liability claims predating its 2009 bankruptcy and federal bailout, saying the internal investigation would provide the company with a baseline of facts from which it can move forward. | |
In her remarks to reporters, Barra repeated her apology for the problem and promised to work diligently to resolve it. She also said that repairs connected with the ignition switch recall should begin by mid-April and be completed by October. | |
Barra said that she is confident that the recalled cars are safe to drive so long as drivers remove all other items from their key rings. She added that if owners are uncomfortable driving the recalled models, they can have loaners and rentals provided by their dealers. She also reiterated GM’s pledge to reimburse dealers for the cost of providing those cars. | |
The models recalled by GM because of the ignition switch problem are: 2005-2007 Cobalts and Pontiac G5s; 2003-2007 Saturn Ion compacts, and 2006-2007 Chevrolet HHRs, Pontiac Solstices and Saturn Skys. | |
Related: | Related: |
Watchdog group says review identified 303 deaths in GM cars with undeployed air bags | |
GM announces 3 new recalls, takes $300 million charge | GM announces 3 new recalls, takes $300 million charge |