GM recall - THE RIDGEWOOD BLOG.

GM’s Barra got email in 2011 about steering problems

Paul A. Eisenstein | @DetroitBureau
10 Hours Ago

The Congressional committee investigating the long-delayed the recall of millions of vehicles equipped with a faulty ignition switch, released a flurry of internal General Motors documents Friday showing what it described as “failures within the system” that allowed critical safety issues to go unaddressed.

Exactly why the ignition switch problem went unresolved for as much as a decade has spurred a series of investigations by the Department of Justice, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and both houses of Congress. During two Capitol Hill hearings last week, GM CEO Mary Barra was repeatedly criticized for failing to offer clear answers about the ignition switch problem.

One of the documents released Friday showed that while in her previous job as GM’s global product development chief, Barra was kept clearly in the loop about a separate recall issue involving steering problems on the Saturn Ion and other GM products.

https://www.cnbc.com/id/101574156

Ridgewood PD Reminder : NHTSA urges owners of recalled GM vehicles – 2005-07 Chevrolet Cobalt, 2007 Pontiac G5, 2003-07 Saturn Ion, 2006-07 Chevrolet HHR, 2006-07 Pontiac Solstice, 2007 Saturn Sky – to follow GM recommendation to “use only the ignition key with nothing else on the key ring” and get repairs as soon as parts are available from GM.

Congress to seek answers on delayed GM recall

The Associated Press
— Mar. 28, 2014 7:46 PM EDT

DENVER (AP) — New General Motors CEO Mary Barra has been cooperative with members of Congress investigating why the company did not act sooner to address a potentially deadly defect in some of its small cars, U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette said.

DeGette, a Democrat from Colorado who is the ranking member of the House committee investigating GM’s recall of 1.6 million cars, said Friday that she appreciates Barra’s responsiveness.

But questions remain about why GM declined for a decade to alert car owners about faulty ignition switches that can causes a car’s engine to stall unexpectedly, DeGette said. GM last month recalled Chevrolet Cobalts and other compact cars, including the Saturn Ion, Pontiac G5 and Chevrolet HHR, to have the switches repaired.

The defect has been linked to at least 12 deaths and 31 crashes, DeGette said.

Later Friday, it was announced that General Motors was boosting by 971,000 the number of small cars being recalled worldwide for a defective ignition switch, saying cars from the model years 2008-2011 may have received the part as a replacement.

https://bigstory.ap.org/article/congress-seek-answers-delayed-gm-recall