GM Accused of ‘Criminal Deception’ on Fatal Switch Defect

[Purveyor]

By Tim Higgins, Keith Naughton and Jeff Plungis Apr 2, 2014 12:49 PM ET

General Motors Co. (GM) Chief Executive Officer Mary Barra fielded pointed questions and accusations from U.S. senators, with one saying GM had a “culture of coverup” and another predicting it may face criminal liability.

Barra said it was “completely unacceptable” that the design of a defective small-car ignition switch linked to at least 13 deaths was changed without a corresponding change in part number, which would mask a fix. She repeated her assertion to a U.S. House committee yesterday that GM focused on costs in the past and now makes the customer “our compass.”

Barra called the part change “bad engineering” and pledged that GM employees will be fired for any wrongdoing. She said the engineer who signed off on the change in design of the part hasn’t been fired and continues to work each day.

“I commit to you I will make changes, both people and process,” said Barra, who also promised to make GM engineers available to congressional investigators.

Barra testified today to a panel headed by Senator Claire McCaskill, a Missouri Democrat, that’s seeking to understand why GM and the U.S. auto-safety regulator failed for more than a decade to fix the faulty switches that could slip out of the “on” position when jarred. That in turn could cause the engine to shut off and deactivate the air bags.

MORE...

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-04-02/mccaskill-calls-gm-change-to-ignition-part-a-coverup.html

[AZ Mike]

1. This story seems to be no different than the Ford Pinto....

When a system is built only on an economic entity's ability to achieve perpetually accelerating economic growth, it should come as no surprise that those economic entities operate only to those standards. Life be damned.