GM sacks 15 linked to ignition switch fault
Print Edition
GENERAL Motors said yesterday that 15 employees have been fired and five others have been disciplined over the company’s failure to disclose a defect with ignition switches that is now linked to at least 13 deaths.
The company also will form a compensation program for families of the victims and those who suffered serious injuries in accidents related to the switches, chief executive Mary Barra said.
The program is expected to begin taking claims from August 1.
Barra made the announcement as she released the findings of an internal probe into the recall of older small cars for defective switches.
She didn’t name the people who have been dismissed, but called the investigation “brutally tough and deeply troubling.”
It took GM more than a decade to report the fault.
“I hate sharing this with you just as much as you hate hearing it,” Barra told workers in a meeting at the company’s Detroit technical center.
“But I want you to hear it. I want you to remember it. I want you to never forget it.”
She said an attorney interviewed 230 staffers and reviewed 41 million documents to produce the report.
The crisis began in February, when GM recalled 780,000 older-model Chevrolet Cobalt and Pontiac G5 cars because of defective ignition switches. It soon added the Saturn Ion and other small cars to the recall, which ballooned to 2.6 million worldwide.
The switches can slip out of the “run” position and shut down the engine, which disables the power-assisted steering and brakes, and can cause drivers to lose control. It also disables the air bags.
GM said at least 13 people have died in crashes linked to the problem, but trial lawyers suing the company put the death toll at closer to 60.
Last month, GM paid a US$35 million fine for failing to report the problem quickly to regulators. It knew about it in 2001, and in 2005 told dealers to tell owners to take excess items off key chains so they wouldn’t drag down the ignition switch.
In 2006, a GM engineer approved a change in the design, but didn’t tell the government or change the relevant part number. In subsequent years, that made it harder for other GM engineers to figure out why older Cobalts performed worse than newer ones.
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