WASHINGTON - General Motors CEO Mary Barra goes before a Senate subcommittee this morning for her second day of testimony before a congressional panel questioning her on a widespread safety recall of millions of vehicles involving a defect linked to 13 deaths and 31 crashes.
On Tuesday, Barra told the House Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee that GM was hiring noted compensation expert Kenneth Feinberg to help the company determine how to respond to consumer claims from which GM may enjoy bankruptcy protection but could waive.
Today, the Senate Subcommittee on Consumer Protection, Product Safety, and Insurance will be asking the questions. Already in the widening recall of 2.2 million Chevrolet Cobalts, Saturn Ions and similar vehicles, several senators have let it be known GM should order the vehicles parked until their are replacement parts and make whole people who may have been affected.
U.S. Sens. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., and Edward Markey, D-Mass., have proposed legislation that would require tougher reporting standards for automakers in providing information to federal regulators. Blumenthal has also asked the Justice Department to force GM to set up a victims fund to pay people who may have lost loved ones or otherwise been affected by the recalled vehicles.
'My hope is that GM's first step shows that it is serious about facing its moral responsibility, and that it will be followed by much bigger, necessary steps,' Blumenthal said after Barra told the House panel about Feinberg's hiring.
'Picking an expert is a positive sign but no substitute for real action â?? and full, fair compensation for victims,' Blumenthal said. But he added. 'I welcome the indication that GM is taking seriously their obligation to compensate innocent victims of concealed defects â?? especially in light of the blanket shield from legal responsibility they were afforded by their 2009 bankruptcy proceeding.'
If Senate members want more information about why it took GM so long to initiate the recall, however, they could be frustrated by Barra's testimony.
On Monday, she said decisions made to not address a defective ignition switch - a condition the company now knows can result in air bags not deploying in the event of a crash in some cases - do not represent the 'customer culture' of the new, post- bankruptcy GM. But she said she could not tell why those decisions were made the way they were.
She also said - repeatedly - that she is awaiting the results of an internal investigation being conducted by former U.S. Attorney Anton Valukas to determine how GM failed to address the defect despite indications going back to 2001 and preproduction of the Ion that there were ignition switch issues.
David Friedman, acting head of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), is also set to testify today.
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Posted by Unknown on Wednesday, April 2, 2014 - Rating: 4.5
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