autoevolution
 

GM Legal Staff Takes the Heat at Recall Hearing

GM ignition switch 1 photo
Photo: GM
After Delphi's CEO blamed GM for the sub-standard ignition switches, the automaker's Mary Barra stepped up and testified before the Committee's Chairman McCaskill and Ranking Member Heller.
Without referring even once to Delphi's accusation, she went on and told the usual mumbo-jumbo, promising that employees are "all in" addressing the underlying issues that caused the ignition switch fiasco in the first place.

Those of you that are curious about what the lady said in her dull, stereotyped written testimony can check out the press release below. What we would like to point out is what happened after Barra finished. Lawmakers have demanded the American carmaker to lay off its chief lawyer and open the compensation plan to more potential victims injured or fatally wounded in ignition switch accidents.

Even though Senator Claire McCaskill has told that GM CEO's has stepped up and confronted the problem head on, the same Senator demanded to fire Michael Milliken immediately based on the internal report authored by Anton Valukas. According to the document in question, Valukas outlined that the legal staff acted too slowly on informing engineers and executives about increasing ignition switch problems.

That's why Milliken, General Motors' chief lawyer, will have to take one for the team, even though Barra defended him as a man of "tremendously high integrity." Not cool, Mary, not cool. That man kept very important information to himself, data that could've minimized the recall fiasco and the number of affected consumers if it would've been reported on time. That's not what we call a man of tremendously high integrity, but a damn right criminal.

Senator Richard Blumenthal, co-author of the "Hide No Harm Act," has suggested compensation expert Kenneth Feinberg to open the ignition switch compensation plan to more victims. To be more precise, Mr. Blumenthal asked if victims connected to a 8.4 million ignition key defect recall announced on June 30th will be also covered by the compensation plan. As expected, Feinberg declared that it's not up to him which vehicles to include or "lemme just check with the higher-ups if we have enough money."

We're not big fans of the way GM bigwigs, including CEO Mary Barra, are blatantly trying to cover up their mess and put responsibility for the screw up on lower ranking lackeys. Thankfully, Senator Blumenthal shares our view after he declared that an ongoing Justice Department investigation will find evidence of "cover-up, concealment, deceit and even fraud." You can read Milliken's testimony in the press release below as well.
If you liked the article, please follow us:  Google News icon Google News Youtube Instagram X (Twitter)
press release
About the author: Mircea Panait
Mircea Panait profile photo

After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well.
Full profile

 

Would you like AUTOEVOLUTION to send you notifications?

You will only receive our top stories