DETROIT (AP) — If GM knew it had a problem, why wasn’t something done to fix it?
Congress
will seek the answer to that question and others this week as it
presses General Motors CEO Mary Barra and federal regulators about their
handling of a safety defect in the Chevrolet Cobalt and other small
cars. GM has recalled 2.6 million cars for a faulty ignition switch,
which it links to 13 deaths.
The hearings — before a House
subcommittee Tuesday and a Senate subcommittee Wednesday — will likely
be tense and emotional. At least a dozen family members of victims will
attend, wearing blue shirts featuring a photo of 16-year-old Amber Marie
Rose, who was killed in a 2005 Cobalt crash, and the words "Protect Our
Children." Barra will surely apologize, as she has before, for the loss
of life.
Barra may try to limit her answers to Congress, citing
an ongoing internal review and government investigations. For his part,
Friedman may try to shift blame from his agency to GM, saying the
company withheld information. Either approach could annoy committee
members, who will want to know why the system failed and ensure
consumers that they’re adequately protected no matter what car they
drive.
In particular, Congress wants to know if it needs to
strengthen a 2000 law intended to improve communication between
automakers and the government. Fred Upton, a Michigan Republican who
chairs the House Energy and Commerce Committee and announced the first
hearing, wrote the law. Upton’s district, 185 miles west of Detroit, is
far from any GM plants, but he has received $5,000 in campaign donations
from the automaker in this election cycle, according to figures
compiled by the Center for Responsive Politics.
Here are some questions lawmakers are likely to ask Barra and Friedman, and why:
GM
Q: Why did it take so long to recall these vehicles?
GM’s
own timeline, provided to the government, indicates that it knew as
early as 2001 that there were problems with the ignition switch in the
Saturn Ion. That switch was later used in the Cobalt and other cars. GM
eventually learned of accidents and fatalities linked to the switch, and
conducted multiple reviews. Yet the cars were only recalled this year.
Barra will need to explain why GM didn’t act sooner.
Q: Why was a proposed fix never implemented?
According
to a timeline prepared by the House subcommittee, GM engineers
developed a fix for the switch in 2004, but it was canceled in 2005
because of its long lead time and cost. Engineers also devised a new key
design that would prevent the key from falling out of the ignition,
which caused the engine to stall. The fix was approved but later
canceled. Lawmakers will want to know why, and who was involved. Barra
may not be willing to name names at this point. She has said she only
learned of the problem last December, shortly after being named CEO.
— Q. Shouldn’t GM tell owners to stop driving the recalled cars until they are fixed?
GM
insists that the cars are safe as long as owners remove anything extra
from their key chains, to avoid weighing down the ignition switch. And
dealers have permission to give loaner cars to concerned customers until
GM can fix their cars. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Connecticut, who sits
on the Senate subcommittee, is among those calling for GM to make a
stronger statement and tell owners to stop driving their cars
immediately.
NHTSA
— Q. Why didn’t NHTSA open an investigation, which is often the first step toward a recall?
As
early as 2005, the agency had numerous consumer complaints, service
bulletins GM sent to dealers describing the ignition problems and data
from a fatal crash in Maryland. And in late 2007, one official
recommended investigating reports that air bags in the cars weren’t
deploying. An agency panel decided against that because it said a trend
wasn’t evident. Lawmakers want NHTSA to explain why that wasn’t enough,
and in general how it decides to open an investigation.
— Q. Did NHTSA get enough information from GM?
Safety
regulators have sent GM a special order to get more information on the
recall, but the automaker’s response isn’t due until Thursday. The head
of the Department of Transportation, which oversees NHTSA, said recently
that the agency lacked sufficient information about the problem from
GM. But the committee’s timeline shows that on two occasions — in 2006
and 2007 — GM honored requests for more information about two fatal
crashes.
— Q. Does NHTSA have the staff and expertise to deal with the volume of data it’s getting?
After
the Ford-Firestone tire recall in the late 1990s, Congress required
automakers to report more information to the government about possible
defects. NHTSA also gets more than 40,000 complaints per year from
drivers. Lawmakers want to know if they agency has the resources to do
its job.
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Associated Press writer Marcy Gordon contributed from Washington.
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