General Motors Co came under withering attack for its decade-long failure to notify the public about defective parts linked to fatal crashes, as a US Senate hearing opened on Wednesday with accusations that the company fostered "a culture of cover-up." Democratic Senator Claire McCaskill rebutted some of GM CEO Mary Barra's testimony to a House of Representatives panel on Tuesday that her company had recently cleaned up its act.
"It might have been the 'Old GM' that started sweeping this defect under the rug 10 years ago. Even under the 'New GM' banner, the company waited nine months to take action after being confronted with specific evidence of this egregious violation of public trust," the Missouri senator said.
McCaskill chairs a Senate subcommittee on consumer protection and product safety that is investigating GM. The "Old GM" and "New GM" she referred to were references to General Motors before and after its 2009 bankruptcy. Committees in the House and Senate are investigating why it took GM more than a decade to recall 2.6 million cars that could have faulty ignition switches and may have contributed to at least 13 deaths. The largest US automaker also faces a criminal probe by the Department of Justice.
Those switches, without warning, can make vehicle engines stall during operation and stop air bags from deploying and power steering and power brakes from operating. McCaskill said that "a culture of cover-up" caused a GM engineer to deliver untruthful testimony about his knowledge of the defective ignition switch, as part of a lawsuit related to a fatal 2010 crash in Georgia.
Barra, who was promoted to CEO in January, said in her prepared testimony: "While I can't turn back the clock, as soon as I learned about the problem, we acted without hesitation." As lawmakers over the past two days have pressed Barra for answers on who at GM was responsible for the company's slow response, Barra has referred repeatedly to an internal investigation of the problem that is under way. Barra told senators the internal probe is "well along," adding that GM hopes to wrap it up in 45-60 days. GM was not alone in the hot seat during the Senate hearing.
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