GM CEO Mary Barra today announced that the company has received the findings of an investigation by former U.S. Attorney Anton Valukas regarding the Cobalt ignition switch recall. The executive described the report as “extremely thorough, brutally tough, and deeply troubling,” and said the company will act on all its recommendations.
“Overall the report found that, from start to finish, the Cobalt saga was riddled with failures which led to tragic results for many,” Barra said, adding that the report revealed no conspiracy by the company to cover up the facts and no evidence that any employee made a trade-off between safety and cost.
The CEO said 15 individuals who were determined to have acted inappropriately are no longer with the company, with disciplinary actions taken against five other employees.
The Valukas report also determined that Mary Barra, Mike Millikin and Mark Reuss did not learn about the ignition switch safety issues and the delay in addressing them until after the decision to issue a recall was made on January 31, 2014.
Barra expressed sympathy for the victims of accidents related to the ignition switch defect and their families and announced that Kenneth Feinberg will administer a compensation program for those who have lost loved ones or who have suffered serious physical injuries as the result of an ignition switch failure in recently recalled vehicles.
Mary Barra told GM employees that the company has adopted and will continue to adopt sweeping changes in the way it handles safety issues.
Actions to date include appointing Jeff Boyer as Vice President of Global Vehicle Safety, adding 35 product safety investigators that will allow GM to identify and address issues much more quickly and instituting the Speak up for Safety program encouraging employees to report potential safety issues quickly and forcefully.
GM is also creating a new Global Product Integrity organization to enhance overall safety and quality performance, and restructuring the recall decision-making process to raise it to the highest levels of the company.
By Dan Mihalascu
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