WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill, Chairman of the Consumer Protection Subcommittee, today released the following statement after the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) announced that General Motors (GM) has agreed to pay a record $35 million civil penalty and comply with additional oversight requirements as a result of findings from NHTSA’s timeliness investigation regarding the defective ignition switches that have been linked to at least 13 deaths-including a fatality in Missouri:
“While it’s encouraging to see GM admit fault and accept responsibility, Congressional oversight will continue to help identify and address the systemic failures at both GM and NHTSA that allowed this defect to be concealed for nearly a decade. I don’t believe the $35 million fine is nearly enough for misconduct of this magnitude. Congress must consider raising or eliminating the cap on civil penalties when automakers put lives at risk. And I remain concerned that GM employees appear to have engaged in criminal behavior concealing this defect and I urge Secretary Foxx to use his authority to refer this matter to the DOJ for criminal prosecution if the evidence warrants it.”
As part of today’s settlement, set forth in a Consent Order signed with NHTSA, GM agreed to provide NHTSA with full access to the results of GM’s internal investigation into this recall, to take steps to ensure its employees report safety-related concerns to management, and to speed up the process for GM to decide whether to recall vehicles.
The Consent Order releases GM from any further civil penalty liability related to the ignition switch recall and NHTSA’s timeliness investigation, but it does not release GM from other civil or criminal liabilities that may be imposed by NHTSA or other U.S. governmental entities.
Last month, McCaskill responded to GM’s decision to put two engineers on leave as the company continues its internal investigation into the ignition switch recall. Following the announcement, several media reports indicated that one of the employees was Ray DeGiorgio, the engineer who GM CEO Mary Barra acknowledged-during questioning from McCaskill-may have lied under oath about ordering replacement switches in 2006 without properly reporting.
McCaskill also issued a statement reacting to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s (NHTSA) announcement that it is issuing GM a fine of $7,000 per day for every day the company fails to provide answers to all 107 questions in the agency’s request to the company-questions about the faulty ignition switches. In addition to the $35 million civil penalty, the Consent Order continues to fine GM $7,000 a day beginning April 4, 2014 and ending on the date that GM provides the final report of its internal investigation to GM.
McCaskill accused GM of having a “culture of cover-up” at a hearing in her Consumer Protection Subcommittee in April. McCaskill grilled witnesses on GM’s decisions over more than 10 years to not issue a safety recall-despite the fact that engineers discovered the problem in 2004-and questioned whether NHTSA has the capability, data, and resources to effectively monitor vehicle safety defects.
Earlier this year, GM announced that it was recalling approximately 1.6 million vehicles to correct a defect with the ignition switches that caused them to move out of position while the car was running, triggering a loss of power and stopping the airbags from deploying properly. GM later announced that it was expanding the recall to cover 2.6 million vehicles.
McCaskill will hold another Subcommittee hearing following the completion of GM’s internal investigation, and will examine the potential legislative solutions to addresses possible problems with NHTSA’s defect investigation and recall processes as the Subcommittee looks to craft vehicle safety provisions of the surface transportation authorization due to expire later this year.