Investigation into GM’s handling of recall continues after record penalty

The Department of Transportation dealt a $35 million civil penalty to General Motors on Friday for allegedly failing to report safety issues with vehicle ignition switches to the government in a timely manner.

House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Rep. Fred Upton (R-Mich.) said the federal government’s investigation into the failure is “far from over.”

“We continue to gather documents and interview key players involved in the ignition recall to determine why it took so long to connect the dots and take action,” Upton said. “What should have been a maximum of five days to report took years, and people died as a result.”

Upton sponsored the Transportation Recall Enhancement, Accountability and Documentation Act (TREAD Act) to improve automobile safety and enhance communication between manufacturers and the federal government in 2000. The legislation followed Ford and Firestone’s handling of tire recalls that allegedly contributed to crashes that killed 100 people in 2000.

“When we wrote the TREAD Act over a decade ago in response to Ford-Firestone, we inserted criminal fines into the law to make it clear that mistakes and delays will not be tolerated,” Upton said. “(Friday’s) record penalty sends a strong message that nothing is more important than safety. There are still many unanswered questions, and we must first fully understand how and why the system broke down to determine the necessary action to ensure the public’s faith is restored and this never happens again.”

House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations Chairman Rep. Tim Murphy (R-Pa.) said federal authorities are still gathering information on communications between GM and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).

“Our investigation remains open, active and ongoing to determine whether NHTSA had all of the data needed to spot a safety defect, but failed to connect the dots, and why GM, after years of delay in addressing ignition switch failures linked to deadly car crashes, failed to take action,” Murphy said.