General Motors is based in Detroit and is the third-largest automaker in the world, making vehicles under a variety of brands, including Chevrolet, Buick, GMC, and (until recently) Saturn. As of June 30, GM had recalled 28 million vehicles in 2014. "In the past," she said, "we had more of a cost culture, and now we have a customer culture that focuses on safety and quality." Even so, plenty of questions remain about why GM didn't fix the switches or recall its vehicles earlier.Īfter facing a backlash for not fixing the ignition-switch problem earlier, GM recalled millions more vehicles - some for similar ignition-switch problems and others for unrelated problems. In early April, she testified before Congress and apologized for the company's actions before her tenure. (JIM WATSON/AFP/GETTY IMAGES)Īfter taking charge of GM on January 14, 2014, CEO Mary Barra found herself under public scrutiny for the recalls.
Edward Markey (D-MA) holds up a faulty GM ignition switch during a press conference April 1, 2014. Both Congress and the federal government investigated GM on precisely this question. Worse still, evidence has emerged that GM knew about the faulty switches since at least 2003 - but had been slow to fix the problem, possibly because it would have cost too much.
Recalled models included Chevrolet Cobalts and Saturn Ions.
The faulty switches could inadvertently shut off car engines and airbags during driving. In the first three months of 2014, GM ordered the recall of 2.6 million small cars because of faulty ignition switches that have been linked to at least 97 deaths since 2005. General Motors faced an uproar in 2014 over its handling of a defective ignition switch in some of the cars it manufactured - a problem that led to at least 13 deaths.
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