Evidence Shows That GM Have Been Too Busy Defending Itself To Correct Safety Defects

However many times General Motors Co. CEO Mary Barra says the automaker’s customers “are our compass” in the expanding ignition-switch recall mess, the mounting evidence suggests the buying public was anything but a priority over a decade of denial, dysfunction and at least a dozen deaths.

Reversing that perception will not be easy. Documents under scrutiny by congressional investigators and media organizations confirm damning details likely to prove problematic for GM — to put it mildly. They’re fodder for trial lawyers trolling for high-value cases, as well as members of Congress expected to grill Barra next week over two days of high-profile testimony. Example:

GM engineers learned in May 2009 that “black boxes” in Chevrolet Cobalts confirmed the compact sedans carried a defect that could result in fatal crashes. But it took nearly five more years — time marked by a historic bankruptcy, an initial public offering, a new slate of directors and four more CEOs — before the company issued a recall to address problems it first discovered 13 years earlier.

Car4Life - 3/27/2014 2:42:08 PM

+1 Boost

Wow...Union Lap Dogs...Morons...this is how you talk to fellow Americans. Sad

Unless you actually sat at the table with Bush and GM at their "short term loan" agreement, I suggest you sit down somewhere and do some research & see how much of that "loan", Bush actually required GM to payback.

You see, like corporate America, politics have something called negotiations.

All GM had to do when negotiating with Bush, Obama, or any sitting President, is show them the Millions of Americans, Thousands of jobs, and hundreds of business that would shut down as a result of GM closing their doors.

I support President Obama for his bailout. Do you think Japan would ever "let" Toyota FAIL?

Do you think Europe would ever let Daimler/Mercedes Benz Fail provider of buses, trucks, taxis, luxury cars, parts and engines?

HELL NO because none of those governments or their constituents are stupid.

wcbrown - 3/27/2014 2:15:54 PM

-1 Boost

BobM > It's best you stay on topic and stop bashing the President. If you wish to make a comment on the recall and speculate on what YOU think/read/heard really happened, that's fine. Any feelings you have for the President, you need to keep to yourself, as myself and countless others could care less.

Thanks and Buh Bye!

w222 - 3/27/2014 9:14:39 PM

+1 Boost

BobM, take your politics else where. This site is about "cars"

TheSteve - 3/28/2014 12:54:23 AM

+2 Boost

The inflammatory title has nothing to do with the article. Nowhere in the article does it suggest that GM was “too busy” to attend to these issues, or that they didn’t because of legal battles defending itself.

Sheesh! Makes me wonder what kind of “journalist” created this title!

Car4Life - 3/28/2014 10:39:16 AM

+1 Boost

"Sure It was perfect, but it wasn't even close to how bad and CORRUPT the Obama bailout was/is."-BobM

Ummmm...do you even understand what your talking about?