Barra will testify to US House on April 1 about recall

[Haltech]

Filed under: Government/Legal, Recalls, Safety, GM



The US House Energy and Commerce Committee has set April 1 for its hearing into General Motors' ongoing recall of roughly 1.6 million cars over faulty ignition switches. Both GM CEO Mary Barra and National Highway Transportation Safety Administration Acting Administrator David Friedman will testify.

The hearing's announcement states: "Their testimony is critical to understanding what the company and NHTSA knew about the safety problems, when they knew it, and what was done about it." It admits that the problems leading to the recall predate both Barra and Friedman taking their leadership positions, but it claims they are the best people to explain what went wrong. The committee is chaired by US Representative Fred Upton (R-MI) who was also part of the federal investigation of the Ford-Firestone rollovers in 2000.

GM has been fighting poor public perception after it came out that it allegedly knew about the flaw for years prior to the recall. In a press conference earlier this week, Barra said that she learned about the investigation into the switches in late December of 2013, and found out a repair would be necessary on January 31. The faulty part has been linked to 31 crashes and 12 deaths. NHTSA has also been criticized for not forcing action sooner.

A GM spokesperson told Automotive News that Barra "welcomes the opportunity to participate in the hearing as part of GM's effort to cooperate with Congress and other authorities." She also said during the press conference that she would be willing to testify. Scroll down to read the US House Energy and Commerce Committee entire announcement.Continue reading Barra will testify to US House on April 1 about recall

Barra will testify to US House on April 1 about recall originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 21 Mar 2014 11:03:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.



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