G.M. Reveals It Was Told of Ignition Defect in ’01
2014/03/13pokesman, said on Wednesday that after deciding to recall the Cobalts and Pontiac G5s, G.M. conducted a more in-depth review of records pertaining to the Ions and other models, which included the collection and analysis of car crash data. “Today’s G.M. is fully committed to learning from the past,” Mr. Adler said in an email.
While the first chronology focused heavily on the problems with the Chevrolet Cobalt, the new filing shows that the automaker also had found repeated problems about the Ion, including the early ignition switch issue.
In fact, safety regulators had received more than 70 complaints of the Ion shutting down while driving since 2003.
“After nearly being killed in the vehicle twice because the vehicle stalled on the freeway when I attempted to accelerate, I took the vehicle to the Saturn Dealership,” one driver wrote about a 2003 Ion.
“The car just basically shuts off as if the key was being turned,” a 2006 Saturn Ion driver wrote. “I am in fear of my safety as well as the safety of other drivers.”
A New York Times analysis of consumer complaints submitted to the safety agency found that since February 2003 it received more than 260 complaints about all the recalled car models — an average of two complaints a month — citing potentially dangerous shutdowns.
The Times reviewed almost 8,000 complaints about the recalled models to look for examples when drivers may have been affected by a faulty ignition.
The analysis included only those complaints that cited a moving car stopping or stalling unexpectedly. It did not include complaints about basic ignition problems, like trouble starting or stopping a car’s engine, even though these might have been caused by an ignition shutdown.
The safety agency, however, repeatedly responded that there was not enough evidence of a problem to warrant a safety investigation.
G.M.’s filing of the updated chronology comes amid mounting pressure on the company from lawmakers and regulators.
In disclosing new details, the timeline also raises new questions. For example, G.M. says that in 2014 it performed additional analyses for the Saturn Ion, Chevrolet HHR, Pontiac Solstice and Plymouth Sky vehicles, which all shared the same ignition as the Saturn Ion and Chevrolet Cobalt. But it is unclear why it had not done such an analysis before.
On Tuesday, the Justice Department said it would conduct a criminal investigation of the company’s disclosures to regulators about the defective switch, according to people briefed on the matter.
Senator Claire McCaskill, Democrat of Missouri, said she would hold hearings on a panel that oversees consumer product safety.
And a House committee said on Monday that it would conduct its own investigation and hearings into the events leading to the recall. It sent letters to G.M. and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, casting a wide net for information and asking why the company and regulators took so long to react to a mounting pile of evidence of the deadly problem.
