http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/cars...-probe/9169355/

Will the union take any responsibility for building deathtraps and selling them to the public? They own a large stake in this company too.....

Zitat

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General Motors said on Friday that it will pay the maximum $35 million fine to the U.S. Department of Transportation for delays in the recall of 2003-2011 small cars with a potentially deadly ignition switch defect.

The fine is part of an agreement with the DOT to settle its "timeliness" inquiry into whether GM met regulatory requirements in reporting the defect.

The DOT says GM also agreed to pay an additional amount for not meeting a deadline imposed by DOT's National Highway Traffic Safety Administration for submitting documents concerning events leading to the recall. The company initially was being fined $7,000 per day in that issue.

DOT also says GM has agreed to make "significant and wide-ranging internal changes" in how it monitors safety issues.

The GM settlement "puts all manufacturers on notice that they will be held accountable if they fail to quickly report and address safety-related defects," said U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx at a press conference about the agreement. "We will continue to aggressively monitor GM's efforts in this case."

Foxx urged Congress to support a proposal the would "increase the penalties we could levy in cases like this from $35 million to $300 million, sending an even stronger message that delays will not be tolerated."

Federal law requires all auto manufacturers to notify NHTSA within five business days of determining that a safety-related defect exists.

GM admits in the consent agreement that it didn't do so.

GM told NHTSA Feb. 7 that it was recalling 619,122 of its 2005-2007 Chevrolet Cobalt and 2007 Pontiac G5 small cars. On Feb. 25 it expanded the recall by another 748,024 vehicles to include 2006-2007 Chevy HHR and Pontiac Solstice, 2003-2007 Saturn Ion, 2007 Saturn Skye. That pushed the total to nearly 1.4 million.

Others were added as GM tried to include all vehicles with similar switches. The recall for the switch problem now totals 2.6 million vehicles worldwide.

GM documents show that it knew in 2001 there could be a problem with the key moving unexpectedly out of "run" into "accessory." That shuts off the engine, kills power assist to the steering and brakes, and usually disables airbags.

It happened to a GM engineer testing a vehicle. A technician reported a similar problem in 2003. And in 2004 a ranking GM small-car engineer had the switch problem in the Chevrolet Cobalt during final development.

GM says it knows of 12 deaths and 46 injury or fatal accidents in the U.S. linked to the problem, and one fatal crash in Canada.

In a statement, GM CEO Mary Barra said, "We have learned a great deal from this recall. We will now focus on the goal of becoming an industry leader in safety. We will emerge from this situation a stronger company."

GM still faces a probe by the Justice Department into whether there was a criminal vilolation. And congressional investigations also are ongoing.

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They have plenty to hide alright.

Zitat

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Will the union take any responsibility for building deathtraps and selling them to the public? They own a large stake in this company too.....

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In this case - because they're "special" - I'm sure they'll be allowed to perform "community service". Something like contributing extra $$$$ to the democommunists would suffice, I'm sure . . .

Quote: algernonpj wrote in post #3

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Since GM is TBTF, out of whose pocket will the fine come ?

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Obama DOT is issuing a $35 million fine when the NHTSA knew about the defects and did nothing about them. It wouldn´t fit into the Obama narrative ya´ know that GM is a success and al Qaeda is on the run.

Title Correction: The U.S Taxpayer to pay $35 million fine for recall delay.