US federal prosecutors are examining whether General Motors is criminally liable for failing to properly disclose ignition switch problems with some now out of production vehicles that were linked to 13 deaths and led to a recall last month, a source familiar with the investigation told a news agency.
The New York-based probe is in its early stages, and the source did not elaborate on the legal theory behind the potential criminal liability, Reuters reported.
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The source said federal investigators are reviewing information about how GM handled reports of problems with ignition switches that first came to light 10 years ago.
GM declined to comment.
As just-auto reported on Tuesday, the federal probe by the US attorney in Manhattan adds to a growing list of US authorities examining the recall, which GM announced in February. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) previously opened an investigation into whether GM reacted fast enough with its recall.
Reuters reported earlier that a US Senate committee chairman, Michigan Republican Fred Upton, was seeking a hearing on the issue. The House Energy and Commerce Committee also ordered GM and NHTSA to turn over information about GM’s ignition switch problems by 25 March. Upton led the 2000 investigation into Firestone tyre failures on Ford vehicles, resulting in the TREAD Act that requires automakers to report complaints of defects to the NHTSA, the news agency noted. That law also makes it a crime to intentionally mislead the agency about defects that lead to serious accidents.
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By GlobalDataThe report noted the criminal probe of GM opened by Manhattan US Attorney Preet Bharara follows on from an investigation conducted by the same office into Toyota’s disclosure in 2009 of driver complaints of unintended acceleration by some of its vehicles.
Toyota has been engaged in negotiations with Bharara’s office to settle that probe, which is also criminal, a source familiar with the investigation had previously told Reuters.
The US Justice Department can only open a grand jury investigation into such allegations at the request of the Transportation Secretary, according to the law, Reuters noted.
“We are in communication with the Department of Justice but have not asked Justice to investigate because we are still in the midst of our own investigation regarding the timing of GM’s recall,” a Transportation Department spokesman told the news agency in a statement.
The person familiar with the criminal probe declined to discuss with Reuters whether prosecutors were considering liability under the TREAD Act.
