General Motors has put two engineers on paid leave as it investigates its ignition switch recall.
CEO Mary Barra in a statement confirmed the two engineers had been placed on paid leave following a briefing from Anton Valukas, the former US attorney overseeing an independent investigation into the circumstances that led to the recall of 2.6m older GM cars for ignition switch defects.
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“This is an interim step as we seek the truth about what happened,” Barra said in the statement. “It was a difficult decision, but I believe it is best for GM.”
GM did not name the engineers nor cite any connections to the ignition switch problem.
USA Today noted that members of US House and Senate subcommittees badgered Barra in hearings on 1 and 2 April over why GM hadn’t fired people over the switch problem and she responded she didn’t want to act rashly and was waiting for Valukas’ report. The full report isn’t done, but Barra has had an interim briefing from Valukas, the paper said.
It noted GM engineers first experienced the switch problem in 2001 during development of the 2003 Saturn Ion, then again in 2004 as the 2005 Chevrolet Cobalt was being finalised.
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By GlobalDataIn 2006 the switch design was changed but that wasn’t widely known within GM and the new switch wasn’t assigned a new part number, as GM protocol would have required. The cars weren’t recalled at that time.
The paper said the GM engineer linked to the switch redesign is Ray DeGiorgio. Documents from the House and Senate hearings showed a person of that name signing off on the April 2006 switch change, USA Today said.
In a now-settled civil lawsuit against GM over the death of Brooke Melton, killed in a 2010 crash of her 2005 Chevrolet Cobalt that experienced switch failure, lawyer Lance Cooper asked DeGiorgio whether he had ever “signed a work order or a change authorisation” to approve a redesigned ignition switch.
DeGiorgio said: “I don’t recall ever authorising such a change, but it would definitely have been picked up in our engineering change systems of such a work order.”
At the 2 April Senate grilling of Barra, Senator Claire McCaskill accused DeGiorgio of commiting perjury “repeatedly under oath”.
Bloomberg News, citing unnamed soureces, said DeGiorgio and Gary Altman were the two engineers on paid leave.
Altman had been an engineering manager on the Chevrolet Cobalt, one of the small car models included in GM’s biggest recall since 2004.
Bloomberg said GM had opened an engineering inquiry about the Cobalt ignition switch in November 2004, after customers complained the engine “can be keyed off with knee while driving”, according to a document obtained by House investigators. Four months later, the Cobalt programme engineering manager rejected a change, citing parts costs and long lead times.
“None of the solutions presents an acceptable business case,” a GM memo cited by the House committee that didn’t identify the engineer, said, Bloomberg noted.
Altman, a GM engineer, testified in a lawsuit last year he was programme engineering manager for the Cobalt until May 2005.
USA Today said GM hopes that a review by NASA will provide the credibility on safety issues that the company itself now lacks.
The NASA team first will see if it can verify Barra’s claim that the cars are safe to drive if no additional weight is hung from the ignition key. A lawsuit in Corpus Cristi, Texas, has asked a federal judge to order GM to put ‘Do Not Drive’ stickers on all the recalled cars until the switches have been replaced.
NASA also would take a broader look at how GM approaches safety issues.
She also announced GM was creating a ‘Speak Up for Safety’ programme to recognise employees for ideas that make vehicles safer, and for speaking up when they see something that could impact customer safety.
“GM must embrace a culture where safety and quality come first,” Barra said. “GM employees should raise safety concerns quickly and forcefully, and be recognised for doing so.”
She spoke at an employee town hall meeting on Thursday, announcing the internal Speak Up for Safety campaign. The campaign is intended to remove perceived and real barriers to candid conversations between employees and their managers as a step to foster a “safety first” culture.
Reporting issues only matters if there is follow-up — and Barra said the Global Vehicle Safety Group will be accountable to take action or close issues within a prescribed time period.
“We will recognise employees who discover and report safety issues to fix problems that could have been found earlier and identify ways to make vehicles safer,” she said.
Details will be announced within 30 days.
Bloomberg infographic showing ignition switch workings and modification
