Mary Barra, the newly assigned Chief Executive Officer of General Motors Co. (GM) apologized on Tuesday for the deaths from accidents that were linked to a faulty switch. The car company issued a recall last February 13 which has been expanded on the same month, with both recalls affecting around 1.6 million cars. That time, GM said that the recall was due to the torque problem of ignition switch.
“I want to start by saying again how sorry I am personally and how sorry General Motors is for what has happened. Clearly lives have been lost and families are affected, and that is very serious. We want to just extend our deep condolences for everyone’s losses.” Barra said at GM’s headquarters in Detroit during the press conference.
“Our goal is that something like this will never happen again,” she added, who was joined by Mark Reuss, the company’s vice president of global product development. Speaking publicly for the first time in front of reporters, Barra also noted that the company’s own investigation on the issue will be open for criticisms.
Barra, 52, who stepped in as GM CEO last January 15, revealed that she was informed on January 31 about the company’s decision to recall Chevrolet Cobalts, Pontiac G5, Pontiac Pursuit and other small cars. As part of the countermeasure, she named Jeff Boyer as GM’s vice president of global vehicle safety, a new position in the company. Boyer, 40, has been with the company since 1974.
On Monday, Barra addressed the problem to all GM employees via a video message. She said “something went wrong with our process,” adding that she believes the company will be better because of the recall. As of this writing, GM has not yet announced as to whether the affected families will be compensated. A thorough investigation is now being conducted by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). There will also be hearings in the U.S. House and Senate regarding the issue.
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