McCaskill Responds to General Motors Failure to Meet Deadline

Press Release

U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill, Chairman of the Consumer Protection Subcommittee, today released the following statement after General Motors (GM) failed to provide the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) answers to questions about defective ignition switches that have been linked to at least 13 deaths-including a fatality in Missouri:

"If GM is truly committed to the transparency they've promised, they need to cooperate fully with safety officials-and their failure to turn over the necessary documents is a troubling start to the next phase of this process."

NHTSA has issued a fine of $28,000 to GM and will continue to fine them $7,000 more every day until the company fully answers all 107 questions in the agency's request to the company.

McCaskill recently accused GM of having a "culture of cover-up" at a hearing in her Consumer Protection Subcommittee. At the hearing, McCaskill demanded answers from GM CEO Mary Barra, as well as the national highway safety chief and Inspector General for the Department of Transportation on GM's slow action to recall 2.6 million vehicles for faulty ignition switches.

McCaskill grilled witnesses on GM's decisions over more than 10 years to not issue a safety recall-despite the fact that engineers discovered the problem in 2004-and questioned whether NHTSA has the capability, data, and resources to effectively monitor vehicle safety defects.

Last month, GM announced that it was recalling approximately 1.6 million vehicles to correct a defect with the ignition switches that caused them to move out of position while the car was on, triggering a loss of power and stopping the airbags from deploying properly. GM later announced that it was expanding the recall to cover 2.6 million vehicles.

McCaskill and the Subcommittee will examine potential legislative solutions to addresses possible problems with NHTSA's defect investigation and recall processes as the subcommittee looks to craft vehicle safety provisions of the surface transportation authorization due to expire later this year.

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