Corporate Integrity Project

The New York Times hinted that the 11 year death toll for victims who drove defective General Motors’ vehicles (that are just now being recalled) may rise from the current 12 confirmed fatalities. The Times reports, “Since 2003, GM has reported at least 78 deaths and 1,581 injuries involving the now-recalled cars, according to a review of agency records.”

It is not clear how many of the accidents involving one of the 1.6 million now-recalled vehicles were caused by the defect. The article does state that “the records mention potentially defective components” and “regulators appear to have overlooked disturbing complaints of engine shutdowns.”

The basis of the report is a new chronology of events regarding the recall. The chronology also gives evidence that now-GM CEO Mary Barra was likely aware of the problem in 2011. GM’s response to the escalating scandal was to offer drivers of its defective vehicles loaner … Read More ➡

General Motors continues to double down on plug-in electric vehicles, now offering the Cadillac ELR, which is a gussied up version of the Chevy Volt at twice the price. The latest Cadillac ELR ad has stirred up a lot of debate regarding its pro-American capitalism message as General Motors spent roughly $100,000 for each of the commercials that it ran during the Sochi Olympics.

Although the commercial garnered much attention, the heavy ad spending resulted in just 58 of the tax-subsidized (each affluent buyer gets a $7,500 federal tax credit) Cadillac ELRs being sold in February, three months into the car’s launch. The debate about the ELR ad seems to be omitting the most obvious question which is, why is GM wasting shareholder’s money advertising a car that has no chance of having widespread market appeal?

I’m sure GM apologists  will have some explanation for the wasted marketing dollars that … Read More ➡

Former head of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), Joan Claybrook, has weighed in on the deadly delay by General Motors on a recall for a defect that is alleged to have resulted in 13 deaths and 33 accidents. Ms. Claybrook appeared on the Cavuto Show on Fox Business where she blasted both GM and NHTSA for waiting 10 years to recall the defective models and went as far as saying that there should be criminal charges brought against GM by the Justice Department.

Congress was questioned for its response (or lack thereof) as Cavuto started the segment by comparing the lack of hearings on the recall delay to the quick response that brought Toyota to task for its unintended acceleration problems. It’s hard to disagree that Congress has been unusually silent on the matter, perhaps as a result of being concerned with the risks of criticizing the politically-powerful … Read More ➡

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is opening an investigation into General Motors’ response to an ignition-switch defect that has been linked to 13 deaths, prompting a recall of 1.6 million vehicles. As I have previously reported, the ignition-switch problem has been known for years. What took NHTSA so long?

NHTSA is an executive branch agency, part of the Transportation Department. According to its website, NHTSA “is dedicated to achieving the highest standards of excellence in motor vehicle and highway safety. It works daily [emphasis added] to help prevent crashes and their attendant costs, both human and financial.”

Five years ago, when Toyota delayed a recall for vehicles with unintended acceleration problems that allegedly cost some motorists their lives, NHTSA was a tiger. It eventually fined Toyota over $65 million for not recalling its vehicles sooner. TV networks (particularly business news networks) gave the story much air time, as … Read More ➡

New evidence is surfacing that General Motors has known for years about the deadly defects in its vehicles (as I suggested here last week) that are just now being recalled. The defects have led to the deaths of at least six people and are the basis of an ongoing lawsuit against GM.

The deadly recall delay by GM has garnered the attention of Mainstream Media as usually GM-friendly sources like USA Today, The New York Times, CNN Money and even CBS Evening News have rightfully decided that the accusations of deplorable behavior by GM deserve to be shared with the public. It is time for GM to explain its handling of the delayed recall that only came after a lawsuit settlement with one of the victims.

It appears that there is an ongoing lawsuit relating to GM’s deadly recall delay, as well as the settled lawsuit … Read More ➡

General Motors recently recalled close to a million vehicles for a deadly problem that resulted in six deaths. The models involved were Chevy Cobalts and Pontiac G5s from the 2005 through 2007 model years. The question is, why did NHTSA and GM wait so long to recall vehicles with a dangerous defect when the problems surfaced years ago?

Scouring the internet reveals many reported stalling incidents for the models in question. My particular Google search went back to 2009 and unearthed disturbing evidence that GM did not properly address issues with faulty vehicles. While the vehicles were manufactured by the “old” version of GM, “new” GM certainly would have been aware of the problems as far back as 2009. Following is an exchange from a forum that ran during the 2009 time period. A poster named Matt eerily references the problem on a Chevy Cobalt chat room on February … Read More ➡

General Motors shares are dropping again today as January sales figures disappointed Wall Street. Sales for the month fell 11.9% from a year ago with weakness across the board. The news follows last week’s announcement that GM has now dropped to number three in global sales, being surpassed by both Toyota and Volkswagen.

The bad news at GM comes amidst continued political hype for the company. GM CEO, Mary Barra was a guest of honor at President Obama’s State of the Union address last week. Ms. Barra may want to start focusing on the continuing problems at GM instead of politics. Her Obama-appointed predecessors had maintained a strategy that was more concerned with appearances and political correctness than on profitability and sales growth, which has led to the company losing market share both domestically and globally.

GM’s news release for January’s poor sales performance had the same old flavor. … Read More ➡

The Obama Administration may have sold the last of the taxpayers’ shares in General Motors, but it appears that politics will continue to play a powerful role in the management of the company. New GM CEO Mary Barra did not seem too concerned about appearances when she attended the State of the Union as Obama’s guest. Her predecessor Dan Akerson in previous months had gone to great lengths to distance GM from the federal government.

With President Obama praising Ms. Barra in front of the nation, the field is once again set for GM to take the stage during upcoming elections. Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton also jumped on the bandwagon, giving kudos to both Ms. Barra and the auto bailouts in general when she spoke at a recent car convention. The political attention given to the appointment of a female CEO leads to the question that no … Read More ➡