Επίσημο: Πρόστιμο $35 εκατ. στη GM για το θέμα με τις προβληματικές μίζες

Το σήριαλ με τις προβληματικές μίζες της General Motors αρχίζει πλέον να ξεκαθαρίζει, με την NHTSA (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration) να ανακοινώσει πρόστιμο ύψους 35 εκατ. δολαρίων (€25,5 εκατ. ευρώ), λόγο κακών χειρισμών της GM σχετικά με τις ανακλήσεις.

Η GM συμφώνησε υπογράφοντας με την Εθνική Υπηρεσία Οδικής Ασφάλειας των Η.Π.Α και το Υπουργείο Μεταφορών, ένα έγγραφο συγκατάθεσης, με το οποίο υποχρεώνεται να παρέχει στη NHTSA πλήρη πρόσβαση σε όλα τα στοιχεία της έρευνας που διεξάγει σχετικά με τις ελαττωματικές μίζες, να λάβει μέτρα εξασφαλίζοντας στους εργαζομένους

Η CEO της GM, Mary Barra αναφέρει:

Έχουμε μάθει πολλά από αυτή την ανάκληση. Εμείς τώρα θα επικεντρωθούμε στο στόχο μας, να γίνουμε η κορυφαία εταιρεία του κλάδου στον τομέα της ασφάλειας.

Η GM έχει ήδη παραδεχτεί πως εργαζόμενοί της είχαν γνώση του τεχνικού προβλήματος ήδη από το 2005, ενώ απέρριψε καλύτερη μίζα από το 2001, όμως η ανάκληση 2,6 εκατομμυρίων προβληματικών οχημάτων διατάχθηκε για πρώτη φορά το περασμένο Φεβρουάριο. Βάσει του νόμου, αμερικανικές αυτοκινητοβιομηχανίες είναι υποχρεωμένες να δηλώνουν τυχόν τεχνικά ελαττώματα εντός πέντε ημερών από την ανακάλυψή τους.

Τα 35 εκατ. είναι το μεγαλύτερο πρόστιμο που είναι δυνατό να επιβληθεί για τέτοιες υποθέσεις, ενώ τουλάχιστον 13 θάνατοι έχουν συνδεθεί επίσημα με το εν λόγω ελάττωμα. Η GM έχει ήδη δαπανήσει τουλάχιστον 700 εκατ. δολάρια αυτό το έτος σχετικά με τις ανακλήσεις ανάφλεξης που σχετίζονται με διάφορα μοντέλα μεταξύ 2003 και 2011. Περισσότερες λεπτομέρειες μπορείς να βρεις στο δελτίο τύπου που ακολουθεί.

GM Signs Consent Order with National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

DETROIT – General Motors Co. (NYSE: GM) has come to an agreement with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) for failing to report in a timely manner the ignition switch defect. As part of this agreement, GM will pay a $35 million fine.

“We have learned a great deal from this recall. We will now focus on the goal of becoming an industry leader in safety,” said GM CEO Mary Barra. “We will emerge from this situation a stronger company.”

Working with NHTSA, GM has already begun reviewing processes and policies to avoid future recalls o this nature.

“We are working hard to improve our ability to identify and respond to safety issues,” said Jeff Boyer, vice president of Global Vehicle Safety, who is assigned to integrate safety policies across the company. “Among other efforts, GM has created a new group, the Global Product Integrity unit, to innovate our safety oversight; we are encouraging and empowering our employees to raise their hands to address safety concerns through our Speak Up for Safety initiative, and we have set new requirements for our engineers to attain Black Belt certification through Design for Six Sigma.”Having signed this agreement, GM now has its sights set on effectively serving customers and completing the ignition switch recall.

“GM’s ultimate goal is to create an exemplary process and produce the safest cars for our customers – they deserve no less,” said Barra.

GM Sets Recall Parts Plan in Overdrive

Seven-day operation expects to have all parts needed made by October

DETROIT – With parts production running seven days a week on multiple shifts, General Motors plans to produce enough repair parts by October to have the ability to repair the majority of the vehicles impacted by the ignition switch and ignition cylinder recalls.

“Given that the ignition switch was in very limited production for several years, GM’s supplier, Delphi, increased production, pulled machinery out of storage, and found new suppliers for some of the part components,” wrote Jeff Boyer, vice president of GM Global Safety, today on GM FastLane. “We are buying new machinery and equipment to make parts quickly.”

GM and Delphi are working to get two additional production lines up and running this summer.

The cars covered are model years:

2003-2007 Saturn Ion2005-2010 Chevrolet Cobalt2007-2010 Pontiac G52006-2010 Pontiac Solstice2007-2010 Saturn Sky2006-2011 Chevrolet HHR

Owners of affected vehicles should contact their dealer or go to www.GMIgnitionUpdate.com to initiate the parts request.

For more thoughts from Boyer on the parts production process, go to GM FastLane.

U.S. Department of Transportation Announces Record Fines, Unprecedented Oversight Requirements in GM Investigation

General Motors agrees to pay maximum $35 million penalty for violating federal safety laws in Chevrolet Cobalt investigation

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) today announced that General Motors (GM) has agreed to pay a record $35 million civil penalty and to take part in unprecedented oversight requirements as a result of findings from NHTSA’s timeliness investigation regarding the Chevrolet Cobalt and the automaker’s failure to report a safety defect in the vehicle to the federal government in a timely manner. The defect resulted in the non-deployment of airbags in certain Chevrolet Cobalt and other GM models. This action represents the single highest civil penalty amount ever paid as a result of a NHTSA investigation of violations stemming from a recall.

As part of today’s agreement, set forth in a Consent Order signed with NHTSA, the agency also ordered GM to make significant and wide-ranging internal changes to its review of safety-related issues in the United States, and to improve its ability to take into account the possible consequences of potential safety-related defects. GM will also pay additional civil penalties for failing to respond on time to the agency’s document demands during NHTSA’s investigation.

“Safety is our top priority, and today’s announcement puts all manufacturers on notice that they will be held accountable if they fail to quickly report and address safety-related defects,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Foxx. “While we will continue to aggressively monitor GM’s efforts in this case, we also urge Congress to support our GROW AMERICA Act, which would increase the penalties we could levy in cases like this from $35 million to $300 million, sending an even stronger message that delays will not be tolerated.”

Federal law requires all auto manufacturers to notify NHTSA within five business days of determining that a safety-related defect exists or that a vehicle is not in compliance with federal motor vehicle safety standards and to promptly conduct a recall. GM admits in the Consent Order that it did not do so.

Today’s action is historic in that the provisions of the Consent Order will be immediately enforceable in federal court if GM does not fully comply. The Consent Order will hold GM accountable, push the automaker to make needed institutional change, and ensure that replacement parts are produced quickly and recalled vehicles are repaired promptly.

“No excuse, process, or organizational structure will be allowed to stand in the way of any company meeting their obligation to quickly find and fix safety issues in a vehicle,” said NHTSA Acting Administrator David Friedman. “It’s critical to the safety of the driving public that manufacturers promptly report and remedy safety-related defects that have the potential to lead to deaths or injuries on our nation’s highways.”

In the Consent Order, GM agreed to provide NHTSA with full access to the results of GM’s internal investigation into this recall, to take steps to ensure its employees report safety-related concerns to management, and to speed up the process for GM to decide whether to recall vehicles.

The Consent Order also requires GM to notify NHTSA of changes to its schedule for completing production of repair parts by October 4. GM must also take steps to maximize the number of vehicle owners who bring in their vehicles for repair, including targeted outreach to non-English speakers, maintaining up-to-date information on its website, and engaging with vehicle owners through the media. The Consent Order requires GM to submit reports and meet with NHTSA so that the agency may monitor the progress of GM’s recall and other actions required by the consent order.

Both in 2007 and again in 2010, NHTSA reviewed data related to the non-deployment of airbags in certain Chevy Cobalt models but each time, determined that it lacked the data necessary to open a formal investigation. However, on February 7, 2014, GM announced it would recall certain model vehicles for a defect where the vehicle’s ignition switch may unintentionally move out of the “run” position that could result in the air bag not deploying in the event of a crash. GM had failed to advise NHTSA of this defect at the time of the agency’s earlier reviews.

After review and consultation by NHTSA, GM twice expanded the recall to include a total of 2,190,934 vehicles in the United States. The GM recall covers the 2005-2010 Chevrolet Cobalt, 2007-2010 Pontiac G5, 2003-2007 Saturn Ion, 2006-2011 Chevrolet HHR, 2006-2010 Pontiac Solstice and 2007-2010 Saturn Sky vehicles.

Over the past ten years, NHTSA defect investigations resulted in 1,299 recalls involving more than 95 million vehicles and items of motor vehicle equipment, which has helped the agency to reduce vehicle fatalities to historic, all-time lows. Including today’s consent order, the agency has obtained record fines of $124.5 million in the last five years from automakers who have failed to promptly report defects to NHTSA.