Last week, the top officer of General Motors, Mary Barra, provided testimony before the House and Senate relating to the now-infamous – and deadly – ignition switch defect contained in over 2.6 million GM vehicles.  Ms. Barra’s testimony mostly stuck to GM’s script.  

Mainly, she apologized for the loss of life resulting from any accidents caused by ignition switch failure.  She reiterated GM’s commitment to safety.  She stated that GM would utilize an independent investigator to determine what went wrong at GM that prevented it from recalling vehicles containing a known defect for 13 years.  She also stated that GM has hired Ken Feinberg – the attorney who handled settlement funds for the 9/11 attack and Boston Marathon Bombing victims – to presumably handle compensation for the families of those who have lost loved ones due to the ignition switch defect.

All of these things could be expected in a congressional hearing on a massive recall of a deadly product.  But there were some things said at the hearings that were unexpected – and unbelievable.  Specifically, Ms. Barra testified under oath that she discovered the defects on January 31, 2014, and immediately thereafter ordered a recall.  This statement is simply impossible to believe.  In 2008, Ms. Barra became GM’s Vice President of Global Engineering.  She was GM’s top engineer.  It is hard to believe that she had absolutely no idea that there was a deadly defect impacting millions of GM’s vehicles at that time.

Furthermore, Ms. Barra testified that GM does not balance cost and safety when deciding which features to place in its vehicles.  Again, this testimony is incredible.  After all, GM doesn’t include bullet proof glass as a standard feature on any of its vehicles.  If cost wasn’t an issue, you would expect this and more on every GM car.

The congressional hearings on GM’s ignition switch recall concluded without very many dramatic moments.  One exception is the fact that an engineer – Ray DeGiorgio – was discovered to have possibly committed perjury at a deposition last year regarding an ignition switch failure.  Mr. DeGirogio testified under oath several times that he did not authorize a switch in the design of the ignition switch without also causing a corresponding change in the part’s number – a grave sin in the automotive engineering world.  Documents uncovered by a House committee investigation showed, however, that DeGiorgio was the one who signed off on the change.  If true, these facts definitely support the theory that there was a cover-up at GM about the ignition switch defect.

— Kassem Dakhlallah is a senior partner with At Law Group, PLLC.  His practice focuses on complex litigation, including class actions, representative actions, commercial litigation, civil forfeiture and personal injury. He can be reached at (313) 406-7606 and kd@atlawgroup.com.