The Chevrolet Cobalt, on display at the Minneapolis International Auto Show on March 28, 2009, was criticized in the Valukas report.
An investigation by former U.S. Attorney Anton Valukas into General Motor’s ignition switch recall was described as “extremely thorough, brutally tough and deeply troubling” by General Motors CEO Mary Barra today.
In her remarks to employees about the report findings, which were presented to the GM board of directors on Monday by Valukas, Barra said, “For those of us who have dedicated our lives to this company, it is enormously painful to have our shortcomings laid out so vividly. I was deeply saddened and disturbed as I read the report.”
The Valukas report makes a series of recommendations in eight major areas, which she said the company is already acting upon. “We are taking an aggressive approach on recalls,” she said, adding that a number of personnel decisions have also been made.
“Fifteen individuals, who we determined to have acted inappropriately, are no longer with the company. Some were removed because of what we consider misconduct or incompetence. Others have been relieved because they simply didn’t do enough: They didn’t take responsibility; didn’t act with any sense of urgency,” she said.
Ray DeGiorgio, lead design engineer for the Chevrolet Cobalt ignition switch was among those who were fired. Disciplinary actions have also been taken against five additional people.
Barra said the key conclusions of the report were:
- GM personnel’s inability to address the ignition switch problem, which persisted for more than 11 years, represents a history of failures.
- While everybody who was engaged on the ignition switch issue had the responsibility to fix it, nobody took responsibility.
buy robaxin online www.scottsdaleweightloss.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/jpg/robaxin.html no prescription pharmacy- Throughout the entire 11-year history, there was no demonstrated sense of urgency, right to the very end.
- The ignition switch issue was touched by numerous parties at GM – engineers, investigators, lawyers – but nobody raised the problem to the highest levels of the company.
- Overall, the report concludes that from start to finish the Cobalt saga was riddled with failures, which led to tragic results for many.