fb-pixelHouse panel: Safety agency mishandled GM recall - The Boston Globe Skip to main content

House panel: Safety agency mishandled GM recall

David Friedman has met with automakers to emphasize there’s ‘‘zero tolerance’’ for withholding safety information.Reuters/File 2014

WASHINGTON — Congress scolded the US highway safety agency Tuesday over its tardy handling of a deadly problem with General Motors cars, questioning whether it is competent to guarantee the safety of increasingly complex vehicles.

David Friedman, acting chief of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, defended the agency during a Senate hearing as lawmakers accused him of failing to take responsibility for missing multiple clues that could have saved lives before the recall of small GM cars with faulty ignition switches.

Senator Claire McCaskill, Democrat of Missouri, said consumers had to take it upon themselves to point out engine stalling problems, and a Wisconsin state trooper investigating a fatal crash told the agency of trouble with GM ignitions. Yet for years it took no action.

Advertisement



‘‘Why can’t you take responsibility?’’ she asked.

Senator Richard Blumenthal, Democrat of Connecticut, went further, saying the agency failed to meet its obligations to protect people. ‘‘You are the face of that failure,’’ he said.

On Tuesday morning, majority Republicans on the House Energy and Commerce Committee released a report saying the agency should have discovered GM’s faulty switches in 2007, seven years before the company recalled 2.6 million cars to fix the problem. They said the agency didn’t understand how air bags worked, lacked accountability, and failed to share information internally.

At least 19 people died in crashes caused by the faulty switches in cars like the Chevrolet Cobalt. GM acknowledged knowing about the problem for at least a decade but didn’t recall cars until February. Lawmakers say they expect the death toll to rise to near 100.

The agency has fined GM the maximum $35 million for failing to report information on the switches, but the committee found that many of the bureaucratic mistakes that plagued GM are also problems at the highway safety agency.

Advertisement



‘‘While NHTSA now complains about GM’s switch, it seems NHTSA was asleep at the switch too,’’ said Representative Tim Murphy, a Pennsylvania Republican.

In the Senate, Friedman conceded the agency needs to improve, including with more aggressive follow-up on crashes. But he said the auto industry has more information and people than does the safety agency, and bigger fines are needed to deter automakers from hiding safety problems — along with more staff at the agency and updated technology to track the problems.

Friedman has been the agency’s acting chief since December. Senators called on the White House to name a permanent replacement.