Which automaker leads the way in recalls?
通用再度召回問題汽車
通
用汽車公司(General Motors Co.)宣佈召回超過51.15萬輛雪佛蘭科邁羅(Chevrolet Camaros)，因公司內部調查發現，問題汽車的遙控鑰匙出現晃動後點火開關可能脫離“行駛”檔。通用汽車很快指出這批汽車的問題與此前該公司點火開關召回醜聞無關。該公司發現雪佛蘭科寶(Chevrolet Cobalts)和其他較舊的車款存在點火開關問題後，等待了11年時間才宣佈召回。
通用汽車發現，高個子司機在靠近方向盤時可能碰到遙控鑰匙，并導致點火開關脫位。通用汽車說，科邁羅點火開關的設計與科寶完全不同。
通用汽車認為共導致四人輕傷的三起車禍可能與科邁羅的問題有關。該公司將把科邁羅鑰匙的設計換成標準樣式。
此外，該公司還宣佈了另外三項召回，涉及約69,840輛汽車。
第一起是2004年-2011年款薩博(Saab)9-3敞篷車。上述車款主駕駛座安全帶收緊器自動張力系統的鋼索可能折斷。
通用還召回了約21,560輛2012年款雪佛蘭Sonic配六速自動變速箱和1.8升四缸發動機的緊湊型車。由於供應商質量問題，上述車款變速箱渦輪主軸可能裂開。
最後，該公司召回2014年款別克君越(Buick LaCrosse)，主駕駛座門的一處鋼絲繩插接可能受到腐蝕并斷裂。
Jeff Bennett
調查報告稱通用汽車長期忽視致命缺陷
2014年06月06日
Fabrizio Costantini for The New York Times
密歇根州沃倫——一項針對通用汽車公司(General Motors)的大規模內部調查於周四發佈報告，指責公司在過去10年里一直未能修復某個致命性的安全缺陷，該缺陷引發了「慘重的後果」，包括導致至少13人死亡。
該報告由美國前檢察官安東·R·沃盧卡斯(Anton R. Valukas)撰寫，導致了15名通用員工被開除，其中包括負責法規事務的副總裁和一名負責產品責任案件的資深律師，並迫使該公司對車輛安全的處理做出了廣泛的變革。
報告事無巨細地描述了通用各部門員工多年以來玩忽職守的行為，哪怕有一大堆證據顯示，用戶的生命正處於危險之中，他們也不去修復缺陷和發佈召回令。
沃盧卡斯說，「雖說每個人都有責任修復這個問題，然而卻沒有一個人承擔起責任。」
在底特律郊區沃倫的一座規模龐大的通用技術中心，久經磨練的通用首席執行官瑪麗·T·芭拉(Mary T. Barra)在一場會議上對一千多名員工說，這份報告「極其棘手」。
「對我們這些為這間公司奉獻了畢生精力的員工而言，把我們的缺陷這樣刺眼地羅列出來，實在讓人痛不欲生。」在通用工作了30多年的芭拉說，「當我讀到這份報告時，我深感痛心和不安。」
然而，這份報告認定芭拉和她的法律總顧問邁克爾·米利金(Michael Millikin)等高級副手們，在被長期拖延的召回中沒做錯任何事。據沃盧克斯所述，也沒有跡象顯示開關問題被刻意掩蓋了。
「看上去是能用錢買到的最佳報告了。它免除了最高領導層的責任，否認了這是蓄意為之的不當行為，否認了企業的過失，」康涅狄格州的民主党參議員理乍得·布盧門撒爾(Richard Blumenthal)說。
在為期三個月的調查里，沃盧克斯查閱了數百萬份文件，採訪了至少230人，其中有許多人都和通用未能修復點火開關故障的失職行為有直接關係，該故障會導致車輛失去動力，無法打開安全氣囊。
自今年2月以來，通用已經召回了260萬輛雪佛蘭Cobalts汽車和其他小型車，目的是修復該缺陷，通用認定，到目前為止，有13起死亡和54起事故與該缺陷有關。
不過，芭拉承認，由於賠償專家肯尼斯·R·范伯格(Kenneth R. Feinberg)在為事故受害者及其家人準備一份關於通用如何進行賠償的資料，在接下里的幾周，死傷事故和碰撞事故的累計數量可能還會增加。
芭拉表示，這份報告已促使公司開除了15名員工，還有五人因此受到了紀律處分——這是極不尋常的，這個行業很少進行如此嚴厲的人員清洗。芭拉拒絕提供行動細節，不過她表示，這些離開公司的員工中，有一半以上都身居高位。
據一名了解此次裁員行動的人士透露，被裁員的有負責全球法規事務的副總裁邁克爾·J·魯濱遜(Michael J. Robinson)和負責產品相關訴訟的高級律師威廉·肯普(William Kemp)。
被解僱員工中還包括兩名安全主管蓋伊·肯特(Gay
Kent)和卡門·貝納維德斯(Carmen Benavides)，以及兩名中層工程師雷蒙德·德喬治(Raymond
DeGiorgio)和加里·阿爾特曼(Gary Altman)。此前，這兩名工程師均因早期疏於解決這個開關問題而被停職。
「我從沒想把這個問題拋在腦後，」芭拉告訴員工，「我想讓這次痛苦的經歷留在我們共同的記憶里。」
有缺陷的開關——藏在被召回車輛的轉向柱裡面的一個小部件——已經給公司造成巨大的財務和聲譽損失。
自因開關問題而宣布召回以來，通用汽車又幾十次宣布召回車輛，以修復其整個產品系列中的車輛的各種問題。該公司已準備了17億美元（約合106億元人民幣）作為維修費，還任命了一名新高管負責車輛安全，並已經開始對工程部進行大範圍改組。
然而，通用汽車面前依然擺着一項最棘手的任務——得出有缺陷開關導致的具體傷亡人數，並賠償遇難者。
芭拉和另一名高管丹尼爾·安曼(Daniel Ammann)告訴記者，這些問題以及通用汽車支付給每位死傷者的金額，將由范伯格來決定。
范伯格周四表示，他希望在幾周時間內完成對賠償計劃的建議，並在8月準備好受理遇難者及其家屬提出的索賠。
「我已經起草了一些初步的賠償意見，計劃接下來幾周在私下裡讓律師、公益組織、通用汽車和其他對賠償計劃感興趣的人看看，」他說。
通用汽車尚未公布任何事故遇難者的姓名，稱是希望保護那些人的隱私。但部分遇難者家屬，以及撞車事故的受傷者已經站出來了。
2004年，坎迪絲·安德森(Candice Anderson)開着一輛安裝了有缺陷開關的土星Ion在德克薩斯州發生撞車，男友吉恩·埃里克森(Gene Erickson)喪命。
為了看芭拉在電視上的講話，安德森周四請了一天假。「很高興他們開始承擔責任了，」她說，「他們說這是他們的錯。」
但儘管沃盧卡斯對該公司的批評有深度，也有廣度，但通用汽車的部分批評人士對這份報告，以及芭拉的抱歉並不滿意。
「我不確定能不能相信通用汽車會對自己進行徹底的內部調查，」勞拉·克里斯蒂安(Laura Christian)說，「我希望司法部(Department of Justice)能揭開所有真相。」2005年，她的孩子在一輛Cobalt里遇難。
通用汽車還面臨著司法部、證券交易委員會(Securities and Exchange Commission)以及一個由州檢察長組成的組織的調查。
G.M. Inquiry Cites Years of Neglect Over Fatal Defect
June 06, 2014
WARREN, Mich. — A sweeping internal investigation of General Motors released on Thursday condemned the company for its decade-long failure to fix a deadly safety defect, one that led to “devastating consequences,” including at least 13 deaths.
The report, written by the
former United States attorney Anton R. Valukas, set off the dismissal of
15 G.M. employees, including a vice president for regulatory affairs
and a senior lawyer responsible for product liability cases, and forced
broad changes in how the company handles vehicle safety.
- 查看大图
ReutersThe General Motors chief executive, Mary T. Barra, presents the findings of an internal investigation into the company’s faulty ignition switches.
The report illustrates in
unsparing detail how employees across departments neglected for years to
repair a defect and issue a recall, despite a mountain of evidence that
lives were at risk.
“Although everyone had responsibility to fix the problem, nobody took responsibility,” Mr. Valukas wrote.
A chastened Mary T. Barra,
G.M.’s chief executive, described the report as “deeply troubling” in a
meeting with more than 1,000 employees at the company’s sprawling
technical center in the Detroit suburb of Warren.
“For those of us who have
dedicated our lives to this company, it is enormously painful to have
our shortcomings laid out so vividly,” said Ms. Barra, who has worked at
G.M. for more than 30 years. “I was deeply saddened and disturbed as I
read the report.”
Yet the report cleared Ms.
Barra and her top lieutenants, like Michael Millikin, the general
counsel, of any wrongdoing in the long-delayed recall. And there was no
evidence of a deliberate cover-up of the switch problems, according to
Mr. Valukas.
“It seems like the best
report money can buy,” said Senator Richard Blumenthal, Democrat of
Connecticut, who had been highly critical of Ms. Barra at a hearing in
April. “It absolves upper management, denies deliberate wrongdoing and
dismisses corporate culpability.”
Mr. Valukas’s three-month
investigation included a review of millions of documents and interviews
with at least 230 people, many of whom were employees directly involved
in G.M.’s failure to fix a faulty ignition switch that could cause
vehicles to lose power and deactivate air bags.
Since February, G.M. has
recalled 2.6 million Chevrolet Cobalts and other small cars to fix the
defect, which the company so far links to 13 deaths and 54 accidents.
But Ms. Barra admitted that
the tally of deaths, injuries and crashes could grow in the weeks
ahead, as the compensation expert Kenneth R. Feinberg prepares a report
on how G.M. will make restitution to accident victims and their
families.
Ms. Barra said the company
had dismissed 15 employees as a result of the report, and disciplined
five others — highly unusual in an industry where such purges have been
rare. She declined to provide details about the actions, but said that
more than half of those who left the company held senior-level
positions.
Among them were Michael J.
Robinson, a vice president for global regulatory affairs, and William
Kemp, a top lawyer who oversaw product-related litigation, according to a
person briefed on the moves.
Those dismissed also
included two safety executives, Gay Kent and Carmen Benavides, as well
as two midlevel engineers, Raymond DeGiorgio and Gary Altman, both of
whom had previously been suspended for neglecting to address the switch
problem in its early stages.
“I never want to put this
behind us,” Ms. Barra told employees. “I want to keep this painful
experience in our collective memories.”
The defective switch — a
tiny part hidden inside the steering column of the recalled vehicles —
has already taken an immense toll on the company’s finances and
reputation.
Since the switch recall,
G.M. has issued dozens of additional recalls to fix various problems on
vehicles throughout its product lineup. The company has set aside $1.7
billion to pay for the repairs, appointed a new executive to supervise
vehicle safety and begun a wide-ranging shake-up of its engineering
department.
Still, G.M.’s most delicate
task lies ahead — arriving at the exact number of fatalities and
injuries caused by the faulty switch, and compensating the victims.
Those decisions, Ms. Barra
and another senior executive, Daniel Ammann, told reporters, would be
left up to Mr. Feinberg, as well as the amount of money that G.M. would
pay for individual deaths and injuries.
Mr. Feinberg said Thursday
that he hoped to complete his recommendations for the compensation
program within a few weeks, and to be prepared to receive claims from
victims and their families in August.
“I have already drafted
some preliminary compensation ideas and plan to share them in confidence
over the next few weeks with lawyers, public interest groups, G.M. and
others interested in the compensation program,” he said.
G.M. has not released the
names of any accident victims, citing a desire to protect their privacy.
But some family members of victims, as well as people injured in
crashes, have spoken out.
Candice Anderson was
driving a Saturn Ion equipped with a defective switch in 2004 when it
crashed in Texas, killing her boyfriend, Gene Erickson.
Ms. Anderson took a day off
work on Thursday to watch Ms. Barra’s remarks on television. “I’m glad
they’re taking responsibility,” she said. “They’re saying it was their
fault.”
But despite the depth and
breadth of Mr. Valukas’s critique of the company, some of G.M.’s critics
were not satisfied with the report, or with Ms. Barra’s apologies.
“I’m not sure I can trust
G.M. to do a thorough internal investigation of itself,” said Laura
Christian, birth mother of Amber Marie Rose, who died in a Cobalt in
2005. “I hope the Department of Justice is able to uncover the entire
truth.”
G.M. still faces
investigations by the Justice Department, the Securities and Exchange
Commission and a group of state attorneys general.
Rebecca Ruiz contributed reporting from New York.
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