Acting National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) administrator David Friedman said that General Motors will agree to a record fine of $35mn in civil penalties as a result of the automaker’s failure to report a safety defect in one of its automobiles.

Reuters

New York

The top US auto safety regulator harshly criticised General Motors Co for not promptly reporting and recalling cars now linked to at least 19 deaths and said he has been meeting with top global automakers to develop a “new normal” for safety recalls.

In his most pointed comments to date about GM’s lapses, David Friedman, acting administrator of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, said the auto maker put its own reputation ahead of the safety of its customers.

“GM very clearly made some incredibly poor decisions when it came to their culture,” Friedman said in an interview on Monday. “They were more worried about us (NHTSA) getting information about problems than they were about actually fixing problems.”

Earlier on Monday, the chief of GM’s victim settlement fund raised the number of deaths from accidents caused by the automaker’s defective ignition switches to 19, up from 13.

Friedman’s comments come ahead of his appearance later yesterday before a Senate panel in which he will likely be grilled about his own agency’s failure to connect the dots on years of consumer complaints and accident data about GM cars with a deadly ignition switch flaw.

GM earlier this year recalled 2.6mn vehicles because of the risk the switches could unexpectedly turn off engines during operation and disable airbags.

Yesterday’s hearing, chaired by Senator Claire McCaskill, is focusing on whether NHTSA is effectively implementing and enforcing highway and vehicle safety laws, and whether Congress should make additional reforms in the wake of GM recalls, said a staffer for the consumer protection subcommittee.

McCaskill has introduced legislation to increase NHTSA’s authority to fine carmakers for safety violations. Friedman said in the interview that his agency had started a program of “unprecedented oversight” with GM and other auto makers.

“We’re setting a system up where the minute they sneeze about a safety issue, we’re able to be aware of it and make sure we understand how they’re dealing with it,” he said.

In recent months, Friedman said he has invited senior executives from 12 global automakers to talk about how to establish a “new normal” when it comes to recalls.

During those discussions, Friedman said he is “making clear that we have zero tolerance when it comes to automakers failing to act quickly and aggressively” on reporting and recalling defective cars.

As part of a settlement in May with NHTSA, GM agreed to pay a $35mn fine for its delayed response to the ignition switch problems. GM also was required to hold regular meetings with NHTSA to report on efforts to catch safety problems and it also must give the agency monthly reports on any emerging defect issues.

Friedman said GM had “a fundamentally flawed system and culture that was focused more on profits than on safety,” but acknowledged the automaker has been overhauling its defect and recall reporting system under chief executive officer Mary Barra.