GM's internal investigation far from enough

General Motors' chief executive Mary T. Barra didn't have time to take in the museums during her trip to Washington this week. She was too busy spouting platitudes and non-answers during two days of questioning on Capitol Hill. And when she finished she was hustled away, no doubt glad to be done with it.
Of course she and the nation's No. 2 automaker aren't done with anything, least of all questions about the company's handling of ignition switch problems being blamed for accidents that killed at least 13 and injured many more in dozens of accidents. The faulty switch causes the engine to shut off, disabling power steering, power brakes and the front air bags.
Internal documents indicate GM knew about the defect for more than a decade and years ago passed on a fix because economically it wasn't worth it. The cost of the part involved: 57-cents.
By the time Barra, 51, took over the GM in December she already had 33 years with the automaker. She climbed through the company ranks with a combination of smarts and corporate tenacity. But when she testified this week, she was curiously ignorant about much that goes on in the company she now heads. She said she didn't find out about the ignition problems until weeks after becoming CEO.
And maybe she didn't. Maybe she's being thrown under the bus. That possibility didn't alleviate the frustration of her questioners.
"You don't know anything about anything," Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., bristled.

Is the company really only sorry it got caught?

The whole matter is the subject of an internal GM investigation Barra said. That should be completed in 45 to 60 days.
We've seen what internal investigations look like. New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie just released one exonerating him of any knowledge of Bridge-gate, the scandalous, political get-even rush-hour closing of the George Washington Bridge into New York City.
In the case of GM, the company has known about the defect since 2001 and it did nothing to protect its customers. It wasn't worth it, the company decided.
Barra's dodge and dance performance this week frustrated members of Congress. It should outrage consumers, and not just because American taxpayers bailed the company out but also because it is a pattern among so many companies claiming to be good corporate citizens. When news gets out they are less than stellar citizens, the public relations campaign begins (Pacific Gas & Electric is running ads today to convince customers it is taking care of is natural gas pipelines, some of which have blown up in recent years.)
Indeed, GM is doing the same thing. Thursday the automaker confirmed it had hired crisis manager Jeff Eller, a one-time Clinton administration official who went on to represent Firestone in its massive tire recall in 2000. He joins attorney Kenneth Feinberg who specializes in compensation claims from disaster victims, including those of 9/11 and the BP gulf oil spill, and former U.S. attorney Anton R. Valukas, who is conducting GM's internal probe.
We will see if, as Barra alleges, this is the new General Motors. One test will be whether the company accepts responsibility for those killed and hurt in accidents before GM filed for Chapter 11 protection. As it stands now, the company is immune from litigation over crashes that occurred before it reorganized in bankruptcy court.
A second test will be if Valukas probe names names -- those responsible for the decisions about the ignition switch problems -- or if weeks from now we're treated to corporate pabulum about the need to change the company environment.
Companies have been getting away with this kind of shuffle for years. The routine is to cover up and when caught to pay up, the cost of which eventually falls back on customers and shareholders, without even having to admit fault. Almost never -- the lack of jailed investment bankers who helped trigger the Great Recession is an example -- do those corporate officials responsible face criminal charges.
And that's the real crime.