--- description: A U.S. Congressional committee says it will investigate General Motors amid reports that its employees knew, as early as 2004, of a potential lethal defect involving 1.6 million vehicles that would quickly turn off the engine title: GM Investigated for Recall of 1.6 Million Cars image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb9be33a4b088062f/69868508e8524bd6d0601c55/general-motors-recall_wong.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [World](/section/world/) ## World Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Congress to Investigate GM's Recall of 1.6 Million Vehicles  by [Dan Kedmey](/author/dan-kedmey/)  ## Dan Kedmey Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Mar 12, 2014 8:03 AM CUT  David Goldman—AP  by [Dan Kedmey](/author/dan-kedmey/)  ## Dan Kedmey Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Mar 12, 2014 8:03 AM CUT A U.S. congressional committee said it would investigate General Motor’s delayed recall of 1.6 million vehicles with a potentially lethal defect. The BBC reports that as early as 2004, GM employees knew of a fault in the ignition that could suddenly switch off the car’s engine. Over the course of 11 years, safety regulators received 250 complaints from drivers who had suddenly lost control of their cars, [according](http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/09/business/auto-regulators-dismissed-defect-tied-to-13-deaths.html?emc=eta1&%5Fr=1 "undefined") to the New York _Times_. Neither the car maker nor the regulators reacted to the warning signs until last month, when an internal GM investigation linked the deaths of 13 drivers to the faulty ignition. Rep. Fred Upton said Congress would hold a hearing in the coming weeks to seek “detailed information” from both GM and safety regulators. \[[BBC](http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/09/business/auto-regulators-dismissed-defect-tied-to-13-deaths.html?emc=eta1&%5Fr=1 "undefined")\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/20961/congress-investigates-gms-recall-of-1-6-million-vehicles/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/20961/congress-investigates-gms-recall-of-1-6-million-vehicles/"},"headline":"Congress to Investigate GM's Recall of 1.6 Million Vehicles","datePublished":"2014-03-12T08:03:22.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T06:42:56.120Z","description":"A U.S. Congressional committee says it will investigate General Motors amid reports that its employees knew, as early as 2004, of a potential lethal defect involving 1.6 million vehicles that would quickly turn off the engine","url":"https://time.com/20961/congress-investigates-gms-recall-of-1-6-million-vehicles/","keywords":["Congress","Death","cars","General Motors","Investigation","Recall","Accidents"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb9be33a4b088062f/69868508e8524bd6d0601c55/general-motors-recall_wong.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Dan Kedmey","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/dan-kedmey/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb9be33a4b088062f/69868508e8524bd6d0601c55/general-motors-recall_wong.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"General Motors-Recall","caption":"General Motors-Recall","creditText":"David Goldman—AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/20961/congress-investigates-gms-recall-of-1-6-million-vehicles/","name":"Congress to Investigate GM's Recall of 1.6 Million Vehicles"}}]}] ```