--- description: A subcommittee investigating the recall of 2.6 million cars says GM ignored or dismissed several warnings title: General Motors Failed Chevy Cobalt Defect, Congress Says image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltadcb9220b3bd4239/69868814e8524b185b6021a5/rtr2b4z2.jpg?branch=production&width=1920&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [World](/section/world/) ## World Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Automotive](/tag/automotive/) ## Automotive Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Congress Pulls GM Over For Failing to Fix Defect by [Michelle Arrouas](/author/michelle-arrouas/) ## Michelle Arrouas Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Mar 31, 2014 9:08 AM CUT  The General Motors logo outside its headquarters at the Renaissance Center in Detroit on Aug. 25, 2009. The General Motors logo outside its headquarters at the Renaissance Center in Detroit on Aug. 25, 2009.Jeff Kowalsky—Reuters by [Michelle Arrouas](/author/michelle-arrouas/) ## Michelle Arrouas Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Mar 31, 2014 9:08 AM CUT General Motors in 2005 twice [neglected](http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/31/business/us-regulators-declined-full-inquiry-into-gm-ignition-flaws-memo-shows.html?hpw&rref=business&%5Fr=0 "undefined") to fix a defect in ignition switches that has forced the company to recall 2.6 million cars and a federal regulator failed to investigate warnings about the defect, a congressional [memo](http://docs.house.gov/meetings/IF/IF02/20140401/102033/HHRG-113-IF02-20140401-SD002.pdf "undefined") said Sunday. The memo, released by the House subcommittee investigating the case, said that both engineers and the automobile giant’s brand quality division investigated the defect and proposed possible fixes during the spring of 2005\. Some solutions were deemed too costly and time consuming to implement, while at least one other was canceled after initially being approved. The faulty ignition switch, which has caused the Chevrolet Cobalt and other model cars to stall and has disabled the air bags and power steering, has been [linked to 13 deaths](http://media.gm.com/media/us/en/gm/news.detail.html/content/Pages/news/us/en/2014/Feb/0225-ion.html "undefined"). A House Energy and Commerce subcommittee is currently investigating why General Motors didn’t recall the cars before this year, as the company first became aware of the problem in 2001 and was warned that the defect was linked to four fatal crashes in 2007\. The company’s CEO Mary Barra will testify before the subcommittee in charge of the investigation on Tuesday and participate in a Senate hearing Wednesday, while an official from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is also testifying before lawmakers this week. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/43318/congress-pulls-gm-over-for-failing-to-fix-defect/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/43318/congress-pulls-gm-over-for-failing-to-fix-defect/"},"headline":"Congress Pulls GM Over For Failing to Fix Defect","datePublished":"2014-03-31T09:08:22.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T07:02:36.615Z","description":"A House subcommittee investigating the recall of 2.6 million Chevy Cobalts and other cars says GM ignored or dismissed several warnings about the danger of a defective ignition switch for a decade, and that regulators were also asleep at the switch","url":"https://time.com/43318/congress-pulls-gm-over-for-failing-to-fix-defect/","keywords":["Automotive","Congress","U.S.","General Motors","GM"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltadcb9220b3bd4239/69868814e8524b185b6021a5/rtr2b4z2.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Michelle Arrouas","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/michelle-arrouas/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltadcb9220b3bd4239/69868814e8524b185b6021a5/rtr2b4z2.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"The General Motors logo outside its headquarters at the Renaissance Center in Detroit on Aug. 25, 2009.","caption":"The General Motors logo outside its headquarters at the Renaissance Center in Detroit on Aug. 25, 2009.","creditText":"Jeff Kowalsky—Reuters","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":"/tag/automotive/","name":"Automotive"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/43318/congress-pulls-gm-over-for-failing-to-fix-defect/","name":"Congress Pulls GM Over For Failing to Fix Defect"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Chevy Cobalt’s Problems Started Off The Line, Not Recently","description":"The name isn’t exactly mud just yet, but the Chevrolet Cobalt is certainly being dragged through it. The comparisons to a lemon are not just a catchphrase for the low-priced compact car, but a legal term now regularly associated with Cobalts.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/lHLz3PWE/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2014-04-02T16:03:35.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/lHLz3PWE.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/43318/congress-pulls-gm-over-for-failing-to-fix-defect/","duration":"PT2M47S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/43318/congress-pulls-gm-over-for-failing-to-fix-defect/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```