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DETROIT — General Motors waited years to recall nearly 335,000 Saturn Ions for power steering failures despite getting thousands of consumer complaints and more than 30,000 warranty repair claims, according to government documents released Saturday.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the government's auto safety watchdog, also didn't seek a recall of the compact car from the 2004 through 2007 model years even though it opened an investigation more than two years ago and found 12 crashes and two injuries caused by the problem.
DENVER – U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette (CO-01) offered the following statement ahead of tomorrow's 15th anniversary of the Columbine High School shooting:
"Fifteen years ago, our community was forever changed by the massacre at Columbine High School. Through the years, we have worked to heal, though for the families and friends of those who died, their losses remain. As we pause to honor the memories of those we lost, I hope we can all strive to love and care for one another."
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Last month, Mary T. Barra, the new chief executive of General Motors, told a panel of stern and dubious House members that she first became aware of a serious safety issue with the Chevrolet Cobalt in December, two months before the company announced a recall that would eventually cover 2.6 million cars.
But an email contained among 700 pages of internal G.M. documents released on Friday by the same House committee raises questions of whether she knew more about safety problems with the Cobalt.
WASHINGTON – U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette (CO-01) released the following statement after General Motors announced the suspension of two engineers connected to the recall of 2.6 million vehicles with defective ignition switches:
“Today’s announcement from GM shows they continue to take this investigation seriously, and I take this news as a sign of progress. This is also an indication that the public does not yet know the full story about what went wrong, and GM needs to share their full findings with Congressional investigators as soon as possible”
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WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette (CO-01) called on her colleagues to pass the Paycheck Fairness Act as the country recognizes Equal Pay Day, which marks the day when, more than three months into the year, women’s wages finally catch up to what men were paid in the previous year.
WASHINGTON –U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette (CO-01) called on the Obama Administration to change its deportation polices following today’s report in the New York Times. Nearly 67% of the nearly 2 million unauthorized immigrants deported during President Obama’s time in office had minor infractions such as traffic violations or no criminal record at all. This report paints a different picture of the Administration’s publicly-stated goal of narrowing enforcement efforts on serious criminals.
Andrew Smith finally understands why his 2006 Saturn Ion unexpectedly shut down on him twice — the same number of times he had to change his ignition switch.
"I'm pretty angry that people have been hurt by this," the Denver resident said. "And if reports are true that GM knew and released cars anyway, that's pretty bad."
General Motors is recalling about 2.6 million of its vehicles to replace defective ignition switches that slip out of position, killing the engine, eliminating power brakes and steering, and deactivating air bags.
General Motors chief executive Mary T. Barra faced a barrage of questions on Capitol Hill on Tuesday afternoon on why the automaker had ignored complaints about faulty ignition switches for a decade without reporting the problem to federal regulators or acknowledging a safety defect.
“I cannot tell you why it took years for a safety defect to be announced,” Barra said during her opening testimony before the House Energy and Commerce Committee. “I can tell you that we will find out.”
WASHINGTON (AP) — The fix for a faulty ignition switch linked to 13 traffic deaths would have cost just 57 cents, members of Congress said Tuesday as they demanded answers from General Motors' new CEO on why the automaker took 10 years to recall cars with the defect.
At a hearing on Capitol Hill before a House subcommittee, GM's Mary Barra acknowledged under often testy questioning that the company took too long to act. She promised changes at GM that would prevent such a lapse from happening again.
WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette (CO-1) presided as Ranking Member of the Energy and Commerce Oversight and Investigation Subcommittee’s hearing on the recent General Motors (GM) recall of over 2.5 million vehicles linked to defective ignition switches. The committee heard testimony today from GM CEO Mary Barra and National Highway Traffic Safety (NHTSA) Acting Administrator David Friedman.