GM accused of 'criminal' behavior over ignition fault

(MENAFN- AFP) Senators accused General Motors of "criminal deception" over a decade-long ignition problem linked to 13 deaths, as the US automaker's boss faced a second straight day of congressional anger Wednesday.Defending her company's battered reputation, chief executive Mary Barra repeated her pledge that GM will be forthcoming with results of a sweeping internal investigation into what led it to keep using ignition switches it knew were faulty for years, then change the parts without alerting the public or regulators."We will share anything and everything related to vehicle safety," Barra assured members of a Senate subcommittee on consumer protection.But she received a tongue-lashing from lawmakers less than mollified by her pledges of transparency. They instead noted that GM has yet to sack anyone over the debacle, despite its own evidence that the defects were posing a deadly hazard.The manufacturer is under fire for not recalling Chevrolet Cobalts, Saturn Ions and other GM models fitted with the switches.Thirteen deaths have been linked to the problems, and since February GM has recalled 2.4 million vehicles to fix them.Senator Kelly Ayotte zeroed in on revelations that when GM changed its faulty ignition switches in 2006, it kept the identification number for the new part identical to that of the original switch, a decision that may have allowed the company to avoid a costly product recall."I don't see this as anything but criminal," Ayotte fumed. "This is criminal deception."