Legal heavyweight leads GM internal recall probe

i

General Motors hired a high-power former U.S. Attorney, who probed the Lehman Bros. collapse for the government in 2009, to lead an internal investigation into how the decisions were made at GM that resulted in using a faulty ignition switch now blamed for 13 deaths.

GM said the internal investigation is jointly run by Tony Valukas, chairman of the law firm, Jenner & Block, and by GM's General Counsel, Michael Millikin. GM says attorneys from the law firm King & Spalding also are part of the team conducting the investigation.

Valukas lead the government's investigation of the 2008 collapse of Lehman. His involvement with the GM probe of its own people and processes is meant to signal that the automaker is not interested in a cover-up.

GM CEO Mary Barra has promised the internal review would "give us an unvarnished report on what happened."She promised that "We will hold ourselves accountable" for the problem."GM in February recalled more than 1.6 million cars worldwide, 1.37 million of them in the U.S.

Front airbags in those models might not inflate in a crash if potentially faulty ignition switches supplied by Delphi move from the normal "run" position into "accessory," cutting power to air bags and other systems

Recalled Feb. 13: 619,122 of the 2005 to 2007 Chevrolet Cobalt and 2007 Pontiac G5 compacts. Added to the U.S. recall Feb. 25: 748,024 of GM's 2003-07 Saturn Ion, 2006-07 Chevrolet HHR, 2006-07 Pontiac Solstice and Saturn Sky.

The second group of vehicles uses the same ignition switches as the Cobalt and G5. The second group was named in a 2005 notice to dealers about a potential fault with the cars' ignition keys.

Dealers were told then to advise their customers to use the ignition key by itself, not hooked on a key ring with other keys or keepsakes.

GM and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which is overseeing the recall, both continue to emphasize that. Heavy keys can make it easier to tug the switch out of the! "run" position.

GM begins notifying owners this week that their vehicles are included in the recall. Dealers begin getting new ignition switches next month and will install them once inventories are built up.