英语访谈节目:通用汽车早在几个月之前就已经准备召回

GWEN IFILL: There's yet another new revelation in General Motors' mass recalls over faulty ignition switches. Internal e-mails show GM ordered half-a-million replacement switches nearly two months before telling safety regulators about the problem.

The e-mails were released as part of a class-action lawsuit. The switch problem has been linked to at least 32 deaths and caused the recall of 2.6 million vehicles.

David Shepardson has been covering the story for The Detroit News and he covers — and he joins me now.

David, welcome back.

So, shoes keep dropping. Why are we just hearing about this one now, David?

DAVID SHEPARDSON, The Detroit News: Well, these e-mails that you mentioned were in four million pages of records that are in a depository in this multidistrict litigation suit.

And lawyers for people suing have been mining these e-mails and uncovered them. And you're right, it does raise questions about, why didn't the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration know? Why didn't GM disclose the fact that six weeks before they ultimately decided on the recall to go ahead with what's a very large order?

At least, on its face, it suggests the company was preparing for a recall far earlier than we knew.

GWEN IFILL: And not only a large order, but an urgent order with words like aggressive and we need to do this right now kind of in those e-mails.

DAVID SHEPARDSON: Right.

GWEN IFILL: Is that unusual, that 500,000? Is that a larger than you would usually expect?

DAVID SHEPARDSON: I mean, it is unusual in the sense that this happened a day after a meeting where GM said, we don't have enough information to decide on a recall, and ultimately it got pushed back six weeks.

Now, companies do start ordering parts for big recalls earlier than the actual recall happens, for the obvious reason that you don't have the parts, you announced a recall, your dealerships are flooded with customers, and you can't get the parts in.

Remember, even with this aggressive timetable, GM didn't get the parts until April, so it took them a long time and as a result they gave out thousands of loaner cars.

GWEN IFILL: Well, is the question about the recall or the question about notifying the government about the impending recall?

DAVID SHEPARDSON: Exactly.

You're required within five days of determining that there is a safety defect to notify the government and start the process. It does raise questions, did GM know there was a defect and what did the senior management of the company know? Because, remember, the new GM CEO said she didn't learn of the problem or the issue generally until late December.

And we don't know the answer to whether Mary Barra knew about this large order of parts.

GWEN IFILL: What has she said? She has said — just to refresh people, she had said that she didn't that there was this problem until when?

DAVID SHEPARDSON: Right.

Late December, she heard of the issue generally, but she has said and testified that she didn't know of the recall or the decision to recall the vehicles until January 31, the day GM decided.

GWEN IFILL: And she hasn't been asked about this parts question, this order — parts because we didn't know about it?

DAVID SHEPARDSON: Right. Exactly.

GWEN IFILL: So, it seems like we're kind of on a hamster wheel.

What is — we have heard about recalls being delayed before in this whole unfolding saga.

DAVID SHEPARDSON: Right.

GWEN IFILL: Does this more — make that story more extensive than we previously thought?

DAVID SHEPARDSON: I think what it does is it shows there's a lot of ammunition for critics on Capitol Hill to push for auto safety reforms.

GWEN IFILL: Right.

DAVID SHEPARDSON: Remember, there are now 10 — auto companies that have recalled eight million vehicles — or eight million cars for exploding air bags, that shrapnel can hit people and potential injure or kill them.

And it raises questions about, has GM come clean completely about the early days of this problem and whether — you know, did the company know more in December, you know, six weeks before this actually — the recall began?

GWEN IFILL: Mary Barra has said whenever asked about that this — that was the old GM and this is the new GM.

DAVID SHEPARDSON: Right.

GWEN IFILL: How would the new GM — what changes have been put in place that would stop that sort of thing from happening today?

DAVID SHEPARDSON: Well, GM is taking things far more aggressively.

They're recalling vehicles, sometimes fewer than hundreds of vehicles at the slightest signs of problems. So, even though they have had 78 separate recall campaigns, many are coming after one, two, three reports of problems.

So they would say — they would never have done what occurred in this case, which is monitoring a problem year after year, and not doing anything, creating committees, trying to get to the root cause. The new GM would, they say, move much faster and wouldn't let this fester as long as it did.

GWEN IFILL: And a $35 million fine we're talking about, right, So far?

DAVID SHEPARDSON: Right.

And, remember, the Obama administration has called for raising that. That's the maximum allowed by law by NHTSA. They want to raise it to $300 million. But the real question is the Justice Department. Remember, they fined Toyota $1.2 billion. The Justice Department and the attorney generals could opt to fine GM under different statutes and for much more.

GWEN IFILL: So, other shoes could be yet to be drop?

DAVID SHEPARDSON: Yes. It's probably a long way from being over.

GWEN IFILL: Keeps you busy, David Shepardson.

DAVID SHEPARDSON: Yes.

GWEN IFILL: Thanks a lot.

DAVID SHEPARDSON: Thanks, Gwen.