Feinberg is best known for overseeing millions of dollars in compensation in high-profile tragedies, including the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the Virginia Tech school shooting, the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico and the Boston Marathon bombing.
DETROIT, MI – General Motors CEO Mary Barra said Tuesday the automaker has hired high-profile attorney Kenneth Feinberg as a consultant as it evaluates its response to families of accident victims affected by a faulty ignition switch.
The ignition switch is part of a recall of 2.6 million mid-2000s-model GM cars. The faulty ignition switches have been linked to 13 deaths and 31 crashes, and Barra was on Capitol Hill Tuesday facing questions from members of Congress over the issue.
Feinberg is best known for overseeing millions of dollars in compensation in high-profile tragedies, including the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the Virginia Tech school shooting, the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico and the Boston Marathon bombing.
“My mandate from the company is to consider the options for dealing with issues surrounding the ignition switch matter, and to do so in an independent, balanced and objective manner based upon my prior experience,” Feinberg said in a release from GM.
Barra was fielding questions from Congress Tuesday at a 2 p.m. hearing entitled “The GM Ignition Switch Recall: Why Did It Take So Long?” The hearing was called by the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigation.
According to documents submitted to federal officials, GM knew about the faulty ignition switches in the early-2000s but did not recall the vehicles until last month.
The 2.6 million vehicles, including 2.2 million in the U.S., affected by the ignition switch recall include 2003-2007 Saturn Ions, 2007-2010 Saturn Skys, 2005-2011 Chevrolet HHRs, 2006-2010 Pontiac Solstices, and 2005-10 Chevrolet Cobalt and Pontiac G5 models.
In the first three months of 2014, GM has recalled a total of nearly 7 million vehicles worldwide, which is just less than the previous four years combined.
Click here for more on the GM's ignition switch recall.
MLive reporter Mike Wayland contributed to this report