The employees were placed on paid leave following a briefing from Anton Valukas, the former U.S. attorney overseeing an independent investigation into circumstances leading to a safety recall of 2.6 million older GM cars for ignition defects that have been linked to at least 13 deaths in 31 front-end crashes.
DETROIT, MI- General Motors Co. today confirmed two engineers have been placed on paid leave while the company investigates the delayed recalls of 2.6 million vehicles connected to faulty ignition switches.
GM CEO Mary Barra said the employees were placed on paid leave following a briefing from Anton Valukas, the former U.S. attorney overseeing an independent investigation into circumstances leading to the safety recalls that have been linked to at least 13 deaths.
"This is an interim step as we seek the truth about what happened," Barra said in a release. "It was a difficult decision, but I believe it is best for GM."
The paid leave comes after Barra was grilled by members of Congress over the delayed recalls, and why no action had been taken to hold the people responsible accountable.
The employees, whom GM is not naming, could have played a role in approving redesigned ignition switches in affected vehicles starting in 2006 without changing the part number -- a highly unusual occurrence, which some Congress members pointed to as a possible cover up. GM did not announce the exact details.
GM spokesman Greg Martin declined to provide any further information about the engineers or when they were put on paid leave.
New employee program
Separately, GM today also announced it is creating a "Speak Up for Safety" program that is designed to "recognize employees for ideas that make vehicles safer, and for speaking up when they see something that could impact customer safety."
"We will recognize employees who discover and report safety issues to fix problems that could have been found earlier and identify ways to make vehicles safer," she said, according to a release.
2004 Saturn ION Quad Coupe Barra, who became CEO on Jan. 15, spoke at an employee town hall meeting today, announcing the internal campaign, according to GM. The campaign is intended to remove perceived and real barriers to candid conversations between employees and their leaders as a step to foster a "safety first" culture.
Martin, in an email to MLive, said those "conversations" can happen in many forms and are designed to "make sure employees know there is encouragement and support at the highest levels."
"GM must embrace a culture where safety and quality come first," Barra said. "GM employees should raise safety concerns quickly and forcefully, and be recognized for doing so."
More details about the program will be announced in the next 30 days, according to GM.
Ignition switch recalls
Vehicles with the faulty ignition switches can cause the key to move out of the "run" position to the "accessory" or "off" positions, leading to a loss of power. If the key turns to one of those positions, officials say the front air bags may not work if there's a crash.
According to testimony and documents submitted to a Congress subcommittee, GM knew about the faulty ignition switches in the early-2000s, but did not recall the vehicles until February. The documents, according to officials, also show that an engineer signed off on a redesign of the ignition switch without a part number change. The new switch went into cars from the 2007 model year and later.
The ignition switch recall started Feb. 13 with 780,000 compact cars, including Chevrolet Cobalts, Pontiac G5s and Pontiac Pursuits from the 2005-2007 model years. GM expands the recall Feb. 25 to include Saturn Ions and three other vehicles. The total then was 1.6 million vehicles worldwide.
Then, on March 28, GM again expanded the recall to include 971,000 vehicles from the 2008-2011 model years, which may have gotten the defective switches as replacement parts.
The 2.6 million vehicles 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.
GM is currently working with dealers to replace the ignition switches in the affected vehicles. Martin said the new ignition switches should be arriving to dealers Friday.
Check back to MLive for more information.
Michael Wayland covers the automotive industry for MLive. Email him at MWayland@mlive.com & follow him on Twitter @MikeWayland or Google+.