Feds mull adding GM cars to recall

Feds mull adding GM cars to recall

DETROIT

Safety regulators in the U.S. are investigating whether to add more than a million General Motors midsize cars to a recall for brake-light problems.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says it’s checking into complaints about the 2004 to 2011 Chevrolet Malibu and the 2007 to 2009 Saturn Aura. The safety agency says the brake lights may not come on when the pedal is pressed, while at other times the lights can illuminate for no reason.

In 2009, GM recalled about 8,000 Pontiac G6 midsize cars from the 2005 model year for the same problem. The government announced in February that it’s investigating whether to add 550,000 G6s sold from 2005 to 2009.

Now the agency is investigating 97 complaints from Malibu and Aura owners about the same problems. The two cars share many of the same parts with the G6, but GM spokesmen were unsure Tuesday whether all three cars have the same brake lights.

White vows ‘bold’ enforcement at SEC

WASHINGTON

Mary Jo White vowed Tuesday to make “bold and unrelenting” enforcement of Wall Street a high priority if she is confirmed chairwoman of the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The former federal prosecutor told a Senate panel that investors need to know the playing field is level and that wrongdoers will be “aggressively and successfully” pursued.

White also pledged to avoid potential conflicts of interest from her work over the past decade as a corporate litigator.

She is expected to win confirmation from the panel and the full Senate, becoming the first prosecutor to lead the SEC. She would replace Elisse Walter, who has been interim chair- woman since Mary Schapiro resigned in December.

Senators also questioned Richard Cordray, former attorney general of Ohio, who was renominated by Obama to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. His confirmation is less certain. Many Republicans opposed the creation of the agency in 2010 and want to limit his power.

FDA head: Menu labeling ‘thorny’

WASHINGTON

Diners will have to wait a little longer to find calorie counts on most restaurant chain menus, in supermarkets and on vending machines.

Writing a new menu- labeling law “has gotten extremely thorny,” says the head of the Food and Drug Administration, Margaret Hamburg, as the agency tries to figure out who should be covered by it.

The 2010 health care law charged the FDA with requiring chain restaurants and other establishments that serve food to put calorie counts on menus and in vending machines. The agency issued a proposed rule in 2011, but the final rules since have been delayed as some of those nonrestaurant establishments have lobbied hard to be exempt.

Vindicator wire services