Lordstown not mentioned in long-awaited GM report

Staff/wire report

WARREN, Mich.

General Motors has forced out 15 employees for their role in the deadly ignition-switch scandal and will set up a compensation fund for crash victims, as an internal investigation blamed the debacle on engineering ignorance and bureaucratic dithering, not a deliberate cover-up.

GM took more than a decade to recall 2.6 million cars with bad switches that are now linked to at least 13 deaths by the automaker’s count.

“Group after group and committee after committee within GM that reviewed the issue failed to take action or acted too slowly,” Anton Valukas, the former federal prosecutor hired by the automaker to investigate the reason for the delay, said in a 315-page report. “Although everyone had responsibility to fix the problem, nobody took responsibility.”

GM CEO Mary Barra said more than half the 15 employees forced out were senior legal and engineering executives who failed to disclose the defect and were part of a “pattern of incompetence.” Five other employees have been disciplined, she said. She didn’t identify them.

Though the company did not have any specific message for GM workers at Lordstown who built the Cobalt — nor is the production facility mentioned in the report — Barra told GM employees in a Thursday morning address that they all shared in safety concerns.

Read more about the report and Barra's address to GM workers and the public in Friday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.