Washington, D.C. – Rep. Michael C. Burgess, M.D. (R-TX), vice chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, today gave the following opening statement, as prepared for delivery, at the hearing entitled, “The GM Ignition Switch Recall: Why Did It Take So Long?”: 

“We are here today to examine a very important matter, one that touches many Americans; the recent recall of millions of General Motors cars in the United States.  

“The title of this hearing is aptly named: Why did it take so long?  On February 10th of this year, GM finally announced the first recall of its cars because of a faulty ignition switch. But for over a decade, documents obtained by this Committee suggest that the company, through sample testing, was aware that the ignition torque on the switches were below the original specifications set by GM.   

“As for NHTSA, the agency had at least two chances to open up formal investigations into the recalled GM cars.  Both in 2007 and 2010, NHTSA initially examined problems with the vehicles and both times decided that no investigation was needed. This lapse in judgment and analysis is unacceptable. As the nation’s watchdog on highway safety, how can the agency look at the data, see that there is a clear problem and not do anything about it? Not once, but twice. 

“With over 200,000 documents that have been produced, lack of information was not the problem.  Instead, it is this Committee’s duty to figure out why the data was there but the analysis was egregiously off the mark. We need to get to the bottom of this – and fast. The stakes are too high.”

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