廣告

2014年6月6日 星期五

通用汽車公司 因點火開關問題解僱15人General Motors 竟成落水狗 General Motors fined $35m over recall


用汽車公司(General Motors Co.)稱將再度召回240萬輛汽車,這是今年到目前為止該公司第29次召回。通用汽車預計,今年第二季度召回相關支出將因此次事件增加2億美元,總費用將達到4億美元。


 014年 06月 06日 08:12

通用汽車因點火開關問題解僱15人


用汽車公司(General Motors Co.)首席執行長巴拉(Mary Barra)解僱了15名員工。此前她表示有份異常嚴峻的報告讓她深感不安,該報告闡述了為何召回那些點火開關有缺陷的車輛花了通用汽車11年時間。

巴拉說,公司訓斥了另外五名與調查有關的員工。調查由美國前律師瓦盧卡斯(Anton Valukas)領導。點火開關失靈導致了諸多車禍和死亡事件。

通用汽車拒絕透露被解僱五人的姓名,僅證實稱其中包括工程師Raymond DeGiorgio和Gary Altman。巴拉說,這五人當中有超過一半為公司高管,但通用汽車法律總顧問Michael Millikin仍在公司效力。

巴 拉拒絕進一步披露為何DeGiorgio決定在2006年初更換點火開關,儘管他的上級知道開關存在問題,而且所有人都出於成本考慮決定再等一年再修正這 個問題。點火開關問題最初在2004年被發現,2005年通用汽車發佈了雪佛蘭科寶(Chevrolet Cobalt)。

Jeff Bennett / Mike Ramsey




General Motors fined $35m over recall
Mary Theresa Ruddy (R), whose daughter Kelly was killed in 2010 when she lost control of her 2005 Chevrolet Cobalt, holds a picture of the vehicle, while her husband Leo (L) holds a photo of their daughter Mary Theresa Ruddy's daughter Kelly was killed in 2010 when she lost control of her 2005 Chevrolet Cobalt
US car manufacturer General Motors has been fined $35m(£20.8m) for delays in recalling small cars with faulty ignition switches.
The fine is the maximum allowed by US law.
GM said it had already begun reviewing its processes and policies to avoid future delays to recalls of this nature.
To date, the firm has recalled 2.6 million cars with the defective switch, which has been linked to 13 deaths.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Board (NHTSA) said it was the single highest civil penalty ever levied as a result of a recall investigation.
"Safety is our top priority, and today's announcement puts all manufacturers on notice that they will be held accountable if they fail to quickly report and address safety-related defects," said US Transportation Secretary Fox in a statement announcing the fine.
Technician working on Cobalt ignition  
GM was forced to recall its Cobalt and other models due to faulty ignition switches
As a result of the settlement, GM has also agreed to provide NHTSA with access to the results of its internal investigation as well as to speed up its process for determining when to recall vehicles.
"We have learned a great deal from this recall [and] we will emerge from this situation a stronger company" said GM chief executive Mary Barra in a statement.

Thirteen deaths GM was fined for not reporting a problem with ignition switches in its Chevrolet Cobalt and other models.
The faulty switches prevented the airbags from working and have been linked to at least 13 deaths in the US.
The NHTSA received reports in 2007 and in 2010 about the problems with the switches, but each time it "determined it lacked the data necessary to open a formal investigation".
Mary Barra  
Ms Barra said she was "deeply sorry" for GM's handling of the recall in front of Congress in April
 
Both GM and the agency have been criticised by customers for their slow response to investigating safety concerns.
US car manufacturers are required to report safety defects within five days of discovering them.
In April, Ms Barra testified in front of Congress and said she was "deeply sorry" over the company's handling of the defect.
Last month, the company revealed it had taken a $1.3bn hit to cover the cost of the recall.
However, it has asked a judge to ban cases "alleging purely economic damages" due to the recall, and has argued it is not responsible for problems with cars manufactured before 2009, when it was bailed out by the US government.
Problems with GM's vehicles date back to at least 2004.

G.M. Is Fined Over Safety and Called a Lawbreaker

In a civil settlement, federal regulators said General Motors also agreed to change its internal review process after a defect was linked to 13 deaths and a recall.




Wide-Ranging Recall
The departures of General Motors’ chief spokesman and head Washington adviser, and its top human resources executive are the first major changes in the automaker’s senior management since a recall in February.
這種事,  Alfred Sloan 會如何處理?


用汽車公司(General Motors Co.)首席執行長Mary Barra稱,該公司計劃在其產品開發團隊中設立一個全球產品整合部門 ( 這翻譯有點問題: global product integrity organization) ,這一部門將涵蓋該公司不久前成立的產品安全部門。

今年2月以來,通用汽車公司因多種問題在全球範圍內累計召回700萬輛汽車,其中包括點火開關、剎車和其他問題。


通用汽車首席執行長Mary Barra稱,計劃在其產品開發團隊中設立一個名為global product integrity organization 的部門,該部門將涵蓋公司不久前成立的產品安全部門。

My Years with General Motors我與通用汽車公司
紐約時報的書評中譯,參考 二十世紀的書


*****
Henry Ford is rightly credited with inventing the assembly line—and with it mass production. But it was his great rival at General Motors (GM), Alfred Sloan, who really invented modern professional management. Sloan organised his company into divisions that specialised in cars “for every purse and purpose” and he fashioned a managerial class that turned GM into the world’s biggest company. His 1964 book, My Years with General Motors, is a cool explanation of how he did it (“management has been my specialisation,” he wrote flatly). It is a book that puts subsequent business autobiographies to shame.


今天讀

GM's Opel Accelerates Its Path to Profitability1


  My Years with General Motors By Alfred Sloan  我與通用汽車公司  台北:協志,1971
第18章海外的活動有併吞Opel公司的詳細決策分析



沒有留言:

網誌存檔