GM CEO Mary Barra continues her drive to take ownership of the automaker's safety concerns.
Barra, in a video released Monday, explains the changes the company has made in its handling of safety evaluations and recalls, and characterizes the new culture of safety GM (IW 500/5) (GM) is working to create.
"We are not going to be satisfied with just solving our current problems. We are going to be industry leaders," Barra said.
Since Barra took the wheel of GM in January, the company has recalled about 29 million vehicles, many of which were tied to an ignition-switch defect in older models that was linked to 13 deaths in 54 accidents.
To combat the company's safety breakdown, GM is "mining every source of data available," Barra said. That includes data from the factory floor, warranty information, customer calls and legal claims and social media, she said.
Using the data gathered, recall decisions are "being made swiftly and with a sense of urgency," reducing previous timelines by weeks in many cases, Jeff Boyer, the global vehicle safety vice president Barra hired in March to identify and handle product safety issues, said in a letter to customers.
"We are committed to making sure nothing like the ignition switch recall ever happens again," Boyer said.
