General Motors CEO Barra to give deposition about ignition switch recall

Mary Barra will testify in October

DETROIT – General Motors CEO Mary Barra will soon testify under oath along with other former and current GM employees. It's all part of a huge class-action lawsuit concerning the botched recall of defective ignition switches.

The automaker confirmed to Local 4 Thursday that Barra will testify on Oct. 8.

Families of at least 67 people killed in crashes caused by the defective ignition switches will get compensation from the company.

An additional 113 injured people also are eligible for compensation.

GM knew about problem switches in Chevrolet Cobalts and other small cars for more than a decade but recalled them only last year. They can slip out of the "on" position, which cuts off the engine, knocks out power steering and turns off air bags.

Complete coverage: GM ignition switch recall investigation

"You're going to have some of the best class-action personal-injury lawyers, who are used to digging through thousands upon thousands of pages of documents, basically looking for needles in a haystack," said Local 4 legal expert Neil Rockind.

Barra has made multiple trips to Capitol Hill and testified under oath before lawmakers. This time she will be answering questions from attorneys, and Rockind said that will be a lot different.

"When you testify in Congress, you can give long-winded answers and avoid the question," said Rockind. "That's not the case in a lawsuit. This is far different."

Several other GM employees will give depositions before Barra in October. Alicia Boler-Davis will testify in May. She used to oversee the company's quality control initiatives.

Rockind said it will be up to Barra to knock it out of the park.

"If the CEO cracks in any way, it starts to look like the organization itself is aware of the ignition switch defect and hid it," said Rockind. "Mary Barra has to hit a home run. That's it. There's only a strike or a home run."

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They were mothers and grandmothers. Nurses and students. Some were as young as 13. At least 13 deaths have been tied to GM's massive auto recall in the past year, and some say there are likely many more. Meet some of those crash victims:


About the Authors:

You can watch Kimberly Gill weekdays anchoring Local 4 News at 5 p.m., 6 p.m. and 11 p.m. and streaming live at 10 p.m. on Local 4+. She's an award-winning journalist who finally called Detroit home in 2014. Kim has won Regional Emmy Awards, and was part of the team that won the National Edward R. Murrow Award for Best Newscast in 2022.