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Washington - General Motors will pay a $35m fine as part of the US Transportation Department's investigation into the handling of faulty ignition switches in some of its vehicles, the automaker and government said on Friday.
GM also agreed to take part in "unprecedented oversight requirements," including providing full access to its internal investigation and notifying federal transportation officials of any changes to GM's effort to make repair parts, the government said.
GM must also "make significant and wide-ranging internal changes to its review of safety-related issues," the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said in a statement.
Shares of GM rose slightly to $34.39 after details of the penalty emerged.
Faulty switches
Earlier in the session, the shares had fallen nearly 2% in anticipation of the government's announcement.
GM confirmed that it would pay the fine.
"We are working hard to improve our ability to identify and respond to safety issues," said Jeff Boyer, vice president of Global Vehicle Safety, who is assigned to integrate safety policies across the company.
The Transportation Department, along with other US agencies, is investigating the timing of the automaker's recall over faulty switches, which have been linked to at least 13 deaths.
GM engineers discovered the defect in 2001 and the company has been criticised for not recalling the vehicles earlier.
