General Motors Co. was slapped on Friday with a $35 million fine for its delayed response to an ignition switch defect in millions of vehicles, as federal regulators accused a long line of company officials of concealing a problem that is linked to at least 13 deaths.
U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx announced the fine, which is the maximum the agency can impose. Other investigations into the automaker's handling of the recall are being conducted by the federal government and could come with more severe punishments.
It was unclear how those additional probes might be influenced by Friday's actions by the Obama administration, especially after Foxx declared: "What GM did was break the law . . . They failed to meet their public safety obligations."