UPDATE: GM Ordered Ignition Switches Well Before Recall

General Motors Co. ordered 500,000 replacement ignition switches for several of its small-car models nearly two months before telling federal safety officials the vehicles had defective switches, according to The Wall Street Journal.

The newspaper cites e-mails last Dec. 18 between a GM contract worker and ignition switch supplier Delphi Automotive plc placing an "urgent" order for new switches. Delphi produced the e-mails as part of a discovery order related to a lawsuit in New York City.

Today GM acknowledged the e-mails highlight a practice that "needed reform" and says it has done so. Its new process involves a group of "senior leaders" that quickly decides whether or not a recall is warranted.

GM said previously that senior executives met on Dec. 17 to discuss the switch problem but didn't decide on a recall. The company announced such a campaign in mid-February, eventually recalling some 2.6 million cars.

The callback came more than a decade after GM engineers became aware that the switches could be inadvertently jarred into shutting off the engine, power steering, power brakes and airbags. GM has since linked the flaw to 30 fatalities.

The Journal notes it isn't unusual for a carmaker to order replacement parts before announcing a recall. But the newspaper says the revelation is likely to be used by plaintiffs' attorneys as evidence that GM continued to delay going public about the defective switches.