GM CEO Mary Barra will testify at a hearing next month about the timeliness of a recall of 1.6 million small vehicles with defective ignition switches that caused at least 12 deaths and 31 crashes.
Barra will appear before a U.S. House committee on April 1, according to the Associated Press.
Acting administrator of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, David Friedman, was also invited to testify the same day.
"Their testimony is critical to understanding what the company and NHTSA knew about the safety problems, when they knew it and what was done about it," said Energy and Commerce Chairman Fred Upton, R-Mich., in a statement, according to AP. "The problems originated long before Barra and Friedman took the helms of their respective organizations, but their actions and input now, as our investigation proceeds, will be essential to getting answers about what went wrong.
A statement was issued jointly alongside Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee Chairman Tim Murphy, R-PA.
GM recalled over 1.6 million cars last month because a faulty ignition switch could disable a vehicle's engine, along with its airbags, while making steering difficult as well.
Recently released documents by GM confirmed the automaker knew about the issue as early as 2001.
The recall involves six different vehicles from the 2003 through 2007 model years.
"We want to know if this tragedy could have been prevented and what can be done to ensure the loss of life due to safety failures like this don't happen again," Upton said.
Affected vehicles includes: the 2005-2007 Chevrolet Cobalt and Pontiac G5 compact cars, 2003-2007 Saturn Ion compact cars, 2006-2007 Chevy HHR midsized cars, and 2006-2007 Pontiac Solstice and Saturn Sky sports cars.
GM Spokesman James Cain said to Edmunds this week that Barra would testify if she was asked.
Barra expects all vehicles to be repaired sometime this October.
"I am very sorry for the loss of life that occurred, and we will take every step to make sure this never happens again," she said earlier this month.
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