General Motors Co. (NYSE: GM) on Monday hired Anton Valukas, chairman of law firm Jenner & Block, to lead its internal investigation of the company’s handling of complaints that led to at least 13 deaths and a massive global recall of 1.6 million GM vehicles. Valukas led the U.S. Justice Department’s investigation into the 2008 collapse of Lehman Brothers.

A report in The New York Times published over the weekend said that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) received an average of two complaints a month since 2003 related to a defect in the ignition switch in a number of GM models. The NHTSA declined to investigate because “there was not enough evidence of a problem to warrant a safety investigation.”

The problem is that the weight of the key ring, perhaps coupled with road conditions, may cause the ignition switch to be jarred from the “run” position, turning off the engine and shutting down the car’s electrical power, which causes the airbags to fail to deploy.

The New York Times also noted that since 2003, GM has reported no less than 78 deaths and 1,581 injuries related to the recalled vehicles. How many of the injuries and deaths are related to the ignition switch defect is not clear. The NHTSA announced its own investigation two weeks ago.

The recalled vehicles are the 2005 to 2007 Chevrolet Cobalt, 2007 Pontiac G5, 2003 to 2007 Saturn Ion, 2006 and 2007 Chevrolet HHR, 2006 and 2007 Pontiac Solstice and 2007 Saturn Sky. The company also recalled 2,300 Opel GTs in Europe and an unspecified number of 2005 to 2006 Pontiac Pursuits sold in Canada. GM no longer manufactures any of these models.

GM faces a maximum fine of $35 million if the NHTSA investigators find that it failed to notify the agency within five days after learning of the defect. The larger liability for the company might be the result of lawsuits related to the deaths and any injuries caused by the defect.

GM shares were down about 2.2% Monday morning, at $36.88 in a 52-week range of $27.11 to $41.85.

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