One possible explanation for how General Motors Co. (NYSE: GM) was able to hide the problem of its defective ignition switches for more than a decade is that following the federal bailout of GM, the U.S. Department of Transportation did not want to launch an investigation into a company that was then mostly owned by the government. That is “not accurate,” according to former Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, who presided over the department during President Obama’s first term.

LaHood told a Washington, D.C., radio station, “You have to have a car company that’s willing to report these things. There are pretty tough rules and regulations in place now, but people have to comply with them.”

As The New York Times pointed out a month ago, the National Highway Transportation Safety Agency (NHTSA) received an average of two complaints a month since 2003 from consumers related to the defective switch. So why did the NHTSA not jump all over the company? LaHood said:

The idea that the NHTSA didn’t take [the ignition switch problems] seriously is not accurate. … Had GM been forthright and indicated that they knew about these mechanical problems, perhaps they would have been addressed a lot earlier, and lives and injuries would have been saved.

LaHood’s argument sounds a bit disingenuous, considering that since 2003 GM reported more than 75 deaths and 1,500 injuries involving the models that have now been recalled. The New York Times, which sifted through the federal documents, reports that the records mention “potentially defective components,” but the records are not clear on what those components were. That federal officials were unable to put two and two together for more than 10 years, including the four years LaHood ran the show, testifies to shoddy methods at least and negligence at worst.

To say that in no way exonerates GM. A chain of internal GM emails from 2005 revealed at the U.S. House committee meeting last week indicates that the problem with the Chevy Cobalt ignition switch was known when the first car left the factory in 2005. The company did not change the switch for the 2008 model year because it would have raised the cost $0.90 per piece, increased the tooling cost by $400,000, and lowered the warranty offset by just $0.10 to $0.15.

GM and other automakers have a legal obligation to report to the NHTSA any claims they receive that blame a vehicle defect for a serious injury or death. GM appears to have done that, but only in the narrowest possible way and without proposing any solution. And the NHTSA, for whatever reason, did not or could not connect the dots.

24/7 Wall St. also wondered how much the recalls will cost GM in market share, as well as if GM will have to give away 2 million cars.

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