DETROIT, MI- The number of General Motors Co. recalls this year is forcing extraordinary change in the company and across the entire U.S. auto industry. But change isn't necessarily a bad thing. 
 
 "What these recalls genuinely or accurately represent is a hard, self-critical analysis on what to do and how they need to fix problems," said Karl Brauer, Kelley Blue Book senior analyst. 
 
 Brauer said the change for the the industry started occurring following Toyota Motor Corp.'s issues involving unintended acceleration in 2009, and now continues with GM. 
 
 As of May 15, the Detroit-based automaker had issued 24 safety and non-compliance recalls for nearly 11.2 million in the U.S. They have ranged from the well-publicized ignition switch recall involving 2.6 million older-model small cars to a Thursday announcement of five separate recalls of nearly 2.7 million vehicles domestically from the 2004 through 2015 model years for a variety of reasons. 
 
 The change in the industry was crystal clear Friday, when federal officials announced a record $35 million fine and "unprecedented" oversight for GM. 
 
 "Together these penalties should put all automakers on notice that there is no excuse and zero tolerance for failing to notify the federal government when a defect puts safety at risk," said U.S. Transportation Secretary Foxx during a press briefing and teleconference Friday to announce the actions. 
 
 Through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the DOT has been investigating the Detroit-based automaker's delayed recall of 2.6 million older-model small cars due to faulty ignition switches since earlier this year. The defective parts have been linked to at least 13 deaths in more than 30 front-end crashes. 
 
 The DOT also is urging Congress to enact the "Grow America Act" which would raise the maximum penalty for not reporting recalls within the five days required by law from $35 million to $300 million. 
 
 But even before the announcement, GM and the industry had already taken notice. 
 
 Industry change 
 
 Michael Sprague, Kia Motors America executive vice president of sales & marketing, said he believes GM's recall conundrum has put the entire U.S. automotive industry on alert. 
 
 "Every brand, I think, is looking at the processes and the procedures that they have in place," he told reporters Thursday following a speech at the Automotive Press Association meeting in Detroit. "And of course, we do as well. And we work very closely with the government as soon as an issue starts to come up." 
 
 Sprague's comments emulate those of Ford Motor Co. Chief Operating Officer Mark Fields and other auto industry executives that don't want their company to have a similar situation. 
 
 Fields, who will became CEO July 1, said the Dearborn-based automaker has a "routine process" to evaluate their products every time any automaker has a recall to evaluate if their vehicles share any of the same parts. 
 
 "We're continually evaluating our processes for improvements, but we are very confident in the current methods that we have to not only identify issues but then quickly address them if there are issues," he said last month during the 2014 New York International Auto Show. 
 
 As part of its first quarter financial results, Ford also disclosed it had upped its "warranty reserve" by $400 million for North America. 
 
 The "warranty reserve," according to Ford, is for "field service actions," which include recalls that the company may experience. Chief Operating Officer Bob Shanks said Ford follows "a pattern estimation model of accounting," which means the company looks at the company's own history, such as a previous launch of a vehicle, in an attempt to determine possible expenses that a new model being introduced may incur. 
 
 A Ford spokesman said the increase in the company's revenue reserve is unrelated to the ongoing recall crisis of GM. But Shanks described the industry's current recall frenzy as an "industry phenomenon." 
 
 More recalls coming? 
 
 Brauer said he expects more companies to examine their recall and inspection processes, which could lead to more recalls. 
 
 "We're seeing so many recalls from every car company, GM and others, because they've all realized it's white noise right now," he said. "If there's any recalls brewing in the short- to medium-term, do them now because there's so much noise right now about recalls in the headlines ... no consumer even cares right now." 
 
 Carfax, a paid web service providing vehicle history information, reports that a third of automobiles recalled for safety defects are never repaired, and last year 3.5 million recalled cars and light trucks were offered for sale online. 
 
 Although many consumers may not be taking notice of the recalls now, Brauer the amount of recalls and impact on current customers could have a detrimental impact on an automaker in the long-term. If a consumer has to take their vehicle back to the dealership numerous times, it becomes a hassle. Also, if a customer has a less than flattering experience at a dealership, that may sway their decision to leave the brand. 
 
 NHTSA, when contacted by MLive, did not have a detailed list of how many vehicles have been involved in recalls in 2014. Last year, more than 21.9 million vehicles were involved in recalls. 
 
 According to NBC News, 20 million vehicles have been recalled so far this year in the U.S., which is on track to break the all-time recall record of nearly 31 million set a decade ago. 
 
 The amount of recalls – particularly related to GM – is also garnering arguably as much attention as the Detroit-based automaker's government-backed bankruptcy in 2009. 
 
 The ignition switch recall also has opened the public officials' eyes to NHTSA itself, which failed to catch the problem or open an official investigation into the vehicles even after numerous fatal accidents occurred without the airbag inflating. 
 
 Media scrutiny 
 
 Everyone from late night comedy hosts to Fox News and CNBC have scrutinized GM for not only its delay in recalling the vehicles, but its handling of the entire incident. 
 
 The most recent reports came over the weekend, as CNBC aired a special one-hour report called "Failure to Recall: Investigating GM" and "Last Week Tonight With John Oliver" took roughly a third of the show to condemn the automaker. 
 
 "Our main story this week concerns a titan of American industry, General Motors. Few companies in history have ever sold more cars," Oliver said. "And, as of this week, few companies have ever demanded as many of them back." 
 
 The segment ended with a fake GM commercial with the tagline, "Why walk through the valley of the shadow of death when you can drive?" 
 
 Oliver's new show shares similarities with The Daily Show, where he was previously featured as a correspondent and fill-in host. He criticized everything from GM's recall efforts to GM CEO Mary Barra's handling of the crisis. 
 
 The CNBC program offered a more straight-forward look at the recall crisis. The hour-long show chronicled the entire ignition switch recall through interviews with victims, the family of victims and industry experts. 
 
 The special also featured CNBC's Phil LeBeau driving one of the affected vehicles with Jake Fisher, the Director of Auto Testing Consumer Reports. 
 
 The faulty ignition switches can move out of the "run" position to the "accessory" or "off" positions, leading to a loss of power. The risk may be increased if the key ring is carrying added weight or if the vehicle goes off road or experiences some jarring event, including rough roads. If the key turns to one of those positions, officials say the front air bags may not work if there's a crash. 
 
 The 2.6 million vehicles, including 2.2 million in the U.S., affected by the ignition switch recall include 2003-2007 Saturn Ions, 2007-2010 Saturn Skys, 2005-2011 Chevrolet HHRs, 2006-2010 Pontiac Solstices, and 2005-10 Chevrolet Cobalt and Pontiac G5 models. 
 
 GM response 
 
 Led by Barra, the company has been proactive in taking steps to change everything from its inspection process of the vehicles to the organization of its global engineering department, which it transformed with new executives and roles in an attempt to ensure a situation like the ignition switch recall doesn't happen again. 
 
 Barra, who became CEO on Jan. 15, has continued to preach transparency of the "new GM" and even condemn the "old GM" for its actions that led to the ignition switch recall that has been linked to at least 13 deaths. 
 
 "Today, if there is a safety issue, we take action," she said during a congressional hearing about the ignition switch recall in April. "We've moved from a cost culture to a customer culture." 
 
 Barra, on numerous occasions, has also apologized to victims and their families that have been impacted by the ignition switch recall. 
 
 During a conference call last month to discuss GM's first-quarter earnings, Barra said the company expects recommendations from disaster response expert Kenneth Feinberg regarding its ignition switch recalls in early-June. 
 
 "It's a complex situation as we evaluate both the legal and civic aspects of this, but we are working with him," she said. "As soon as we have something to share, we will get it out." 
 
 Barra did not elaborate on what GM expects from Feinberg, who is best known for overseeing millions of dollars in compensation in high-profile tragedies, including the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks and the Boston Marathon bombing. 
 
 Other high-profile moves from GM in connection to the ignition switch recall include launching an internal investigation being led by former U.S. attorney Anton Valukas; placing two engineers involved in the switches on paid leave; creating a new vice president of vehicle safety; and a host of other internal and external changes. 
 
 Impact on GM 
 
 GM executives, when prompted by reporters, have continued to say that the recalls have not impacted the company's sales. Through April, GM's sales remained consistent with the same time period a year ago with 903,713 vehicles sold, including a 7 percent increase in April. 
 
 "This is the good thing about having strong brands," Uwe Ellinghaus, Cadillac chief marketing officer, told reporters last month in New York. "They are probably what we should put even more in the foreground of our communication efforts because they are the identification points of prospects and customers and the wider audience." 
 
 However, it's not the same regarding GM's bottom line. For the first quarter, the company reported a $1.3 billion charge due to its ongoing recall crisis. GM also announced it expects to take a charge of up to approximately $200 million in the second quarter, primarily for the cost of recall-related repairs announced in the quarter. 
 
 GM executives have continued to say that the "new GM" does not put a price tag on customers' safety. 
 
 "Customer safety is at the heart of how GM designs and produces vehicles, and these announcements are examples of two ways we are putting that into practice," said Jeff Boyer, vice president of GM Global Vehicle Safety, in a statement regarding the newest recall of nearly 3 million vehicles. 
 
 Repairs to fix the millions of vehicles connected to the recall are underway. GM has shipped thousands of kits consisting of ignition switches, ignition cylinders and key sets for the older model small cars. 
 
 Before the DOT announcement Friday, GM released a new statement, saying it is working with Delphi, which supplied the ignition switches, to accelerate its production plan of the new parts. 
 
 "Given that the ignition switch was in very limited production for several years, GM's supplier, Delphi, increased production, pulled machinery out of storage, and found new suppliers for some of the part components," wrote Boyer Friday on GM FastLane. "We are buying new machinery and equipment to make parts quickly." 
 
 GM and Delphi are working to get two additional production lines up and running this summer. 
 
 Michael Wayland covers the automotive industry for MLive. Email him at MWayland@mlive.com & follow him on Twitter @MikeWayland or Google+. ||||| Washington � General Motors Co. agreed Friday to pay a record-setting $35 million civil penalty for delaying a recall of 2.6 million older cars for ignition switch defects linked to 13 deaths and 32 crashes and has agreed to a consent order to make significant and wide-ranging changes. 
 
 Federal officials offered a scathing review of the Detroit automaker�s approach to safety, citing a 2008 presentation that encouraged employees in communications to be factual but "not fantastic" in writing about problems, including not using the words �defect,� �dangerous� and �safety related.� 
 
 Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx said GM knew ignition switch problems would turn off the airbag as early as November 2009. 
 
 �They had the information and told no one,� Foxx said. �Literally, silence can kill. What GM did was break the law.� 
 
 Foxx said the fine should "put all automakers on notice" that there is zero tolerance for failing to recall vehicles in a timely fashion. 
 
 NHTSA Administrator David Friedman added automakers can�t overreact to safety issues. You�re going to get caught,� said Friedman, if an automaker fails to recall vehicles in a timely fashion. �You�re going to get found out.� 
 
 He also said there wasn�t just a single problem at GM. 
 
 �The (recall) process was broken,� Friedman said. 
 
 Unlike other automakers that paid maximum fines, GM admitted it broke the law. It will disclose all possible safety problems to the agency and meet with the agency on a monthly basis. It will provide biweekly reports on how many vehicles have been repaired under the ignition switch recall and must alert the agency if it changes the repair schedule. 
 
 NHTSA �ordered GM to make significant and wide-ranging internal changes to its review of safety-related issues in the United States, and to improve its ability to take into account the possible consequences of potential safety-related defects.� 
 
 The government said the agreement holds GM accountable and will �push the automaker to make needed institutional change, and ensure that replacement parts are produced quickly and recalled vehicles are repaired promptly.� 
 
 �No excuse, process or organizational structure will be allowed to stand in the way of any company meeting their obligation to quickly find and fix safety issues in a vehicle,� Friedman said. �It�s critical to the safety of the driving public that manufacturers promptly report and remedy safety-related defects that have the potential to lead to deaths or injuries on our nation�s highways.� 
 
 Foxx said the $35 million was a �rounding error� for GM and emphasized that the Obama administration wants Congress to hike maximum fines to up to $300 million. 
 
 "We will now focus on the goal of becoming an industry leader in safety,� GM CEO Mary Barra said in statement Friday. �We will emerge from this situation a stronger company. 
 
 Members of Congress also said it wasn�t enough and some suggested the cap should be lifted completely.�A penalty of $35 million is a parking ticket in comparison the toll this defect has taken on the lives of America�s families,� said Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass. 
 
 Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., who is planning another hearing with Barra, said she didn�t believe �the $35 million fine is nearly enough for misconduct of this magnitude. Congress must consider raising or eliminating the cap on civil penalties when automakers put lives at risk.� 
 
 Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., said Friday he plans to introduce legislation within the next few weeks that would remove the cap on the amount NHTSA can impose to automakers and make it unlimited. 
 
 In a call with reporters, Blumenthal said GM�s fine was too low. He said the company should have been fined �many multiples� of $35 million. 
 
 �It is a mockery of justice. It is less than a slap on the wrist,� Blumenthal said. �It�s a tap on the back of the hand. It�s a pittance for GM and a powerful reminder that we need legislative reform to increase the maximum penalty.� 
 
 Rep. Fred Upton, R-St. Joseph, chair of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, said his committee also plans to hold another GM hearing and is still investigating. 
 
 �Our investigation into how the system failed is far from over. We continue to gather documents and interview key players involved in the ignition recall to determine why it took so long to connect the dots and take action,� Upton said. �Today's record penalty sends a strong message that nothing is more important than safety. There are still many unanswered questions.� 
 
 The automaker has already appointed a new safety chief, and many top safety officials have retired, left the company or moved to new positions. The company has an internal investigation into the recall led by a former U.S. attorney in Chicago and expects to make public findings in the coming weeks. 
 
 The company said it is already working with NHTSA to review its processes and policies to avoid future recalls like the ignition switch recall. The company has created a new Global Product Integrity unit, a new employee Speak Up for Safety Initiative in which employees are encouraged to voice safety concerns and is seeking stronger requirements for its engineers. 
 
 Barra also said GM�s goal is to �produce the safest cars for our customers � they deserve no less.� 
 
 The Justice Department, two congressional committees and the Transportation Department�s inspector general are also reviewing the GM recall. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and at least one state attorney general also are investigating GM. The consent order doesn�t protect GM from future criminal prosecution. 
 
 �The Center for Auto Safety calls on the Justice Department to impose a billion dollar plus fine on GM and bring individual criminal prosecutions against the responsible GM officials,� said Clarence Ditlow, the center�s executive director. �People died. Justice demands more than a $35 million slap on the wrist to a hundred billion dollar corporation like GM when it kills consumers.� 
 
 Peter Henning, a Wayne State University law professor and former SEC attorney, said GM's admission that it violated the Safety Act does not mean it had admitted fault in other criminal or civil cases. 
 
 "Telling NHTSA is not the same as a public disclosure," he said. "It's certainly embarrassing, but it doesn't mean they've admitted to a criminal violation." 
 
 GM this year has issued 24 recall campaigns totaling 12.8 million vehicles worldwide and nearly 11.2 million in the United States, up from 757,000 in the United States last year. GM has called back more vehicles in the United States this year than all other major automakers combined � and more than it did in the last six years. 
 
 Barra has repeatedly admitted the automaker made significant mistakes in its handling of the recall and complaints a decade ago, including failing to change the part number in 2006 when it redesigned the ignition switch and canceling a fix after employees said there was no �business case� to improve the switch. Company documents turned over to Congress show the fix would have cost $0.90 per car but only would have saved $.10 to $0.15 per car in warranty costs. 
 
 GM first learned of a problem with the ignition in 2001 in a preproduction Saturn Ion and then agreed to Delphi production of ignition switches that didn�t meet its own requirements. The automaker has also retained a victims compensation expert, Ken Feinberg, to determine if it should pay victims of crashes from before its June 2009 bankruptcy restructuring. 
 
 GM agreed to provide NHTSA with full access to the results of GM�s internal investigation into this recall, to take steps to ensure its employees report safety-related concerns to management, and to speed up the process for GM to decide whether to recall vehicles. GM must agree to notify NHTSA of changes to its schedule for completing production of repair parts by Oct. 4. 
 
 GM must also take steps to maximize the number of vehicle owners who bring in their vehicles for repair, including targeted outreach to non-English speakers, maintaining up-to-date information on its website, and engaging with vehicle owners through the media. The consent order requires GM to submit reports and meet with NHTSA so that the agency may monitor the progress of GM�s recall and other actions required by the consent order. 
 
 The automaker has agreed to pay the fine and make significant changes in how it approaches auto safety issues under a consent decree, people briefed on the matter said. 
 
 GM faced up to the $35 million fine under current law for failing to recall older Chevrolet Cobalt, Saturn Ion and other cars. Many officials had expected that GM would be forced to pay the maximum fine, topping the record-setting fines imposed on Toyota Motor Corp. and Ford Motor Co. for failing to recall vehicles in a timely fashion. 
 
 In March, Toyota Motor Corp. agreed to a $1.2 billion settlement to settle a four-year-investigation imposing the largest-ever fine on automaker in U.S. history. 
 
 Toyota will face three years of federal oversight under a deferred prosecution � as it seeks to put the sudden acceleration recalls, lawsuits and investigations behind it. 
 
 "Put simply, Toyota's conduct was shameful. It showed a blatant disregard for systems and laws designed to look after the safety of consumers. By the company's own admission, it protected its brand ahead of its own customers. This constitutes a clear and reprehensible abuse of the public trust," Attorney General Eric Holder said in March. 
 
 Holder sent a warning to the auto industry: "Other car companies should not repeat Toyota's mistake: A recall may damage a company's reputation, but deceiving your customers makes that damage far more lasting," he said, declining to confirm that the government has already opened an investigation into General Motors Co. over its recall of vehicles for ignitions switch defects. 
 
 The Justice Department said Toyota had received reports of sticking accelerator pedals in Europe in 2008 and 2009 and a report of the problem in August 2009 in a Camry in the U.S. Toyota told its pedal supplier in spring 2009 to make a design change. By October � after the San Diego crash � it issued an "urgent" design change described as a major change with a new part number. Two weeks later, Toyota scrapped the design change and employees were instructed orally to cancel the project. 
 
 "They were instructed not to put anything about the cancellation in writing," the Justice Department said � and no cancellation was sent in writing to the supplier � "to prevent NHTSA from learning about the sticky pedal problem." The following month Toyota told engineers not to make design changes for any other cars in North America because they would "most likely mislead the concerned authorities and consumers and such to believe that we have admitted having defective vehicles." 
 
 NHTSA fined Toyota $66 million � the maximum possible � for delaying three separate recall campaigns. In the wake of Toyota�s problems, Congress doubled the maximum fine to $35 million. 
 
 Ford paid NHTSA a $17.35 million fine after the agency said the automaker did not notify customers of a defect in a timely manner after it recalled 423,000 2001-04 Ford Escapes and Mazda Tributes in July 2012, the maximum fine at the time. Ford did not admit any wrongdoing.
– The US government is fining General Motors $35 million for delays in recalling small cars with faulty ignition switches. The government also says that GM will report safety issues faster in the future. The fine is the maximum allowed by law and a record at that, the Detroit News reports, but it's only a fraction (a hair under 1%) of the $3.8 billion GM made last year. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration also ordered GM to implement "significant and wide-ranging internal changes to its review of safety-related issues." The government boasted that the fine "puts all manufacturers on notice that they will be held accountable" if they fail to report defects—as GM allegedly did for at least a decade. Automakers are required to report safety defects within five days of discovering them. GM's stock rose slightly on the announcement, Bloomberg reports. The fine is the highest ever because the max fine has increased since Toyota and Ford were each fined $17.4 million in 2012 and 2013, respectively. Regulators have asked Congress to drastically increase the cap to $300 million.