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to quickly tell the government about the problems. The automaker agreed to report safety problems a lot faster -- it only started recalling 2.6 million small cars this February, more than a decade after engineers first found a flaw in the switches.
• The switches in older-model small cars such as the Chevrolet Cobalt and Saturn Ion can slip out of the "run" position and shut down the cars' engines. That disables the power-assisted steering and brakes and can cause drivers to lose control. It also disables the air bags.
• The company says at least 13 people have died in crashes linked to the problem, but trial lawyers suing the company say the death toll is at least 53.
• GM faces issues both in the near-term and longer term related to the recall. Here's a breakdown:
• ___

• WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Obama administration and Congress are moving quickly to respond to a growing political firestorm over allegations of treatment delays and falsified records at veterans hospitals nationwide.
• The top official for veterans' health care resigned Friday, and House Republicans scheduled a vote for Wednesday on legislation that would give Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki greater authority to fire or demote senior executives and administrators at the agency and its 152 medical centers.
• The actions came as federal investigators visited a VA hospital in suburban Chicago to look into an allegation that secret lists were used to conceal long patient wait times for appointments. Sen. Tom Udall, D-N.M., meanwhile, called for an investigation into reports that schedulers at a VA medical center in Albuquerque were ordered to falsify patient appointment records.
• Reports of long waits for appointments and processing benefit applications have plagued the VA for years. Officials have shortened benefits backlogs, but allegations of preventable deaths that may be linked to delays at the Phoenix VA hospital have triggered an election-year uproar. A former clinic director said up to 40 veterans died while awaiting treatment at the Phoenix VA hospital, even as hospital staff kept a secret appointment list to mask the delays.
• A VA nurse in Cheyenne, Wyoming, was put on leave for allegedly telling employees to falsify appointment records. A VA investigation in December found that staffers at a Fort Collins, Colorado, clinic were trained to make it appear as if veterans got appointments within 14 days, as VA guidelines suggest.

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