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Everybody involved was shocked at what we saw. >> were these concerns of yours that you believed to have been potentially catastrophic of the same kind or were they of a wide variety. >> a wide variety, anything from spewing gas into the engine compartment to the rear end falling out of the vehicle. this was a simple test being done. we weren't -- these cars weren't going over anything that a normal car wouldn't go over in the first week of ownership, so it was steering gear linkage, you name it. it was widespread and it pointed out the fact that we had apparently internal to the corporation. ...

So we don't want to stop with being part of that compensation plan. >> mrs. melton, what is it you still need to know? what is it you think is a remaining mystery with regard to this case? >> we do not feel like it stopped with the engineers that have been let go from general motors. we think that more people from the company knew and we hope the justice department is able to get that information. we would love to see criminal prosecution against anyone who broke the law. >> where mr. mcaleer just shared with us his view and his view again put in writing to the board of directors of gm in 2002...

Enough to come out and have the integrity to come out. i applaud his bravery for coming forward, and his persistance in trying to get the board and other managers and people in leadership positions to come and notice what he is doing and understand what he's trying to tell them but it looks like that didn't happen. >> finally, as gratified as i know you both are to hear a gentleman like this speak up who has spoken up repeatedly in the past albeit didn't garner a lot of attention, i'm sure that it frustrate you to know that there had to have been many employees who saw things on the inside and...

Of gm experience under his belt, an individual who ran the so-called quality audit, warned the entire board of these defective automobiles? >> michael, we're always very grateful when any employee of the general motors corporation stands tall and comes forward with the truth. this also shines light on the fact that gm as a corporate culture wantonly ignored safety issues, even when alerted by their own employees. >> there was something he said, which was breathtaking. i'd like to just play a brief tape and have you respond to it. roll that if you would. >> if that had been corrected in '98, if...

Of gm's corporate quality audit about what you referred to as safety defects. was your concern something that arose suddenly or did it develop over time because of what you were seeing in the field? >> well, what happened was in 19 -- around 1996 and '95, we were asked to include a check on the vehicle where we actually drove the car around over a little obstacle course. and the goal of that was to find the kind of rattles and squeaks that annoy customers and document where they were after the vehicle had been shipped. but what we found as soon as we started doing that check was what i would h...