General Motors got reamed at a congressional hearing Tuesday after it was revealed that the defect would have costed 57 cents a piece to fix.

General Motors CEO Mary Barra faced the House Energy and Commerce Committee panel Tuesday over GM's defective cars. (Twitter/@globebusiness)

“It angers me that we had a situation that took over a decade to clean up,” CEO Mary Barra said to reporters after testifying at the hearing.

The families of the 13 who died called the cars “death traps,” according to Fox.

General Motors announced a recall of 1.3 million cars Monday on top of the 2.6 million already recalled for ignition problems in February.

In response to the defect not being fixed for such a minor cost, Barra said it was “disturbing.”

“If that was the reason the decision was made, that is unacceptable -- that is not the way we do business at today's GM,” Barra said Tuesday, as reported by Fox.

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GM was hemorrhaging money at the time of of the defects, which Barra says shouldn’t have contribute to the decision not to fix the problems.

The Los Angeles Times reported that Barra said GM has a "civic responsibility" to compensate the victims.

The thirteen died due to traffic accidents after the cars malfunctioned. Barra apologized to the families of the deceased in a prepared statement ahead of the committee, as reported by CBS.

WATCH families talk about meeting Barra:

Ahead of the congressional hearing, Barra released an apology to the families of those who died.

"Today's GM will do the right thing," Barra said. "That begins with my sincere apologies to everyone who has been affected by this recall -- especially to the families and friends of those who lost their lives or were injured. I am deeply sorry.”

The big problem with this entire scandal is GM admitted it first learned about the problems with the faulty cars in 2001, as reported by the Wall Street Journal.

The even bigger problem with the recall is GM declined to fix the problem in 2005 because it was going to take too long, and cost too much.

The family of Sarah Trautwein is furious with GM.

“I think they are murderers,” Rene Trautwein, Sarah’s mother, said in an interview with Time.  “They’ve hidden this."

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Here’s what happens with the first couple million of recalled cars when they are malfunctioning:

A spring in the faulty ignitions apparently doesn’t apply enough force, so if a driver goes over a bump, the jolt may knock the keys out of the “run” position.
This stalls the car, according to ABC.

In Sarah Trautwein’s case, the airbags never deployed, and she struck a tree head on after the car shut off.

“Now I have to relive this, and I have to think about her final seconds on this earth, and the panic that she felt,” Rene Trautwein said. “That’s very painful.”

Here are the models from the first recall with the ignition problem (ranging from 2003 to 2011):
Chevrolet Cobalt
Chevrolet HHR
Pontiac G5
Pontiac Solstice
Saturn Ion
Saturn Sky

The second recall, announced Monday, is set to fix a power steering problem in 1.3 million cars.

Here are the models from the second recall (ranging from 2004 - 2010):
Chevrolet Malibu
Malibu Maxx
Saturn Aura
Pontiac G6

Picture you’re driving along and the car suddenly switches into the “accessory” position, which essentially is the “off” position. The car stalls. The airbags deploy. And as you’re grasping for the steering wheel, you realize the power steering is disabled.

To check for recalls on your GM vehicle, visit the GM website and enter your vehicle make and VIN number. 

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