Vines holds few punches as he looks at how automakers like Ford and GM have handled big crises.

Jason Vines has served as head of public relations for both Ford and Nissan, and as part of the senior PR team at Chrysler. He’s also functioned as an outside consultant to several other major automakers, including General Motors – giving Vines an unprecedented insider’s view of some of the biggest crises to shake the industry over the last two decades.

That includes the Ford/Firestone exploding tire disaster blamed for 271 deaths, as well as the ongoing General Motors ignition switch debacle. In this excerpt from Vines’ new book, “What Did Jesus Drive,” he offers a devastating, inside look at GM’s attempt to handle that scandal.

Two weeks before GM’s first Congressional hearing regarding the ignition switch debacle, Selim (ed: former GM PR chief Selim Bingol) was on the phone. “Any advice,” he said. “You’ve been through this shit.”

Up to now, GM had been vigorously putting out CEO Mary Barra in every form of communications thinkable, apologizing profusely for the past transgressions of the “Old GM” and the humanity of the “New” post-bankruptcy GM, including a hideous video in which Barra looked like she was a prisoner at the Hanoi Hilton in ‘Nam.

“Yeah,” I said. “First, it has to be Mary (Barra) in the hearing. Period. Not necessarily because she’s a woman, but because she’s the CEO. I learned that lesson when the D.C. office idiots at Ford tried to give the House lesser executives. Speaking of being a woman, do in fact use that gem; they’ll beat her up less. And please, dear God, have her dress like a woman. Not like a FOX news contributor showing her hooters; but do put her in a dress. I mean, where in the hell did she find that ‘Chairman Mao’ outfit she was wearing on the video you guys put out?”

GM - and CEO Mary Barra - became the butt of jokes - and this spoof on Saturday Night Live.

Selim laughed. I wasn’t done. “Before the hearing, which will probably be a joke, beat the ever-loving shit out of her. We did that to Nasser to get him ready. Make sure she only talks with facts. If she doesn’t know the answer, don’t make it up. And, don’t let her offer any cute answer, or you’re dead.

“Finally,” I said, “Whatever you do, do not let GM Legal or Government Affairs run the show. They obviously need to be part of the team, but if either is making the decisions that don’t put the customer first, you will be dead.”

(PR veteran Vines alleges his office was bugged by Ford. Click Here for more.)

Selim listened. But he obviously couldn’t convince the folks running the traps for the Congressional hearing. Mary Barra had her ass handed to her. It was so bad that the next Saturday, she and GM were parodied in the opening skit of Saturday Night Live. It’s one thing to be the butt of a joke by Leno or Conan, but if you open SNL, it is never good. Within days, my friend Selim Bingol would get the same “thank you” I had received from Ford.

Will this be the worst scandal, crisis, debacle or whatever you want to call it in U.S. automotive history? Will it top the Ford/Firestone tire crisis? It might. Defective Firestone tires equipped on Ford vehicles attributed to the death of 271 people and countless injuries. GM’s ignition switch crisis has taken only, damn, only 23 lives, and perhaps, counting. (ed: that figure has since been raised to 35 and could go higher.)

I think of my late niece Kelsey as I write these words. It only takes the snuffing of one life to destroy, or at the very least, impact a family and force the surviving members to create a “new normal”. The men and women of Ford Motor Company tried to find the problem for years, only to be thwarted in their efforts by Firestone. And, when they finally discovered the problem, they worked tirelessly (no pun intended) to help their customers at great treasure.

One of the replacement GM ignition switches.

In the second round of the tire crisis, they acted alone and avoided another potential crisis without a smidgeon of help from Firestone. We communicated honestly and openly at all times, always putting the safety of our customers first above all other concerns.

(To order a copy of “What Did Jesus Drive,” Click Here.)

General Motors’ engineer(s) knew from the get-go their ignition switch was not, as we say, up-to-spec. Its supplier Delphi had produced the part as specified, but the GM guys didn’t like the “feel” of the switch. So they asked Delphi to change the part. GM’s initial claim that Delphi had delivered a part not up to GM specifications was complete bullshit and a pitiful attempt to throw Delphi under the bus. If GM tells you to adjust something to their liking, that is the de facto “new spec.” But Delphi should have known better, as well.

Was a crime committed as some have suggested? The U.S. Justice Department began a criminal investigation in the Spring of 2014. Currently, the investigation is focused on the concealment of evidence from safety regulators linked to the legal department at GM. The criminality of their actions will be determined by the courts. However, GM’s ethical lapses are crystal clear. I suspect, over time, they will be costly.

By 2006, GM engineers knew they had a turd of an ignition switch. They ordered Delphi to go back to the original spec for use in vehicles going forward so that the vehicles wouldn’t suddenly lose power, rendering the car’s power steering, brake assist and air bags useless. And here’s where the “crimes” may have occurred; two-fold.

Apparently nothing was “officially” done for the potentially faulty vehicles on road prior to the change. Until February 2014. Then, GM did not change the part number in 2006 for the new switch going forward – standard practice in the industry in order to track parts. The former was a sign that GM – at least an individual or individuals were putting their careers ahead of public safety. And it would prove deadly. Not changing the part number was the sign of a cover-up.

I didn’t realize how much the failure to change the part number was so heinous until a buddy of mine, Bob Kittle, and I were shooting the shit just days before GM’s second round of public flogging in D.C.; this time the Senate on July 17. Bob had been a senior executive for many years at Takata, the Japanese seat belt and air bag supplier. A comment he made jolted me. My friend, who spent 19 years on the supplier side of the business, was dumbfounded by the lack of a part number change on the switch.

Automotive PR veteran Jason Vines.

“Those guys (GM) were the Gestapo with part number changes,” Kittle told me. “They changed part numbers all the time. If it wasn’t an engineering discipline, which I felt it was, it was a purchasing trick to slip in some new term in their purchasing provisions. Every time a new part number was issued, a new purchase order was issued. And every time a new purchase order was issued, we had to go through the terms with a nit-comb because lo-and-behold, some new escape clause, warranty provision or some other ‘out’ that benefited GM, and not the supplier, was added.”

Somebody is going to jail. Or, at least should. Crisis Lesson Learned: You shouldn’t get to pick which customers you want to protect and which ones you don’t give a damn about. No one will remember the former and the latter ones can help kill your image instantly. The TREAD Act, spawned out of the Ford/Firestone tire debacle, demanded the most stringent vehicle defect reporting requirements in U.S. history. Everybody in the auto industry who monitored these defects knew exactly what was required of them. Someone, or some people at GM decided to live by their own set of rules. And people died.

(Honda admits under-reporting fatal accidents to federal regulators. Click Here for the latest.)