(Bloomberg) -- No one could blame General Motors Co. Chief Executive Officer Mary Barra if she wanted a do-over in the new year after spending much of 2014 dealing with the automaker’s ignition-switch recall.

Like many of her predecessors, her first 12 months were consumed by a crisis. Similarly, Jack Smith took over in 1992 after the board ousted top management amid GM’s first brush with bankruptcy. Fritz Henderson got the job in 2009 as GM was preparing to file for bankruptcy and former AT&T Chairman Ed Whitacre came on board later that year as GM emerged from Chapter 11 protection.

GM’s first female CEO is looking to start the year dealing with more conventional GM problems, such as reviving Cadillac, dealing with trouble in Europe and improving vehicle quality, she told reporters today in Detroit. To fix the company, she said she will hold her deputies accountable for making progress.

As for her first year, Barra, 53, was matter-of-fact about the fatal defects in older small cars.

“If I could roll back the clock and not have it happen, I would,” she said. “Good things are going to happen, bad things are going to happen. Deal with it.”

In February of last year, just weeks after Barra took over, GM recalled almost 800,000 cars because the ignition switch could slip out of the “run” position, shutting off the engine and safety features like air bags while the car is driving. The recall eventually expanded to 2.59 million vehicles and has been linked to 42 deaths.

Less Patience

As a result of the recall, Barra said she is much more impatient than she might have been. She wants GM to become a zero-defect company and said she will not accept excuses for failing to deliver results on quality or other issue she wants to fix.

“Last year was a defining moment for the company,” she said. “I’ve become more impatient and more determined. Maybe I would have accepted longer timelines to get things done. Well, no more.”

There are plenty of problems still to fix. Cadillac sales in the U.S. fell 6.5% last year. GM has trouble in Europe, where weak economies are stalling progress turning around its German Opel unit. And the company continues to recall cars for reasons not related to the flawed ignition switch -- a record of almost 27 million in the U.S. alone last year. Barra will also need to get a new four-year labor pact with the United Auto Workers union, which wants a pay raise after several years of fat profits.

‘Not Really Fixed’

“You can go back to 1992 and most of the new CEOs stepped into a crisis,” said Maryann Keller, an independent automotive consultant in Stamford, Connecticut. “Mary inherited a company that was physically changed in bankruptcy but not really fixed.”

GM is still losing market share in the U.S. as it has done almost every year since the early 1960s. Last year it slipped to 17.8% from 17.9%. Light-vehicle sales may rise to as much as 17 million this year or remain at last year’s 16.5 million, she said.

Barra said she wants to start growing again. However, she said GM will not chase market share gains at the expense of profitability.

If not for Cadillac, GM would have gained share.

“Cadillac at one point in time did stand for luxury of the world,” she said. “Something doesn’t diminish overnight. It will take time to rebuild it.”

Barra in July hired former Audi of America chief Johan de Nysschen to lead Cadillac’s turnaround. She said GM needs to work on adding more product and promoting the brand better.

European Focus

GM lost $844 million in Europe in 2013 and $976 million through the first three quarters of last year. It was the automaker’s weakest global region.

Europe will be a point of focus this year, said Barra, who has visited the headquarters in Germany twice since taking over as CEO.

UAW leaders say that one of their top priorities is gaining wage increases for workers. Barra wouldn’t comment on whether she would agree to a raise for factory employees.

“The main thing is we need to make sure we’re competitive from industry perspective and that’s what my focus will be,” she said.

To promote accountability, Barra said she has changed performance reviews. They don’t just talk about what happened, she said: It’s a blunt review.

“We have very honest conversations with individuals,” she said. “Did you do what you said you’re going to do or not?”

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GM&rsquo;s Barra looks forward after recalls consumed 2014

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