General Motors Chief Executive Mary Barra said on Thursday more recalls are possible as the No. 1 U.S. automaker grapples with a series of safety problems that have prompted the recall of 20 million cars.

Barra's comments in an interview with NBC came a day after GM issued its latest in a string of recalls, this one for 33,000 Chevrolet Cruze sedans with potentially defective air bags made by troubled Japanese supplier Takata Corp.

Asked if the company would issue more recalls, Barra said, "It's possible."

"We're going to continue to look at the data that we get, and we're going to take the action that we need," she told NBC's "Today" show. "If we find an issue, we're going to deal with it."

Barra, a 30-year GM veteran, has become the public face of the once-bankrupt automaker as it struggles to address safety issues that have plagued the company since early this year. GM has issued 44 recalls covering about 20 million vehicles globally so far in 2014.

One of them, a recall of older-model Chevrolet Cobalt and other GM small cars with faulty ignition switches linked to the deaths of 13 people, has generated the most scrutiny, including congressional hearings and wide media coverage.

GM is finalizing a compensation program for victims of that recall aimed at resolving injury and death cases out of court that may extend well beyond those 13 deaths.

"We want every single person who either lost a loved one or has a serious physical injury to be a part of that program," Barra told NBC during the interview in Detroit.

Asked if GM had fired everyone it was going to fire in connection to the Cobalt recall over the defective switches, Barra said, "Yes, I believe we have."

"We've addressed the issue," she added.