Autoblog http://www.autoblog.com Autoblog http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.autoblog.com/media/feedlogo.gif Autoblog http://www.autoblog.com en-us Copyright 2012 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/<![CDATA[NHTSA wants to issue larger fines for safety and recall infractions]]>http://www.autoblog.com/2012/03/28/nhtsa-wants-to-issue-larger-fines-for-safety-and-recall-infracti/http://www.autoblog.com/2012/03/28/nhtsa-wants-to-issue-larger-fines-for-safety-and-recall-infracti/http://www.autoblog.com/2012/03/28/nhtsa-wants-to-issue-larger-fines-for-safety-and-recall-infracti/#commentsFiled under: ,

David Strickland Ray LaHood

Toyota made all kinds of news during its recall woes, with one headline item being the record-breaking $32.4 million civil penalty it paid to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The charge was levied by NHTSA because it considered Toyota tardy in announcing its recalls, and was almost twice the additionally record-setting $16.4 million fine that Toyota paid to address the recall itself. According to a report in Reuters, though, NHTSA Administrator David Strickland believes that such fines aren't strong enough deterrents for automakers.

Currently the maximum fine the NHTSA can levy per infraction is $17 million. Due to last year's climate catastrophes, Toyota's profit for its 2011-2012 fiscal year is expected to drop 42 percent from the year before, but this month the company issued a projection of ¥200 billion ($2.5 billion U.S.) for operating profit. Having to pay government fines is never ideal, but Toyota's total fine of $48.4 million, when compared to $2.5 billion, probably made the public stoning far more painful than writing that check.

Carmakers are said to be doing more, and doing it more quickly, when it comes to investigating and announcing recalls. Still, Strickland wants the maximum civil penalty raised by almost a factor of 15, to $250 million per infraction. The language to do so has been included in a transportation bill approved by the Senate, but a House version omits that provision. Republicans - and automakers - have no interest in seeing it added, but unless he's just rattling the cage to keep the heat up, this probably won't be Strickland's last effort to get a bigger bat.

NHTSA wants to issue larger fines for safety and recall infractions originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 28 Mar 2012 10:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>david stricklandfinesNational Highway Traffic Safety Administrationnhtsanhtsa finestoyota fineWed, 28 Mar 2012 10:58:00 EST http://www.autoblog.com/feed/20200507/article-comments.xml http://www.autoblog.com/feed/2012/03/28/nhtsa-wants-to-issue-larger-fines-for-safety-and-recall-infracti/20200507/article-detail.xml 20200507 http://www.blogcdn.com/www.autoblog.com/media/2012/03/strickland-lahood_thumbnail.jpg http://www.blogcdn.com/www.autoblog.com/media/2012/03/strickland-lahood.jpg <![CDATA[BMW agrees to pay $3M fine for late reporting of recalls]]>http://www.autoblog.com/2012/02/13/bmw-agrees-to-pay-3m-fine-for-late-reporting-of-recalls/http://www.autoblog.com/2012/02/13/bmw-agrees-to-pay-3m-fine-for-late-reporting-of-recalls/http://www.autoblog.com/2012/02/13/bmw-agrees-to-pay-3m-fine-for-late-reporting-of-recalls/#commentsFiled under: , , , , ,

BMW logoBMW is handing over $3 million in fines to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration over the way it has handled recalls. NHTSA began an investigation of BMW's practices in 2010, looking at 16 recalls that covered more than 300,000 of the company's cars and motorcycles going back in some cases to 2002.

In levying the fine, NHTSA found that "BMW appears to maintain a practice, by design or habit, in which it provides little information in its initial (recall) filings." Of the instances which garnered fines, however, BMW said all but one of them concerned its motorcycles, not its cars. The NHTSA said that BMW would eventually provide the information but only after what the NHTSA termed an "inordinate amount of time."

To address the issue, BMW is changing its methods for how it provides information to the government and how it deals with recalls.

BMW agrees to pay $3M fine for late reporting of recalls originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 13 Feb 2012 07:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Another day, another major story on Toyota's recent recall woes. As you may have already heard, the National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration - and particularly U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood - is less than pleased with the way Toyota has handled its various vehicle callbacks.

Now, NHTSA has made its public displeasure official with a press release indicating that it will "[use] its statutory authority to obtain documents from Toyota to determine if the automaker conducted three of its recent recalls in a timely manner." To what end? To determine "when and how it learned of the defects affecting approximately 6 million vehicles in the U.S. alone" and to be sure that there aren't any additional problems Toyota has yet to announce.

If the NHTSA finds that Toyota failed to deal with known safety issues in a timely manner, it could find the Japanese automaker liable for a maximum of $16.4 million in civil penalties. Granted, that's a pretty small dollar amount for such a large company, but it could spearhead the already rising tide of negative press and keep the issue fresh in the public's mind for some time to come. Click past the break for the official press release.


Tired of Toyota recall news? Try out the recall-free version of Autoblog.

[Source: NHTSA]

Continue reading NHTSA launching probe into timeliness of three Toyota recalls

NHTSA launching probe into timeliness of three Toyota recalls originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 16 Feb 2010 15:28:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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According to the NHTSA, more than $37 million in fines were collected last year for cars sold in 2007 from manufacturers that failed to meet current CAFE standards. Of the six manufacturers that paid fines, Mercedes-Benz was hit the hardest, racking up an astounding $28.9 million bill that was paid in December. That's a huge figure, especially in this troubled automotive market, but it's actually a bit smaller than the $30.3 million fine paid by DaimlerChrysler the previous year -- a figure that still holds the record. Go Daimler!

Other marques that failed to meet CAFE requirements included Volkswagen, which was hit with a $4.5 million sum, along with Porsche and Maserati, both of which paid fees of $1.2 million and Ferrari, which managed to skate by with a relatively paltry $1.1 million fine.

With increasingly strict regulations expected in the near future, these fines don't exactly bode well for the manufacturers of higher-end luxury vehicles, and the fact that the timing for these requirements is still undecided makes it even tougher to plan for them.

[Source: Detroit Free Press]

Mercedes-Benz pays $28.9m in fines for fuel efficiency crimes originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 08 Jan 2009 16:27:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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