Business Journal – The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration will seek a civil penalty of nearly $16.4 million against Toyota Motor Corp. for failing to notify the agency of a gas-pedal defect in its vehicles for at least four months, U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said Monday.
This represents the largest civil penalty ever assessed against an automaker by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), an agency within the U.S. Department of Transportation. Toyota could contest the penalty.
The Obama administration contends that Toyota failed to notify NHTSA of the defect, despite knowing the potential risk to consumers. Toyota recalled 2.3 million vehicles in the United States in late January for the defect.
Auto manufacturers are legally required to notify NHTSA within five business days if they determine a safety defect exists. NHTSA investigators learned through documents obtained from Toyota that the company knew of the defect since at least Sept. 29, 2009. That same day, Toyota issued repair procedures to the company’s distributors in 31 European countries and Canada on how to address complaints of sticky accelerator pedals, sudden increases of engine RPMs and sudden vehicle acceleration. The documents show that Toyota was aware that consumers in the United States were experiencing the same problems, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation.
“We now have proof that Toyota failed to live up to its legal obligations,” LaHood said in a statement. “Worse yet, they knowingly hid a dangerous defect for months from U.S. officials and did not take action to protect millions of drivers and their families. For those reasons, we are seeking the maximum penalty possible under current laws.”
NHTSA launched an investigation into Toyota’s recalls on Feb. 16. To date, Toyota has submitted more than 70,000 pages of documents to the government, which NHTSA officials are continuing to review.
Toyota officials issued a statement in response to the government’s announcement.
“While we have not yet received their letter, we understand that NHTSA has taken a position on this recall. We have already taken a number of important steps to improve our communications with regulators and customers on safety-related matters as part of our strengthened overall commitment to quality assurance. These include the appointment of a new chief quality officer for North America and a greater role for the region in making safety-related decisions,” according to the statement from automaker.
Toyota (NYSE: TM) is a Japanese automaker. The company builds 10 vehicles in the United States and employs 35,000 workers.
Toyota dealers are among the top sellers of new cars in the Milwaukee area, according to industry tracker Reg-Trak Inc. of Waterloo. Wilde Toyota and Jack Safro Toyota were two of the top three new car dealers in 2009.

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