U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said on Monday that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration will ask for a civil penalty of about $16.4 million against Toyota Motor Corp. for not notifying the agency of a gas-pedal defect in its vehicles for at least four months.
This Toyota fine is the largest civil penalty ever against an automaker by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). Toyota however has the option to contest the penalty.
Toyota had recalled 2.3 million vehicles in late January in US because of the defect.
The law requires automakers to notify NHTSA within 5 business days if they find a safety defect in their vehicles. The fact that Toyota had known about the gas pedal defect since at least September 29 2009 was learnt by NHTSA through documents obtained from Toyota.
