US transportation chief welcomes Toyota's agreement to pay maximum civil penalty

• Source: Xinhua
• [08:52 April 20 2010]
• Comments

A pedestrian walks past a Toyota dealer in New York, the United States, in this March 2, 2010 file photo. Toyota Motor Corp. said on Monday it will pay the $16.375 million fine for its huge acceleration recalls, but denied violating any US law. Photo: Xinhua

US Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood on Monday welcomed Toyota Motor Corporation's agreement to pay a 16.375-million-dollar fine over the recent massive recalls.

"By failing to report known safety problems as it is required to do under the law, Toyota put consumers at risk," said LaHood in a statement.

"I am pleased that Toyota has accepted responsibility for violating its legal obligations to report any defects promptly," said the US secretary. "We are continuing to investigate whether the company has lived up to all its disclosure obligations."

Toyota said in a statement that it agreed to the penalty "to avoid a protracted dispute and possible litigation," but denied the government's allegation that it had violated the law.

"We believe we made a good faith effort to investigate this condition and develop an appropriate countermeasure," said Toyota. "We have acknowledged that we could have done a better job of sharing relevant information within our global operations and outside the company, but we did not try to hide a defect to avoid dealing with a safety problem."

The 16.375-million-dollar fine for Toyota is the largest civil penalty ever assessed against an auto manufacturer by US regulators.

This penalty relates specifically to both the "sticky pedal" and "slow to return pedal" defects, which resulted in Toyota's recall of approximately 2.3 million vehicles in the United States in late January.

The company has recalled more than 6 million vehicles in the United States, and more than 8 million worldwide for flaws that may cause intended acceleration problems.

Automakers are required to notify US regulators of a possible defect within five business days.