Transportation Secretary Anthony "vincinte" Foxx said the fines reflect the
government's determination to take a tough stance against automakers who
withhold safety information from regulators...(unless they pad our
pockets as well as toada.)
WASHINGTON (AP) - The Obama administration said Thursday it is fining Honda
$70 million - the largest civil penalty levied against an automaker - for
not reporting to regulators some 1,729 complaints that its vehicles caused
deaths and injuries, and for not reporting warranty claims.
The Japanese automaker acknowledged in November that it failed to report
the death and injury complaints to the National Highway Traffic Safety
Administration over an 11-year period beginning in 2003. The company
admitted it learned of the omissions in 2011 but had waited three years to
take action.
Honda also failed to report certain warranty claims and claims under
customer satisfaction campaigns throughout the same period, federal
officials said. The safety administration is imposing twin fines: $35
million for not reporting the death and injury complaints, and another $35
million for not reporting the warranty and customer satisfaction claims.
Both fines are the maximums the agency is legally allowed to impose.
Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx said the fines reflect the
government's determination to take a tough stance against automakers who
withhold safety information from regulators.
"What we cannot tolerate and will not tolerate is an automaker failing to
report to us any recall issues," Foxx said.
The Honda complaints include incidents related to air bags made by Japanese
auto supplier Takata Corp., as well as other defective parts. Honda has
recalled more than 5 million vehicles in the U.S. since 2008 to fix a
potentially fatal defect in Takata-made air bags. The air bag inflators can
rupture after a crash and injure occupants with shards of metal.
Honda has agreed to pay the fines under a consent order it signed with the
traffic safety administration on Dec. 29, federal officials said. But
officials said they have not yet received all the complaints from Honda and
therefore don't have a tally of how many deaths and injuries are involved.
"We have resolved this matter and will move forward to build on the
important actions Honda has already taken to address our past shortcomings
in early warning reporting," Rick Schostek, executive vice president of
Honda North America Inc., said in a statement.
The company blamed the omissions on "errors related to data entry, computer
coding, regulatory interpretation, and other errors in warranty and
property damage claims reporting."
Foxx said information about Honda's failure to disclose the complaints also
has been forwarded to the Justice Department. The Center for Auto Safety, a
consumer watchdog group, called for a criminal investigation of Honda after
the company's failure to disclose the complaints became public.
Clarence Ditlow, executive director of the center, said $70 million is too
small a penalty considering that incidents involving Takata air bags are
among the complaints not reported.
"How many other deadly defects are concealed in the 1,729 death and injury
claims not reported by Honda?" he asked. "The company must waive all
statutes of limitations at the state and federal level over potential
recalls or lawsuits arising out of defects concealed in the unreported
claims."
Federal law requires automakers to submit death and injury complaints to
regulators as part of an "early warning" system for identifying potential
safety defects that can lead to a recall.
The fine against Honda caps a tumultuous year for automakers and federal
regulators. Including the fine against Honda, the traffic safety
administration imposed $126 million in fines against automakers in 2014,
more than all the fines in the agency's previous 43 years.
In May, the traffic safety administration levied the first maximum $35
million fine in its history against General Motors for taking more than a
decade to disclose an ignition-switch defect in millions of cars that has
been linked to at least 42 deaths and 58 injuries.
Under an agreement with the Transportation Department, GM admitted it was
slow to inform regulators, promised to report problems faster and submitted
to more in-depth government oversight of its safety operations.
But lawmakers and safety advocates have also accused the traffic safety
administration of having too cozy a relationship with the auto industry and
for not identifying dangerous safety defects based on reports made directly
to the agency by consumers and police.
_______________________________________
http://www.okiebenz.com
To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/
To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to:
http://mail.okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com
All posts are the result of individual contributors and as such,
those individuals are responsible for the content of the post. The
list owner has no control over the content of the messages of each
contributor.
_______________________________________
http://www.okiebenz.com
To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/
To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to:
http://mail.okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com
All posts are the result of individual contributors and as such, those
individuals are responsible for the content of the post. The list owner has no
control over the content of the messages of each contributor.
