Toyota hit with $16M fine over recalls in US

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_TOYOTA_RECALL?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

 

Pocket Change! HAHA!

 

If they really did hide something then they should pay. Sucks though because it just makes them look worse.

 

thats it?

 

Exactly

 

If they pay , they assume guilt as charged and cannot very easily defend the civil lawsuits over this matter , can they ,

tough spot for ol' Toyota !

OZ

 

the amount of deaths in these months (not sure of how many, but im sure there was some) that they kept this secret are not replaceable, that 16.375 million doesn't take a dent out of their pocket i would assume, and that can be easily replaced.

they should have stepped up when they knew IMHO

 

Completely a political move with basis only in the grey area of "what constitutes a critical safety defect?".

Low blow by the gov't in my opinion, hope it fails.

 

If Toyota get fine! I will suggest those money have to go our pocket, not the government. Right?

 

Wha ? ^^

 

Even when a corporation knows something is wrong, well paid statisticians are constantly calculating the costs of ignoring it vs. fixing it. Quite frequently it's significantly cheaper to ignore the problem and pay a few lawsuits in comparison to fixing the problem. Morally incorrect but commonly practiced. Corporations are looking at the bottom line, period. This is considered an acceptable business practice. The stockholders don't want to hear, "We spent all of your profit fixing a problem that may or may not develop into an issue."

Insurance companies, particularly health insurance, are notorious for this. That's the number one reason they decline coverage/services. They genuinely do not care whether you live or die. It's all about the profit.

I'm not even trying to be a jerk or bash anyone. That's just the way it is. Like it or not, it's not changing anytime soon.

$16 million is equivalent to me getting fined 16 cents. Sales are already going up for the company. People will forget all of this in about 5 minutes. Toyota wins.

 

WASHINGTON (Map, News) - Toyota Motor Corp. faces a maximum penalty of more than $16 million, a record civil penalty against an automaker, for failing to promptly notify the U.S. government about defective gas pedals among its vehicles.Toyota has recalled more than 6 million vehicles in the U.S., and more than 8 million worldwide, because of acceleration problems in multiple models and braking issues in the Prius hybrid.
Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said Monday that documents obtained from the Japanese automaker showed that Toyota knew of the problem with the sticking gas pedals in late September but did not issue a recall until late January. The sticking gas pedal recall involved 2.3 million vehicles.
"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."

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For those reasons, LaHood said, the government is seeking fine of $16.375 million, the maximum penalty possible. In 2004, General Motors paid a record $1 million fine for responding too slowly on a recall of nearly 600,000 vehicles over windshield wiper failure.
Toyota officials did not immediately respond to the announcement. The automaker has two weeks to accept or contest the penalty.
Under federal law, automakers must notify the department's National Highway Traffic Safety Administration within five days of determining that a safety defect exists and promptly conduct a recall.
The Transportation Department said the penalty against Toyota is specifically tied to the sticking pedal defect and Toyota could face additional penalties under the government's ongoing investigation.
The government has linked 52 deaths to crashes allegedly caused by accelerator problems in Toyotas. The recalls have led to congressional hearings, a criminal investigation by federal prosecutors, dozens of lawsuits and an intense review by the Transportation Department.
Toyota has attributed the problem to sticking gas pedals and accelerators that can become jammed in floor mats, and has cited no evidence of an electrical problem. Toyota dealers have fixed 1.7 million vehicles under recall so far.
Consumer groups have said electronics could be the culprit, and dozens of Toyota owners who had their cars fixed in the recall have complained of more problems with their vehicles surging forward unexpectedly.
Reviews of some recent high-profile crashes in San Diego and suburban New York have failed to find a mechanical or electronic problem. In the New York case, a police investigation found that the driver, not the car, was to blame.
Following the recalls, the Transportation Department demanded in February that Toyota turn over documents detailing when and how it learned of the problems with sticking accelerators and with floor mats trapping gas pedals.
NHTSA said documents provided by Toyota showed the automaker knew about the sticky pedal defect since at least Sept. 29, 2009, when it issued repair procedures to distributors in 31 European countries and Canada to address complaints of sticking pedals, sudden increases in engine RPM and sudden vehicle acceleration.
The government said the documents also show that Toyota knew that owners in the United States had experienced the same problems. Toyota has provided NHTSA with more than 70,000 pages of documents during the investigation.

 

Seeing as how the government owns GM. Isnt this the equivalent of Mcdonalds fining Wendy's?

 

Ouch!

 

Don't know how to delete this. See it is already posted.
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/100405/business/us_toyota_recall

 

Does anybody read?

http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/2nd-gen-tacomas/85448-toyota-hit-16m-fine-over-recalls-us.html

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Had it been any American car company the fine would have not been over 1M.

 

another reason to bring productions back to the rising sun! Should let the UAW to pay for it.