Toyota may need to raise costs

Toyota's $32.4 million fine doesn't preclude criminal, SEC penalties

David Shepardson / Detroit News Washington Bureau

Washington- Toyota Motor Corp. and federal regulators agreed to a $32.4 million settlement of two safety investigations to avoid a lengthy dispute and a possible court fight.
The Japanese automaker agreed to pay the fines by Jan. 19, under the terms of two settlement agreements released today by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
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"It is the mutual desire of NHTSA and Toyota to administratively resolve the civil penalties," the settlement agreements said. The deals are a "binding agreement in order to avoid a protracted dispute and possible litigation."
Toyota didn't immediately comment on the settlements.
The agreements do not bar the Justice Department from bringing criminal charges against Toyota. A federal grand jury in New York is probing Toyota's handling of several recalls.
The deal also doesn't bar the Securities and Exchange Commission, which is also investigating Toyota, from seeking its own civil penalties.
Toyota's board of directors, meeting in Japan today, agreed to pay the maximum fines in two recall investigations by the National Highway Traffic Administration. The agreements say the fines must be paid by Jan. 19 The agency said it believed Toyota delayed the 2005 recall of 980,000 vehicles over faulty steering rods and the recall of 5.5 million vehicles in 2009-2010 for accelerator pedal entrapment issues. But the agreements do not make "any formal findings with respect to Toyota's possible violations."
NHTSA agreed to not seek reimbursement from Toyota for its attorneys' fees. Toyota also isn't required to turn over any more documents in the NHTSA investigations. Toyota denied that it committed any wrongdoing as part of the settlements.
To date, Toyota has turned over more than 500,000 pages of material.
Earlier this year, Toyota paid $16.4 million in civil penalties for delaying its recall of 2.3 million vehicles for sticky gas pedals by at least four months.
The agreements were signed by NHTSA's chief counsel O. Kevin Vincent and Christopher P. Reynolds, general counsel and group vice president for Toyota Motor Sales USA. dshepardson@detnews.com(202) 662-8735


From The Detroit News: http://detnews.com/article/20101221...reclude-criminal--SEC-penalties#ixzz18rzXBfPr​