U.S. regulators consider 2nd find against Toyota

[UpInArms]

Source: Reuters

Reuters) - U.S. safety regulators may seek a second penalty against Toyota Motor Corp for knowingly delaying a massive recall over defective accelerator pedals, after imposing a record $16.4 million fine against the automaker on Monday.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, in a April 5 letter to Toyota, said Toyota's recall of 2.3 million vehicles in January for faulty accelerator pedals came at least four months after the automaker had determined there were safety defects in the vehicles.

NHTSA may pursue a second fine based on documents submitted by Toyota, which indicated there were two separate defects in the recalled pedals, the letter showed. The agency said Toyota would have faced a fine totaling $13.8 billion if not for caps set by U.S. law.

The proposed $16.4 million civil penalty against Toyota is the maximum allowed by U.S. law and the largest that the U.S. Department of Transportation has ever sought.

"Here, the gravity of Toyota's apparent violations is severe and potentially life-threatening," NHTSA Chief Counsel O. Kevin Vincent said in the letter, a copy of which was reviewed by Reuters.

U.S. law allowed a $6,000 penalty for each defective vehicle sold by Toyota, adding to $13.8 billion. Due to a law that limits individual fines against a manufacturer, the maximum the government could seek was $16.375 million, Vincent said in the letter.

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE63928020100410

[howaboutme]

1. Hopefully the Reagan pendulum finally swings after 30 years

We need an anti-corporate, anti-fascist, anti-Wall Street, pro American government. That includes Congress, Supreme Court and regulators which has been lacking. The pro-Wall Street government and the media hyped short list SCOTUS candidates will do nothing to make amends.

Corporations, Wall Street and Hollywood have controlled the DC political agenda for over 30 years which has enriched their lives enormously while screwing the US economy and reducing the income of average Americans who actually do productive work. You can't strip out millions and billions a year to compensate a select few without reducing what is available for average Americans.

Corporations, importers and financiers have gotten away with literal murder as they have bought off Presidents, Congress and regulations that made life safer and better for Americans, and btw Bill Clinton is not exempt from this statement.

[PSPS]

2. Welcome to our corporate-owned "government"

The penalty cap of $16 million is pocket change for Toyota, probably an hour's profit. It reinforces the principle promoted in MBA schools these days that, since it's cheaper to "pay off" the "government" rather than correct a known life-threatening defect, the company should unload their killer products on the gullible public, enthralled by their latest advertising campaign.

Of course, this all happened while a "loyal bushie" was in charge at NHTSA -- committed, no doubt, to the destruction, or at least the neutering, of the regulatory agency he was running.

And I find it sardonically amusing that this article still refers to "defective accelerator pedals."

[Tx4obama]

3. Reuters needs to learn how to spell FINE (not 'find') in their headline. LOL n/t