Digital News Report – The US Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood announced that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) will be seeking the maximum civil penalty of $16.375 million for the sticky gas pedal problem that Toyota Motor Corporation knew about for at least four months before notifying the agency about the problem. This is the largest civil penalty the the NHTSA has ever sought after from an auto manufacturer.
The law is that an auto manufacturer must notify NHTSA within five business days if they know of a safety defect existing. The NHTSA had inspected documents from Toyota which showed that there was knowledge of the “sticky pedal” problem since September 29, 2009. This was a date that Toyota issued a repair procedure to distributors of their vehicles in Europe and Canada. Toyota also was aware of the same problem in the United States.
The NHTSA is still investigating Toyota to find out if there was any other violations. The $16.375 million civil penalty is directly related to the “sticky pedal” problem. If more violations are found, they may seek more civil penalties. The NHTSA received 70,000 pages of documents from Toyota that they are currently reviewing.