The government says it is fining Honda $70 million for not reporting to safety regulators more than 1,700 complaints that its vehicles caused deaths and injuries, and for not reporting warranty claims. It’s the largest civil penalty the agency has levied against an automaker. Honda disclosed the reporting failure in November, admitting that company officials had waited three years after finding out about the reporting failure before making the disclosure to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx said the government won’t tolerate automakers withholding safety information.
He said regulators had shared information about the case with the Justice Department. The private Center for Auto Safety has called for a criminal investigation into the case.
Honda was hit Thursday with a record $70 million in fines for failing to report accidents and other safety issues over 11 years.Honda failed to report 1,729 accidents to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The agency said it does not yet know how many deaths are tied to these accidents.
The Japanese automaker had already admitted its failure to file the reports, which it attributed to data and computer programing errors. But regulators said those errors did not excuse Honda from reporting the accident data.
Automakers and safety regulators are both supposed to analyze those reports to determine if there is a vehicle flaw that requires a recall.
This might not be the only penalty that Honda faces due to the lack of reporting.
Transportation Department officials Thursday said they have talked to the Justice Department about the results of their probe.
The Center for Auto Safety, a public interest group, has called for the U.S. to bring criminal charges against Honda.
It’s now up to Justice as to whether to pursue a criminal case.
I guess when you’re surrounded by 6s in a sea of 3s and 4s, those 6s start to look like 8s…or some shit. I think I read that somewhere on here actually. Whatever.
This fine is based on the takata airbag death and injuries, correct? Scary stuff.
the wife’s element is not part of that recall, but is for an ignition switch, go figure. I remember hearing about an accident in an accord where someone should have walked away, but shrapnel in the airbag caused them to bleed out… Really scary stuff.
Once Honda goes bankrupt, fucks long term share holders, accepts bailout money and then creates $20 Billion in new shares…then I’ll get on them like I did GM.
Added—
For anyone incapable of understanding my thought process…
With GM everyone that saves/transacts in USD was made to fund failing operations.
With Honduh, thusfar they are not reaching into my pockets.
