By Mike Spector
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration fined Honda
Motor Co. $70 million for failing for more than a decade to report
deaths, injuries and certain warranty claims, the highest penalties
ever levied against an auto maker by the agency
The fines are the most since General Motors Co. agreed to pay
$35 million to settle an investigation into failing to alert
regulators to a deadly ignition-switch problem.
The U.S.'s chief auto regulator slapped Honda with two $35
million civil fines for violating federal legal requirements to
alert NHTSA to potential safety problems in vehicles. The first was
for failing to submit early warning reports detailing 1,729
injuries and death and injury claims to NHTSA for 11 years between
2003 and 2014. The second was for Honda's failure to report certain
warranty claims and other claims under so-called customer
satisfaction campaigns during the same period.
"One thing we cannot tolerate, and will not tolerate, is an auto
maker failing to report to us any safety issues," said
Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx during a briefing
Thursday.
Regulators declined to specify what kinds of problems Honda
failed to report. But Honda and other auto makers have been dealing
with fallout from defective Takata Corp. air bags prone to
explosions that are linked to five deaths world-wide. Honda signed
a consent order related to the fines on Dec. 29, regulators said,
and will have 60 days to provide further details on the 1,729
incidents it didn't previously report.
A Honda spokesman didn't immediately respond to a request for
comment.
Write to Mike Spector at mike.spector@wsj.com
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