"By failing to report known safety problems as it is required to do under the law, Toyota put consumers at risk," Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said of the automaker's agreement to pay the fine. "I am pleased that Toyota has accepted responsibility for violating its legal obligations to report any defects promptly. We are continuing to investigate whether the company has lived up to all its disclosure obligations."
The Japanese automaker has been in talks with NHTSA since Wednesday, as it won language in the agreement that would allow it to deny wrongdoing while paying the fine and putting the matter behind it. The deal says the payment is "without NHTSA making any formal findings with respect to Toyota's violations."
"We agreed to this settlement in order to avoid a protracted dispute and possible litigation," the company said. "We regret that NHTSA tentatively concluded that they should seek a civil penalty."
Toyota said it "made a good faith effort to investigate this condition and develop an appropriate counter-measure. We have acknowledged that we could have done a better job of sharing relevant information within our global operations and outside the company, but we did not try to hide a defect to avoid dealing with a safety problem."
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