Update: Toyota agrees to pay $16.4 million fine in US

Toyota Motor Corporation (TMC) has agreed to pay $16.4 million to settle a civil penalty demand by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration related to the company's recall for slow-to-return and sticky accelerator pedals.

Earlier this month, the Department of Transportation had said that it would levy a fine of $16.4 million on Toyota for delaying a mass recall of the vehicles with defective accelerator pedals, which, the regulator said the company was aware of. (See: US regulators seek record $16.4 million fine on Toyota for vehicle defects)

As per a US law, the maximum fine that can be imposed on a carmaker for breach of US safety regulations is $16.4 million. Analysts say but for the cap on the fine, Toyota would have ended paying $13.8 billion, $6,000 for each of 2.3 million vehicles sold with defective pedals.
 
In a statement issued today, US transportation department said Toyota has agreed to pay a $16.375 million fine for failing to notify the regulator of a pedal defect for almost four months.

"'Toyota has accepted responsibility for violating its legal obligations to report any defects promptly," transportation secretary LaHood said.

Toyota, however, said it agreed to pay the fine to avert a long-drawn litigation and to better concentrate on the quality issues.

"We agreed to this settlement in order to avoid a protracted dispute and possible litigation, as well as to allow us to move forward fully-focused on the steps to strengthen our quality assurance operations. This will allow us to focus on delivering safe, reliable, high quality vehicles for our customers and responding to consumer feedback with honesty and integrity," Toyota said in a release.