U.S. fines Toyota $17 mil for delayed safety reports

well done!best way to avoid a typical Fukushima scenario is to grab the cooperate b@stards by their neck

Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ = $8.6 million

Mitsui - Sumitomo = $5.3 million

Toshiba = $87 million

Toyota = $16.4 million

Toyota = $17,0 million

Yazaki Eletric = $470 million

Denso = $78 million

Furukawa = $200 million

Toyo Ink Holdings = $45 Million

This dirty game is that mr. obama plays.Obama and his henchmen found in Japanese companies a gold mine.The situation will get worse for Japanese companys because Abe-san will not sign TPP.

Why is this issue only heard of in the States? are there any japanese consumers suffering from this? I can't believe people are that stupid not to adjust their mats if they get too close to the pedals 0r just remove them and get shorter ones!

@anthony lee: some of the issues that could lead to recalls in Japan are fixed quietly during the routine 6-monthly service checks, which most motorists subscribe too. It takes wheels falling off trucks and killing people to make the Japanese authorities do anything overt...and by the time that they reach consensus that there is a problem, it is 6 months too late.

Yes, the fines are very small,but are they fair? The floormats might cover the gas pedal? Please this is such nonsense. If safety is the issue, try to find a real problem.

"Cultural differences". Too bad they do not admit any wrongdoing. It is not about the money, but about the attitude towards these problems.

Not only Japanese companies getting hit with heavy fines recently. Look at BP for example. There does seem to be a mood of cash inflow through fine collection these days in the US administration. Toyota will have to pay, as other foreign companies, if they wish to continue business in the US. Hitting their pockets to make them conform is one way of looking at it, but I suppose it could also be seen as a kind of power harrassment.

When is a recall not a recall though? We had a weird one from Honda last month where they said bring the car in for fixation of a warning label above some part of the hybrid engine. The job took two hours...just to fix a label?

NHTSA said Tuesday that Toyota failed to report acceleration problems in the Lexus SUVs within five business days

The most dubious part is the five business days part. Inpsection and evaluation of any kind of problem would take more then a month to complete and they expect a full report within a week. It would probaly take five days just to evaluate if it is actually a problem.

Hehehehehe USA easiest money making scheme. File legal actions on anything their think tank lawyers can find especially for foreign firms doing buisness in US. Cuz if they can't find one, their necks are fried . hehehehehe

This is a clear message from the United States making lobby to Japan of sign the TPP agreement.

Fining them the first time for not reporting the safety issues might be considered harassment, but Toyota did it at least THREE more times after that first instance. It's not the U.S. changing the rules every time, it's Toyota continuing to do what they got fined for in the first place. What's that quote? Ah yes.

Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.

~ Albert Einstein

@issa, unlike you, the rest of us don't care whether the TPP includes Japan or not so you can stop trying to equate everything the U.S. does to be motivated by the TPP. The U.S. isn't even a MEMBER of the TPP yet. They're still negotiating with the TPP signatories over whether they can join, so HOW could the U.S. be corercing other countries to join something they themselves aren't a member of?

all cars have problems. ALL.

Why is this issue only heard of in the States? are there any japanese consumers suffering from this? I can't believe people are that stupid not to adjust their mats if they get too close to the pedals 0r just remove them and get shorter ones!

If you tell me that there's a person who checks their floor mats before putting the car in gear, I will call you a liar (though given Toyota's history lately, there might be SOME who do that). The problem with the mats is no one EXPECTS a problem with the mats, and it's apparently only Toyotas (or their Lexus subsidiary) that have this issue of the mats lifting from the floor or wedging against the pedal linkage and holding the accelerator in place even after you remove your foot from the gas pedal. Toyota is one of the companies that do not have an idle circuit in the brake system where the engine will idle if the brakes are activated, no matter where the gas pedal is positioned. There have been stories of people burning out their brakes trying to stop a Toyota or Lexus brand vehicle with a stuck accelerator pedal. The engine overpowered the brakes.

The most dubious part is the five business days part. Inpsection and evaluation of any kind of problem would take more then a month to complete and they expect a full report within a week. It would probaly take five days just to evaluate if it is actually a problem.

No, it's not dubious. It means makers have to collect all safety-relevant complaints from customers or service staff in a central database. The NHTSA does not aks for a solution to the problem within five business days, but that issues are reported quickly and correctly.

If you tell me that there's a person who checks their floor mats before putting the car in gear, I will call you a liar (though given Toyota's history lately, there might be SOME who do that). The problem with the mats is no one EXPECTS a problem with the mats, and it's apparently only Toyotas (or their Lexus subsidiary) that have this issue of the mats lifting from the floor or wedging against the pedal linkage and holding the accelerator in place even after you remove your foot from the gas pedal.

Nobody checks the floor mats because typically they are fixed and cannot move. At least I can't remember having seen a car where they were not fixed, as long as they were the original ones delivered with the car. When it comes to aftermarket mats, many (or even most?) don't provide any fixtures. I've seen people even stack two mats one upon the other. I think there must be millions of cars out there where drivers simply aren't aware of the risk. When the mat moves forward, it can also block the brake pedal.

Fadamor

Let me get this straight you are stating that there are some people who steps on the gas pedal and the brakes at the same time so there is a need for a system to place an engine on idle when stepping on the brakes?

How does it work?

Really want to know since it would have various complications if that certain system would malfunction like if it detects a false positive in the highway.

It's a safety device for when the accelerator pedal gets stuck or the accelerator position sensor malfuntions. When the brakes are pressed, the engine computer puts the fuel/air mixture down to idle regardless of where it thinks the accelerator pedal is positioned. A "false positive" would just result in the car losing most of its power and slowing down. The engine is still running so power steering and power brakes are still functional. A car doing 60 mph on the highway would just slow down like it would if you just took your foot off the pedal. There's no sudden loss of control.

Hehehehehe USA easiest money making scheme. File legal actions on anything their think tank lawyers can find especially for foreign firms doing buisness in US. Cuz if they can't find one, their necks are fried . hehehehehe

This is a clear message from the United States making lobby to Japan of sign the TPP agreement.

US has to go after these Japanese violaters as a huge liability stake is involved. The government cannot afford to be sued for the negligence. It is not Japan.

It's very understandable. Only to Japanese car company.