Toyota agrees to pay US$16.4 million fine: US official

NEW YORK — Japanese auto giant Toyota was expected to sign legal documents Monday, agreeing to pay the US government a record fine of nearly 16.4 million dollars for concealing gas pedal defects."By paying the full civil penalty Toyota is accepting responsibility for hiding the safety defect ... in violation of the law," a senior US government official told AFP late Sunday.A Toyota spokesman declined to comment. But a well-informed source told AFP the automaker was expected to sign the necessary legal documents early Monday."They've agreed to pay the maximum fine in record time, the most we can get," the source said. "They have 30 days to pay."Earlier this month, the US Department of Transportation said it was seeking "the maximum civil penalty of 16.375 million dollars against Toyota" after it failed to report its safety defects in a timely manner.Toyota had failed to report "the dangerous 'sticky pedal' defect for at least four months, despite knowing of the potential risk to consumers," said the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the department's watchdog.It is the largest civil fine against an automaker ever sought by the NHTSA.Toyota has recalled around 2.3 million cars in the United States for the pedal defect.Worldwide it has recalled more than eight million cars over several problems, including the sticking accelerator pedal which caused cars to speed out of control.Toyota had until Monday to agree to pay the fine, or contest it. If the two parties had not agreed a settlement, the matter could have gone to court.The sudden acceleration problem allegedly caused by the gas pedal defects has been blamed for more than 50 deaths in the United States, and Toyota faces a slew of legal challenges in US courts.The automaker has been hit with at least 97 lawsuits seeking damages for injury or death linked to sudden acceleration and 138 class action lawsuits from customers suing to recoup losses in the resale value of Toyota vehicles.A San Diego court recently heard arguments from two dozen atto

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