Toyota to pay record US fine, announces Lexus recall

WASHINGTON — Toyota agreed Monday to pay a record 16.4 million dollar fine for hiding gas pedal defects and announced yet more recalls as the US government warned it was not done investigating the Japanese automaker."By failing to report known safety problems as it is required to do under the law, Toyota put consumers at risk," US Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said in a statement."I am pleased that Toyota has accepted responsibility for violating its legal obligations to report any defects promptly."Toyota failed to disclose a "sticky pedal" defect for at least four months despite knowing the potential risk to consumers, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) said.Under federal law, automakers are required to disclose defects within five business days.Toyota said in a statement that it "denies NHTSA's allegation that it violated the Safety Act or its implementing regulations" and regrets that the agency chose to levy a fine."We believe we made a good faith effort to investigate this condition and develop an appropriate counter-measure," the world's largest automaker said in a statement."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."Toyota said it agreed to pay the fine "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."It is the largest civil fine against an automaker ever sought by the US authorities and relates to defects that affected 2.3 million vehicles recalled in the United States in January.Toyota has come under intense scrutiny after it issued roughly 10.5 million recall notices worldwide in the last seven months.Toyota executives were hauled over the coals in the US Congress earlier this year and the company's previously stellar reputation for safety was left in tatters.Mor

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