By Sophie Williams –
Recently a record $70 million fine was levied on Honda Motor by safety regulators in the United States-the largest ever imposed on an automaker by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Honda has acknowledged what is the basis for the fine — that it clearly underreported critical accidents involving its cars to the United States government for more than a decade. Last fall, Honda disclosed that it had failed to account nearly two-thirds of the 2,600 notices of injuries or deaths in the United States that it obtained from 2003 through 2014.
The fine was twice the size of a penalty imposed by the highway safety agency against General Motors last year over its delayed response to ignition switch defects linked to at least 13 deaths.
Automakers are required to report such information under a 14-year-old U.S. law, and Honda’s breaches may have hindered the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s ability to swiftly recognize vehicle flaws.
