Major automakers will not object to higher fines for violating safety rules, but oppose a congressional proposal that would remove the cap on the maximum penalty.
Dave McCurdy, chief executive of the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, said in a statement on Wednesday that civil penalties should not exceed a reasonable limit.
The current maximum is $5,000 per violation with a $16.4 million cap, which safety advocates complain is an ineffective deterrent.
Draft legislation spurred by U.S. government scrutiny of recalls of 6.5 million Toyota Motor Corp vehicles would raise fines to $25,000 per violation and remove the maximum cap.
"We do not oppose an increase in civil penalties but they must be capped at some reasonable level," McCurdy said in an excerpt of his remarks for a hearing Thursday by the House Energy and Commerce Committee.
Toyota has agreed to pay the top current penalty to settle allegations by U.S. regulators that it knowingly delayed an accelerator pedal recall in January for four months. Toyota admitted no wrongdoing in agreeing to pay the fine.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is continuing its investigation of how Toyota handled recalls in 2009 and this year over unintended acceleration and has said additional action is possible.
Committees in the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate have proposed bills that would also require new auto safety systems as standard equipment and give additional authority to NHTSA.
Congress and safety advocates have been critical of NHTSA's handling of consumer complaints and subsequent investigations of Toyota, saying the agency was not aggressive enough.
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