US: BMW fined $3m for late notice of safety defects

USA TODAY - BMW agreed to pay the U.S. government $3 million after the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said the automaker provided too little information on its safety-related reports and did not report faults promptly, as the law requires.

NHTSA said today that it had examined 16 BMW recalls from 2010 and "found evidence of a number of instances where the automaker failed to report safety defects to the agency in accordance with federal law."

The recalls involved motorcycles and autos, NHTSA said.

In a statement to Drive On, BMW says: "BMW issued 16 recalls a range of BMW cars, SAVs and motorcycles. The vehicles involved included 1 Series, 5 Series, 5 Series Gran Turismo, 6 Series, 7 Series and X5 and X6. A number of motorcycle models were also recalled. In all but one case where NHTSA claimed that BMW filed late were related to motorcycles."

SAV is BMW's reference to crossover utility vehicles.

NHTSA said: "As part of today's settlement, BMW of North America, LLC and its parent company Bayerische Motoren Werke AG agreed to make internal changes to its recall decision-making process to ensure timely reporting to consumers and the federal government in the future."

Federal law requires automakers to tell NHTSA within five business days after determining there is a safety problem or other matter that means vehicles don't comply with the laws.

The largest penalty that can be imposed for failing to promptly report safety defects is $16.375 million. NHTSA penalized Toyota that much in one case and $16.05 million in another, in cases involving the automaker's failure to promptly disclose issues related to the possibility of sudden acceleration, which led to recalls of millions of Toyotas.