Hyundai pays $17.35M fine for brake recall delay
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration announced that a $17.35 million fine was charged to Hyundai due to its delayed respond to report a brake defect in 2009 for 20012 Genesis luxury sedans.
NHTSA reported six crashes while the cars’ recall was only took effect in 2013 following a NHTSA investigation where it concluded that Hyundai was aware since 2012 about the brake fluids and “did not sufficiently inhibit corrosion in key components” of the brake system.
However, according to federal safety rules the NHTSA should have been notified within five days after the brake defect report. Yet, the company preferred to inform the dealers to change the brake fluid in the cars rather than recalling. The consequences of not doing so were not mentioned to the owners of the cars and only dealers were informed of what they needed to do.
Hyundai U.S. CEO David Zuchowski said in a statement that “Hyundai remains committed to making safety our top priority, and is dedicated to ensuring immediate action in response to potential safety concerns, including the prompt reporting of safety defects.”
Hyundai underscored that most of the cars have now been efficiently repaired and noted that there have been “no fatalities or serious injuries relating to this safety defect.”
Hyundai agreed to make all necessary improvements in order to identify and report safety issues, as well as to create a technical panel in the U.S. responsible for reviewing and recommending any safety recalls.
“In order to mitigate a situation like this in the future, Hyundai is instituting new organizational and process improvements, and enhancing the ability of the U.S. leadership team to readily respond to regulatory reporting requirements,” told Zuchowski.
Source: Usatoday
