Mercedes-Benz will pay $13 million for poor recall reporting methods in the U.S.
Mercedes-Benz USA has agreed to pay as much as $20 million fines due its failure to handle U.S. vehicle recalls correctly.
The penalty was dealt after the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration conducted a one-year investigation of 1.4 million vehicles recalled by the German company’s U.S. sales and service arm.
The automaker will pay $13 million due to its poor handling of recalls, but it also faces another $7 million fine if it does not comply with the agreement. NHTSA reported that Mercedes-Benz didn’t inform owners in a timely fashion in some cases, failed to submit all reports and didn’t launch recall efforts at least two other times in an appropriate time frame.
(NHTSA investigating Mercedes recall protocols)
“We believe that we did not deliberately do anything wrong, but unfortunately we missed some deadlines in informing the agency of the measures we had taken in fulfilling their requirements,” the company said in a statement, adding the company “agreed to resolve this matter in an effort to answer NHTSA’s questions and move forward.”
To ensure it’s in compliance the automaker will meet with NHTSA quarterly to review its recall performance for at least a year. The automaker is “currently developing more robust procedures with regard to reporting noncompliance concerns,” Reuters reported.
NHTSA said it had taken into account “the substantial financial investment that MBUSA has made in the development and rollout of its automated recall management tool, as well as the hiring of additional personnel and ongoing trainings.”
(Mercedes-Benz parent Daimler AG recalling 3M diesels to fix emissions systems)
NHTSA also raised concerns about “recurring and unannounced failures” in the automaker’s data system. The system provides information to the agency’s Vehicle Identification Number lookup tool that allows owners to check to see if their vehicle has been recalled.
“The agency’s reporting requirements help ensure that consumers are protected and given important information about how to get recalls repaired,” said NHTSA Acting Administrator James Owens in a statement.
“We expect manufacturers to follow their legal obligations to the agency and to consumers in carrying out safety recalls.”
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After an annual audit of recall files, the agency said it sent a letter to Mercedes outlining a list of problems with 2017 recalls. “This list included numerous recalls in which MBUSA failed to notify owners of vehicle recalls within the full 60 days the company has under federal regulation,” the letter said.