American Honda, the U.S. subsidiary of Honda Motor Co, recently agreed to pay a total of $70 million in fines for failing to report a number of injuries, deaths, and other problems in violation of federal early warning reporting requirements, according to a recent article in the Huffington Post.
The fines result from an investigation by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), which began looking into Honda’s compliance with federal Early Warning Reporting System requirements. The Early Warning Reporting System requires automakers to promptly report certain incidents of injury, death, property damage, and warranty claims made by vehicle owners. The information is collected in order to help the agency identify potential defects and issue recalls quickly. Many experienced Dallas product liability lawyers use information generated by the system to help their communities avoid serious injuries.
In November 2014, it was revealed that Honda had failed to report over 1,700 cases of death or injury that should have been reported under the system, according to the Huffington Post. The reports included eight incidents of death or injury related to defective air bags manufactured by Tanaka Corp, which were also the subject of a recall and a federal investigation.
American Honda not only agreed to pay two $35 million fines, but the company has also announced it will take several steps to prevent such reporting errors from happening again. These include fixing its computer systems used to handle reports, training its staff on proper report handling, creating new internal reporting requirements, and improving oversight of its early-warning reporting system.
