Toyota will pay $1.2 billion to settle a U.S Justice Department criminal investigation into the carmaker’s handling of recalls linked with unintended acceleration nearly five years ago — from GoAuto:
As a part of the deal – involving the largest criminal penalty paid by a car-maker in US history – Toyota will acknowledge wrongdoing, while the US government will effectively defer prosecution and dismiss the case.
“At the time of these recalls, we took full responsibility for any concerns our actions may have caused customers, and we rededicated ourselves to earning their trust,” [Toyota Motor North America chief legal officer Christopher Reynolds] said. “In the more than four years since these recalls, we have gone back to basics at Toyota to put our customers first.”
In 2009, a highway patrolman and his family were killed after the accelerator of their Lexus ES350 stuck and they were unable to brake, causing them to crash.
The recall affected more than 10 million Toyota and Lexus vehicles globally and became one of the largest recalls by a car-maker in history.
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