BMW faces $US40m fine

BMW is facing million fines for safety violations.

It’s the second time the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has fined the German carmaker in recent years.

According to a consent order signed by the company, BMW must pay $10 million in cash and spend $10 million on steps to get into compliance.

In addition to raising the maximum fine that auto makers face for safety violations, the roughly $300 billion surface transportation funding package also contains several other auto safety measures.

In 2012, NHTSA fined BMW $3 million for similar violations.

Mr. Rosekind added, “For the second time in three years, BMW has been penalized for failing to meet that obligation”.

BMW said Monday that it has agreed to carry out steps to improve its recall and reporting processes and that it plans to work with a consultant to develop best practices to do so.

Some of the vehicles didn’t pass federal crash tests. But in September, NHTSA said it was “justifiably concerned about BMW’s certification of these vehicles and, in particular, has questions about the timeliness of the various BMW recalls of the Cooper and the Cooper S”.

NHTSA said BMW “acknowledges additional violations discovered in NHTSA’s investigation, including failing in multiple recalls since its 2012 consent order to notify owners and dealers of recalls in a timely fashion and to provide required quarterly recall completion reports on time”.

The NHTSA said that a Mini two-door hardtop coupe failed a crash test in October 2014. The remaining $20 million is being held just in case the company fails to comply with NHTSA’s requests. BMW promised to bolster side-impact protection on the cars as part of a voluntary service campaign, NHTSA says.

In 2014, NHTSA issued more than $126 million in civil penalties – the highest annual total in the agency’s 43-year history. $70 million, with the potential to grow to $200 million, for concealing evidence that air bag inflators can explode with too much force and hit people with shrapnel. The faulty switches, which are responsible for at least 169 deaths and scores of injuries, can slip out of the run position, shutting down the engine and disabling power steering and air bags.