NEW YORK, Dec. 18 (Kyodo) — Toyota Motor Corp. has agreed to pay a fine of $17.35 million (around 1.45 billion yen) for its failure to report a safety defect to the U.S. government in a timely manner, U.S. authorities said Tuesday.
The U.S. Department of Transportation's National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said the fine was the maximum allowable under a relevant law.
In June, Toyota announced it would recall about 150,000 Lexus luxury brand vehicles to address the problem of floor mats trapping the accelerator pedal.
The announcement came after the NHTSA contacted Toyota regarding the problem in May.
The models subject to the recall were the RX 350 and RX 450h sport utility vehicles.
