BMW has reached a $40 million settlement with U.S. auto safety regulators for failing to issue a timely recall for certain Mini Cooper models that failed to pass crash tests.
Announcing the fine and resulting settlement in a consent order Monday, the National Traffic Safety Administration put an end to an investigation to determine whether the company issued a recall within five days after learning that 2014 and 2015 Mini Cooper models failed to meet federal standards for side-impact crash protection.
By accepting the settlement, BMW admits that not only did it fail to to comply with minimum crash protection standards but also failed to notify potentially affected owners in a timely manner and failed to provide the NHTSA with accurate information about its recalls.
Per the settlement, BMW will pay a $10 million fine, $10 million to meet the order's performance obligations and another $20 million in deferred penalties if the German automaker does not comply with the order or commits further safety violations, according to Reuters.
This marks the second time the NHTSA has fined BMW since 2012, when the automaker was forced to pay $3 million for similar issues. Furthermore, it marks the latest fine in a series of civil penalties imposed by the NHTSA against major automakers. For example, on Dec. 10, Fiat Chysler was hit with a $70 million fine after failing to report information about vehicle crash deaths and injuries, according to CNN.
In the meantime, BMW will continue to use a govermnent-approved independent safety consultant to disclose updated procedures to NHTSA.
