Daimler AG’s North American truck unit on Thursday agreed to a $30 million U.S. civil penalty for resolving an investigation of delayed recalls, the second time since 2019 that the German automaker has agreed to settle an investigation by U.S. auto safety regulators.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) said Daimler Trucks North America failed to recall automobiles in a timely fashion and adhere to the reporting requirements after the agency started an investigation in April 2018 of about 464,000 vehicles.
As part of the settlement, Daimler Trucks agreed to develop and put an advanced data analytics program to improve its ability to detect and to investigate potential safety defects as part of a two-year consent order that can be expanded by NHTSA for one additional year.
Daimler Trucks must pay $10 million upfront and spend a further $5 million on projects to improve safety. The agreement includes a $15 million deferred penalty that can become payable if the automaker does not adhere to the consent order.
Daimler Trucks said it is focused on “building safe, efficient and reliable commercial vehicles… In this case, though there are no known accidents or injuries associated with any of the voluntary recalls.”
“We appreciate the opportunity to summarily resolve this matter,” it added.
Daimler Trucks agreed to meet with NHTSA on monthly basis as part of the settlement.
“It’s critical that manufacturers appropriately recognize the urgency of their safety recall responsibilities and provide timely and candid information to the agency about all safety issues,” said NHTSA Deputy Administrator James Owens.
In December 2019, Daimler’s Mercedes-Benz USA unit agreed to a $20 million civil penalty concerning its handling of U.S. vehicle recalls after NHTSA said it failed to inform owners in a timely fashion in some recalls, did not submit all reports, and did not issue at least two recalls in a timely fashion.
