Mercedes to Pay $13 Million U.S. Regulatory Fine As NHTSA Keeps Watch
Mercedes Benz will pay a $13 million penalty to U.S. safety regulators over a failure to report a string of necessary recalls. A signed settlement on file with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) indicates that Daimler’s American arm could be on the hook for up to $20 million in regulatory fines.
The remaining $7 million is in the hands of the NHTSA, which has to eventually decide whether or not Mercedes expedited its recall notices or improved upon its recall processes. The automaker will be audited by the regulatory agency until 2022 to help make those assessments.
The NHTSA reported that roughly 40 percent of the automaker’s recalls between 2016 and 2018 (about 101 cases encompassing more than 1.4 million vehicles) were out of compliance. Mercedes was faulted with repeatedly failing to notify customers before the 60-day recall limit. It was also critical of the frequency in which Mercedes-Benz USA’s VIN lookup service was found to be nonfunctional and how often it failed to report incidents to regulators.
It’s a pretty modest penalty, all things considered. Fiat Chrysler Automobiles was fined $70 million twice in 2015 by the NHTSA for failing to supply adequate safety information over the period of a dozen years. Other automakers have been hit with similar penalties.
What makes the Daimler’s situation a little different is that the issue only pertains to a handful of model years. However, the NHTSA can easily tack on more financial retribution if it believes more recalls or safety reports were mishandled. The agency said Mercedes-Benz will have to meet with it regularly to discuss recall execution and reporting. It also wants to keep tabs on the brand’s VIN lookup page to guarantee customers have easy access to information.
[Image: Franz12/Shutterstock]
A staunch consumer advocate tracking industry trends and regulation. Before joining TTAC, Matt spent a decade working for marketing and research firms based in NYC. Clients included several of the world’s largest automakers, global tire brands, and aftermarket part suppliers. Dissatisfied with the corporate world and resentful of having to wear suits everyday, he pivoted to writing about cars. Since then, that man has become an ardent supporter of the right-to-repair movement, been interviewed on the auto industry by national radio broadcasts, driven more rental cars than anyone ever should, participated in amateur rallying events, and received the requisite minimum training as sanctioned by the SCCA. Handy with a wrench, Matt grew up surrounded by Detroit auto workers and managed to get a pizza delivery job before he was legally eligible. He later found himself driving box trucks through Manhattan, guaranteeing future sympathy for actual truckers. He continues to conduct research pertaining to the automotive sector as an independent contractor and has since moved back to his native Michigan, closer to where the cars are born. A contrarian, Matt claims to prefer understeer — stating that front and all-wheel drive vehicles cater best to his driving style.
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I'm sure Mercedes giggled their A$$ off.
"The NHTSA reported that roughly 40 percent of the automaker’s recalls between 2016 and 2018 (about 101 cases encompassing more than 1.4 million vehicles) were out of compliance." Typically auto salvages don't bring the cars in for recall work so that probably explains the higher number.