BMW Will Pay up to $40 Million for Recall Violations

Federal regulators have ordered BMW to pay up to $40 million for failing to recall vehicles in a timely manner. BMW has agreed to pay the fines and change the way it reports future safety problems.

BMW will pay $10 million directly to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. It will also spend an $10 million on technologies that will help it detect safety problems more quickly in the future. The remaining $20 million is being held just in case the company fails to comply with NHTSA’s requests.

NHTSA claims BMW didn’t move quickly enough to fix certain 2014 and 2015 Mini Coopers that failed a crash test. In October 2014, BMW said it had mislabeled the vehicle’s weight and assured NHTSA that the vehicle would pass the test when conducted at the proper weight rating. BMW promised to bolster side-impact protection on the cars as part of a voluntary service campaign, NHTSA says.

“In July 2015, NHTSA conducted a second crash test at the corrected weight rating on a vehicle with the additional side-impact protection, and the vehicle again failed,” NHTSA said in a statement. “At that time, NHTSA learned that BMW had not launched the service campaign it had agreed to conduct.”

Under NHTSA’s request, BMW must also submit a monthly report to NHTSA and create a plan to deter BMW dealers from selling new vehicles with unrepaired safety defects. The agency said it was able to purchase a new vehicle with an open safety recall from a BMW dealer.

NHTSA’s Consent Order will remain in place for two years, although the agency could choose to extend the oversight for an additional year. Back in 2012, NHTSA slapped BMW with a $3 million civil penalty for similar violations.

Source: BMW, NHTSA

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