Jan 15 (Japan Todayj) - Toyota will pay $180 million to settle U.S. government allegations that it failed to report and fix pollution control defects in its vehicles for a decade.
The company also agreed in court to investigate future emissions-related defects quickly and report them to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in a timely manner.
“Toyota's actions undermined the EPA's self-disclosure system and likely led to delayed or avoided emissions-related recalls,” Audrey Strauss, the acting U.S. Attorney in Manhattan said Thursday in a prepared statement.
The Japanese automaker's actions from 2005 to 2015 brought financial benefits and excessive vehicle pollution, the statement said.
The company was accused in a government lawsuit of delays in filing 78 emissions defect reports as required by the Clean Air Act. The reports covered millions of vehicles, and some of them were as many as eight years late, the statement said.
The lawsuit was filed Thursday and settled on the same day, according to the statement.
