(Adds details from company, regulators)
By Susan Heavey
WASHINGTON, March 20 (Reuters) - Child car seat maker Graco will pay a $10 million fine for failing to give timely notice of car seats with defective buckles, ending a federal investigation into the nation's largest recall of child seats, the U.S. regulators and the company said on Friday.
Graco Children's Products Inc, a unit of Newell Rubbermaid Inc, agreed to pay $3 million now and spend the remaining $7 million on efforts to improve child safety, they said.
The agreement with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration effectively closes the Department of Transportation's probe of Graco car seats with buckles that got stuck in the latch position, which regulators said could put children at risk if there were an emergency and their parents could not get them out.
More than 4 million Graco car seats were recalled in February 2014, and another 2 million seats in June.
"Parents need to know that the seats they trust to protect their children are safe, and that when there's a problem, the manufacturer will meet its obligations to fix the defect quickly," Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx said in a statement.
As part of the agreement, Graco admitted that it failed to notify NHTSA officials about the problem buckles within the five business days required by law, the department said.
It must now create a plan to address the problem and improve child car seat safety. That could include efforts to boost parent registration when they buy car seats so companies can better contact them in the event of a recall, as well as a campaign to raise parents' awareness about child safety, regulators said.
In a statement, Newell Rubbermaid said it accepted the fine and would fund "a joint venture involving child passenger safety initiatives in the future," but gave no other details on its plan.
If the company does not spend the additional $7 million safety improvements, it will have to pay the remainder of the fine to the government in five years, the department said. (Reporting by Susan Heavey)