Toyota Settles With U.S. Government for $1.2 Billion

As rival General Motors is making headlines for a massive recall, events surrounding Toyota’s own large 2009-2010 recall of millions of vehicles for unintended acceleration is ending.

Toyota today announces it will pay the U.S. government $1.2 billion for failing to recall affected vehicles sooner. The automaker will book the charge in after-tax earnings in the current fiscal year, ending March 31.

The agreement, with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, resolves “its investigation initiated in February 2010 into the communications and decision-making processes related to the company’s 2009-2010 recalls to address potential sticking accelerator pedals and floor-mat entrapment,” Toyota says in a statement.

As long as the automaker follows through on the payment and abides by other stipulations, including continuing cooperation with the government, the U.S. will dismiss the case against the Japanese automaker.

Also part of the settlement is the requirement an independent monitor will review Toyota’s safety communication policies and procedures, the process it uses to share vehicle accident information internally, and the process Toyota has established for preparing and sharing technical reports.

Toyota Motor North America’s Chief Legal Officer, Christopher Reynolds, reiterates Toyota’s changed corporate structure in light of the sticky-pedal and mat-entrapment recalls.

The structural changes include giving each region the company operates in more autonomy, increasing the number of field quality offices and paying $50 million toward the establishment of a safety research center in Ann Arbor, MI.

Today’s announcement comes more than a year after Toyota settled with consumers who alleged loss of resale value for vehicles embroiled in the recall. In December 2012, Toyota agreed to pay $1.1 billion to settle a resale-value-related class-action lawsuit in the U.S.

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