Vehicle Recall Violations: Fiat Chrysler Automobiles Slapped With $105 Million Fine

Automobile company Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) will be facing a $105 million fine due to violations in vehicle recalls. Federal regulators reportedly charged the record penalty against Fiat Chrysler on Sunday, July 26, following their thorough auto safety clear out.

The New York Times reports that the penalty the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) filed against FCA is the "largest ever imposed" on an automobile company. The federal regulators charged the $105 million fine against the Italian-American automobile manufacturer for failure to accomplish 23 safety recalls which covers over 11 million vehicles.

Fiat Chrysler is also required to buy back 500,000 defective vehicles and surrender to outside oversight on their safety practices.

"This civil penalty puts manufacturers on notice that the department will act when they do not take their obligations to repair safety defects seriously," Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx said in the NY Times report.

Mark R. Rosekind, the head of the of the NHTSA, stated that the heavy penalty on FCA is an outcome of the automobile company's prolonged failures in repairing the recalled vehicles with defective suspensions and Jeeps that have rear-mounted gas tanks that are prone to fires.

"Fiat Chrysler's pattern of poor performance put millions of its customers, and the driving public, at risk," Rosekind said in the same report.

NHTSA has the authority to inflict a $35 million fine for an unaccomplished individual safety recall. The agency's most recent action aims to increase the pressure on the automakers in repairing their defective vehicles.

Fiat Chrysler has admitted the safety violations in a released consent agreement on Sunday.

"We also accept the resulting consequences with renewed resolve to improve our handling of recalls and re-establish the trust our customers place in us," the company stated in a Wall Street Journal report.

On July 2, a public hearing was held to focus on a 2009 FCA case where there were 23 separate safety recalls. The federal officials confirmed that the company has failed to inform the clients on safety recalls and repairs on the defective vehicles.

Fiat Chrysler has already began conducting their vehicle recalls since the July 2 hearing. One safety recall of the automobile company has covered 1.4 million vehicles that are at risk to computer hackers.

For questions/comments regarding the article, you may email the writer at j.villamarin@ibtimes.com.au.