NHTSA Hits BMW With $40 Million Fine For Safety Violations

U.S. safety regulators have hit BMW with a $40 million penalty for moving too slowly to fix Mini brand cars that failed federal crash tests. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) additionally said the automaker failed to send the agency accurate recall information.

In accordance with a consent order that has been signed by the company, BMW must pay $10 million in cash and spend an additional $10 million on steps to get into full compliance. If the automaker doesn’t comply or commits other safety violations, it must pay another $20 million in fines.

NHTSA said in a statement that BMW has agreed to take the necessary steps to ensure that the violations don’t occur again. The consent order is for two years, with NHTSA retaining the right to extend it for a third year if deemed necessary.

This is the second fine against BMW in three years for similar problems, after NHTSA fined the automaker $3 million in 2012.

“The requirement to launch recalls and inform consumers in a timely fashion when a safety defect or noncompliance is discovered is fundamental to our system for protecting the traveling public,” wrote NHTSA administrator Mark Rosekind in a statement. “This is a must-do.”

This marks the resolution of an investigation that started in September to determine whether BMW notified NHTSA within the legally required five days of discovering that 2014 and 2015 Mini Cooper models failed to meet side-impact crash standards. According to the agency, a Mini two-door Hardtop Cooper failed a crash test in October 2014, with BMW responding by saying that the car was listed with an incorrect weight rating and would pass at the proper weight, as lighter cars face less stringent crash tests.

At that time, BMW agreed to a recall to fix the weight rating on the cars and to do a service campaign to add side-impact protection. However, in July 2015, NHTSA conducted a second crash test at the corrected weight rating and the Mini again failed to meet the required standards. Additionally, the agency found out that BMW never actually did the service campaign to bolster side-impact protection.

According to NHTSA, BMW has acknowledged in the consent order that it did not do the recall quickly enough, and that it moved too slowly to notify owners and dealers of other recalls since it was fined in 2012.

“The consent order NHTSA has issued not only penalizes this misconduct, it requires BMW to take a series of steps to remedy the practices and procedures that led to these violations,” U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx said in a statement.

This week, BMW said that it has agreed to carry out the necessary steps to improve its recall and reporting processes.

“The company is committed to further improving its recall processes to better serve its customers,” said the automaker. “BMW NA respects the role of NHTSA and looks forward to working with them to develop solutions for the future.”