Toyota to pay £11m fine over pedal defect

Toyota has agreed to pay a record $16.4m (£11m) fine for failing to properly notify federal authorities about a dangerous pedal defect, the US government said.

The fine is the largest-ever penalty paid by a car maker to the US government, and is connected to a January recall of 2.3 million

vehicles with sticking accelerator pedals.

Transportation secretary Ray LaHood said that by failing to report safety problems, Toyota put consumers at risk. The government says Toyota knew about the problem in late September and failed to report the defect within five business days, as required by law.

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Toyota said in a statement that it agreed to the penalty "to avoid a protracted dispute and possible litigation", allowing it to move forward.

The company denied the government's allegation that it violated the law, saying it "did not try to hide a defect to avoid dealing with a safety problem".

When it announced the recall in January, Toyota said it was aimed at addressing sticking pedals on popular vehicles such as the Camry and Corolla.

The company has recalled more than eight million vehicles worldwide because of acceleration problems in multiple models and braking issues in the Prius hybrid.

The fine was based upon timelines provided by Toyota that showed it had known about the pedal defect at least since September 29, 2009

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