Feds To Fine Fiat Chrysler Automobiles $70M For Under-reporting Death, Injuries

Federal regulators Thursday fined Fiat Chrysler Automobiles $70 million for under-reporting death and injury claims from vehicles as far back as 2003, officials announced in a statement. The fine is related to a September announcement from the automaker to the Transportation Department that the automaker had violated terms of the Transportation Recall Enhancement, Accountability and Documentation (TREAD) Act.

The automaker issued a statement saying it would accept the penalty and agree to a consent order that would require FCA to submit crash data from the cars.

“FCA US LLC accepts these penalties and is revising its processes to ensure regulatory compliance. However, FCA US is confident that it identified and addressed all issues that arose during the relevant time period, using alternate data sources,” the company said in a statement.

In its Consent Order with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, FCA acknowledged that it had under reported the death and injury claims, but said that in large part, coding errors in its Early Warning Reporting system led to its failure to report claims to regulators.

By adding new brands to the automaker’s fold, the EWR system failed to accurately report crashes, according to the filing:

… Specifically, FCA US acknowledges that it did not report these death and injury incidents, in large part, because: 1) FCA US failed to report certain incidents due to coding problems in its EWR system that failed to recognize when reportable information was received or updated and, as a result, failed to report certain incidents to NHTSA; and 2) FCA US did not update its EWR system to reflect new FCA US brands.

Earlier this year, NHTSA fined Honda $70 million for similar violations of the TREAD Act.

“Today’s announcement sends a very clear message to the entire industry that manufacturers have responsibility for the complete and timely reporting of this critical safety information,” NHTSA Administrator Mark Rosekind said in January. “The actions we are requiring will push Honda to significantly raise the bar on the effectiveness of its (early warning reporting) program. Our ongoing oversight will ensure compliance and determine if there is cause for additional actions.”

The $70 million fine for FCA follows a $105 million fine by safety officials in July for botched recalls of nearly two dozen models of its vehicles that affected millions of cars.