http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2014...y-related-probe

Toyota has to pay Holder over a billion dollars over this issue but GM gets to skate on real vehicle issues that are killing people as we speak because they didn't want to spend $1 on a recall fix. Seems fair, right?

Zitat

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"One of the largest fines ever imposed on an auto maker" will be announced Wednesday morning, .

Attorney Gen. Eric Holder and other federal officials are expected to say that Toyota Motor Corp. has agreed to pay about $1.2 billion to "end a criminal probe into its disclosure of safety issues," the Journal reports.

Holder, Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx and U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Preet Bharara are due to hold a news conference at 9:30 a.m. ET.

, the settlement will end "a U.S. criminal probe. ... Toyota recalled more than 10 million vehicles worldwide in 2009 and 2010 following complaints of sudden, unintended acceleration. ... The probe examined whether Toyota made false or incomplete disclosures to regulators about defects in its cars, and how it handled drivers' complaints."

This is not the first large payout related to the sudden acceleration issue that Toyota has agreed to make.

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"From 2010 through 2012, Toyota Motor Corp. paid fines totaling more than $66 million for delays in reporting unintended acceleration problems. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration never found defects in electronics or software in Toyota cars, which had been targeted as a possible cause by many, including some experts."

In late 2012, , "owners of Toyota vehicles that experienced sudden and unintended acceleration ... reached a settlement that could require the carmaker to pay as much as $1.4 billion in claims." At issue in those cases: the financial damage done to the car owners when the value of their vehicles dropped because of the reports about sudden acceleration.

, in January 2013, Toyota settled lawsuits with the relatives of two people who died in crashes allegedly caused by sudden acceleration. Terms of the settlement were not disclosed.

Toyota is not the only automaker in the news this week because of safety issues. General Motors has now in recent days because of various problems, and for "the loss of life that has occurred." A defect in some GM vehicles' ignition switches has been linked to at least 12 deaths.

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