Even in a record year for U.S. auto recalls, lawmakers are urging measures that would let federal regulators get vehicles off the road even faster.
Along with some members of Congress, the Obama administration wants to give the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration a huge boost in authority that would let it demand quicker recalls and impose far steeper fines, the Detroit News reported.
Under current law, automakers must recall unsafe vehicles within five days or face a fine.
The NHTSA has already been more active in recent years following a 2010 backlash surrounding a fatal crash in a Toyota vehicle.
The agency was under fire then for purportedly not doing enough to push Toyota to fix problems with sudden acceleration in some models, but the NHTSA has been far more aggressive this year to push General Motors to recall millions of vehicles connected with fatal ignition switch problems.
Federal regulators also recently pressured Chrysler into hurrying a Jeep SUV recall the agency claimed would take nearly five years to complete at the automaker's rate.
"The administration has clearly been taking a much more aggressive approach when it comes to holding automakers accountable," acting NHTSA administrator David Friedman told the Detroit News.
The U.S. auto industry has broken records this year by recalling 40 million vehicles so far, including 25.7 million from GM. 2004 was the previous biggest year for recalls with 30.8 million vehicles.
GM, which is still under investigation from the Justice Department, has agreed to pay a $35 million federal fine for its near-decade-long delay in fixing ignition switches in a range of models. While $35 million is the current maximum fine, the Obama administration is urging Congress to spike the limit to a whopping $300 million, Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx said in April.
The administration bill would additionally penalize individual auto executives connected with delayed safety recalls since it would "make individuals who commit violations ... liable for civil penalties when they act willfully to cause or commit a violation."
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