“So, does Toyota get their fines returned ?”
NO.
Toyota was fined because they failed to report knowledge of defects within the 5 day period required by law. The fines were attached to defects which Toyota did in fact put out recalls for. In the case of the 4Runner, it was a defect that there is evidence Toyota knew of for more than a decade before recalling the vehicles in Japan, then waited another year before recalling them in the US, despite the designs being identical.
There are a lot of people confusing the release of these findings with an exoneration of Toyota. If you read it carefully, it is obvious that what is being stated is that they were unable to find any evidence of a software or electronic problem behind Toyota’s high rate of unintended acceleration complaints (which started back in 2002, YEARS before these stories broke in the press). That does not say there wasn’t a problem - they clearly state that the only problems they have been able to find were the floor mat entrapment and sticky gas pedal issues.
Toyota clearly violated the law in these cases - heck, in one case, they recalled the vehicles in Canada and then waited 6 weeks to notify the US government and start a recall in the US of the identical vehicles.
So again - those fines were not related to simply having an unintended acceleration problem... they were for failure to notify the gov’t and take swift action when there was a known problem.
thanks ..that make sense.
Nonsense. Toyota was fined because it was politically expedient to do so.