The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has levied with Triumph Motorcycles with a $2.9 million civil penalty for violations of Safety Act reporting requirements and failure to fully respond to communications from NHTSA.
That sum includes a $1.4 million cash penalty that Triumph must pay to the NHTSA, as well as a $500,000 expenditure in order to meet a series of requirements to improve its safety practices. Triumph could have to pay an added $1 million in penalties should the company violate the consent order or if additional Safety Act violations emerge.
The consent order also requires Triumph to hire an independent consultant to audit the company’s safety practices; establish a compliance officer position with direct access to the company’s board and senior executives; and submit written plans for compliance practices and employee training for NHTSA’s approval.
“Manufacturers must comply with their reporting obligations. The law requires it, and public safety demands it,” said US Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx. “When companies fail to meet those obligations, we will hold them accountable.”
“Today’s enforcement action penalizes past violations, and it promotes the proactive safety culture manufacturers must adopt if they are to reduce safety defects and identify them more quickly than they occur,” said NHTSA Administrator Mark Rosekind.
This multi-million dollar penalty stems from Triumph’s September 2014 recall of more than 1,300 motorcycles for a defect that could reduce steering capability and increase the risk of a crash.
From actions in that recall, the NHTSA began an investigation into whether Triumph had violated requirements to report the defect in a timely manner, and into other potential violations.
In response to NHTSA’s investigation, Triumph acknowledged deficiencies in the manner in which it collected and reported early warning data to NHTSA and several instances where Triumph was late in providing quarterly reports on safety recalls. Triumph also admitted that it violated several provisions of the Safety Act.
Source: NHTSA
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