Civil Penalty

What It Means

Civil penalties are monetary fines NHTSA can assess against manufacturers, importers, dealers, equipment makers, and replacement parts suppliers for violations of the National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act. Under 49 U.S.C. 30165, as amended by the TREAD Act and periodically adjusted for inflation, the maximum penalty is currently about $27,168 per individual violation (for example, per vehicle or per day of late reporting), capped at a maximum of approximately $135.8 million per related series of violations as of 2025. Common violations that trigger civil penalties include: failing to file a Part 573 defect report within the statutory five business days of discovery; submitting incomplete or inaccurate Early Warning Reporting (EWR) quarterly data; failing to notify owners within the 60-day statutory window after a recall is filed; selling new vehicles with known open recalls; and producing vehicles that fail to meet Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS). Landmark civil penalties include Fiat Chrysler (2015) at $105 million for systemic recall mishandling across 23 campaigns; Hyundai-Kia (2020) combined $210 million for delayed engine-fire recall reporting; Honda (2015) $70 million for under-reporting EWR death and injury claims; Takata (2015) $200 million in civil penalties for the airbag inflator cover-up; and General Motors (2014) $35 million for delayed ignition switch reporting. Civil penalties are distinct from criminal fines imposed by the Department of Justice under the TREAD Act's criminal provisions, though the two often accompany each other in major cases (the GM case ultimately produced both a $35 million NHTSA civil penalty and a separate $900 million DOJ deferred prosecution agreement). RecallCheck does not currently display civil penalties per recall, but the civil penalty history of each major manufacturer provides context for how aggressively that manufacturer has historically managed safety issues.

Frequently Asked Questions