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"  Toyota&amp;#039;s ascension to the top of 2012&amp;#039;s sales heap hasn&amp;#039;t come without a cost: the newly crowned automaker has been fined $17,350,000 for not handling unintended acceleration issues with Lexus RX350 and RX450h SUVs in a timely manner. &amp;quot;It&amp;#039;s critical to the safety of the driving public that manufacturers report safety defects in a timely manner,&amp;quot; National Traffic Safety Administration head David Strickland said in a statement. &amp;quot;Every moment of delay has the potential to lead to deaths or injuries on our nation&amp;#039;s highways.&amp;quot; Toyota replied in a statement saying that they &amp;quot;...agreed to this settlement in order to avoid a time-consuming dispute and to focus fully on our shared commitment with NHTSA to keep drivers safe.&amp;quot; The fine follows a NHTSA probe launched in May, when the organization approached Toyota about issues with floor mats interfering with accelerator pedal movement; it wasn&amp;#039;t until June that Toyota recalled 154,036 RX-series SUVs. This latest fine follows a mammoth $48.8 million fine paid two years ago for similar issues in Toyota vehicles.  Source: CNN Money "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.popularmechanics.com/cars/a8538/toyota-slapped-with-record-17-million-dollar-fine/>