Toyota has agreed to pay a $16.4m fine, the biggest ever imposed on a carmaker, for failing to notify US authorities promptly about defective accelerator pedals in more than 2m of its vehicles.

丰田汽车(Toyota)已同意就未能迅速知会美国监管当局其200多万辆汽车存在油门踏板问题而支付1640万美元罚款。这一罚金是有史以来针对汽车制造商的最高额罚款。

The world's biggest carmaker said yesterday that it would pay the fine “to avoid a protracted dispute and possible litigation.”

全球最大汽车制造商昨日表示，公司将支付罚款，“以避免旷日持久的纠纷和可能的诉讼”。

However, it denied that it had violated the US Safety Act or government vehicle-safety regulations. "We have acknowledged that we could have done a better job of sharing relevant information within our global operations and outside the company,"Toyota said. But "we did not try to hide a defect to avoid dealing with a safety problem."

但该公司否认违反了美国机动车安全法或政府相关条例。“我们承认，我们本可以更好地在全球业务内部乃至公司以外共享相关信息，”丰田表示。但“我们并未试图为了避免应付安全问题而隐瞒缺陷。”

Battered by a series of damaging recalls, Congressional investigations and scores of lawsuits, the company pledged "to make an even greater effort" to deliver reliable vehicles and respond to consumer feedback "with honesty and integrity".

在一系列有损声誉的召回、美国国会调查和多起法律诉讼的围攻下，丰田誓言“加倍努力”生产可靠的汽车，并“诚实、诚信地”对待消费者反馈。

Ray LaHood, US transportation secretary, expressed satisfaction that Toyota "has accepted responsibility for violating its legal obligations to report any defects promptly". But Mr LaHood said that the government was continuing to investigate whether Toyota had breached its obligations to disclose other safety defects. He said that investigators were reviewing Toyota statements and more than 120,000 pages of company documents.

美国运输部长雷•拉胡德(Ray LaHood)对此表示满意，称丰田“已接受责任，承认违反了迅速报告任何产品缺陷的法律义务”。但拉胡德表示，美国政府将继续调查丰田是否还违反了披露其它安全缺陷的义务。他表示，调查人员正在审查丰田的声明和逾12万页的公司文件。

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration imposed the fine, the heaviest allowed by law, on the grounds that Toyota delayed recalls of 2.3m vehicles by almost four months after becoming aware of the sticky accelerator problem. In the wake of Toyota's run-in with NHTSA, two Congressional committees are drafting new car safety legislation that is likely to include stiffer penalties for delays in disclosing safety defects.

美国国家高速公路交通安全管理局(NHTSA)开出的这份罚单金额是法律允许的上限，依据是丰田在意识到棘手的踏板问题后，推迟了近四个月才宣布召回230万辆汽车。在丰田与NHTSA发生争执后，两个国会委员会正起草新的汽车安全法规，可能会对拖延披露安全缺陷给予更严厉的处罚。