In a Consent Order executed on December 29, 2014, American Honda Motor Co. (Honda) admitted that it violated the Safety Act by failing to report certain death and injury incidents that were required to be reported to NHTSA under 49 C.F.R. ? 579.21(b), and by failing to report certain customer satisfaction campaigns, special warranty extensions, and warranty claims that involved goodwill, third-party vehicle service contracts, or Honda-certified, pre-owned vehicles, as required by 49 C.F.R. ? 579.21(c).As part of the Consent Order, NHTSA assessed a total civil penalty of $70 million against Honda for its violations of the TREAD Act and associated regulations. Honda timely paid the civil penalty in full on January 20, 2015. Honda also agreed to develop written procedures for comprehensive early warning reporting in compliance with 49 C.F.R. Part 579, Subpart C; to train appropriate personnel on its early warning reporting requirements and written procedures; and to complete two third-party audits of its TREAD Act reporting.NHTSA opened this audit query (AQ) investigation in order to investigate the extent and scope of Honda's failure to report early warning information pursuant to the TREAD Act, as well as the reason(s) for such failures and the steps being taken by Honda to assure full compliance with TREAD reporting requirements.Based on the Consent Order, Honda's admissions that it violated the law, and the completion of its performance obligations, this audit query, AQ14-004, is closed. Closure of this AQ has no bearing on the terms of the Consent Order and does not represent a determination by the Agency as to Honda's performance under the Consent Order.
