The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration just walloped Ferrari with a $3.5 million fine, after it revealed that the Italian supercar company neglected to file required safety reports for the past three years. The reports include three fatal accidents that Ferrari was required by law to submit to the NHTSA.
As the heart of the penalty are the early warning reports (EWRs) that auto manufacturers are required to send to the NHTSA every quarter. These reports identify potential or actual safety issues and "provide notice to the Department of potential safety concerns," according to the NHTSA.
For many years, Ferrari's small-volume manufacturer status exempted it from submitting these quarterly reports. But when parent company Fiat SpA acquired Chrysler Group in 2011, the exemption expired, and Ferrari has failed to submit any quarterly EWRs since then.
Perhaps more troublingly, the NHTSA says in a statement that Ferrari failed to report three fatal accidents, a requirement of every auto manufacturer that sells cars in the U.S. regardless of size.
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In a statement, U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx said, "our aggressive enforcement action today underscores the point that all automakers will be held accountable if they fail to do their part in our mission to keep Americans safe on the road." The agency has caught notable criticism in the past months over how it responded to EWRs, particularly those pertaining to the massive GM ignition switch recall.
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Ferrari spokesperson Krista Florin characterized the missing reports as inadvertent, and said in a statement that the company has "already begun implementation of new procedures to ensure full compliance in the future." It's unclear at this time how Fiat-Chrysler's decision to spin off Ferrari as an independent company will affect this or future safety reporting protocols.
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This story originally appeared on roadandtrack.com.
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