Contact

Click here for a confidential contact or call:

1-347-417-2192

Auto Safety

This archive displays posts tagged as relevant to auto safety and the Auto Safety Whistleblower Reward Program. You may also be interested in the following pages:

Page 3 of 4

South Korea Orders Major Hyundai, Kia Recall After Whistleblower Report

Posted  05/12/17
By the C|C Whistleblower Lawyer Team In the first whistleblower case to hit South Korea's auto industry, Kim Gwang-ho, a Hyundai engineer with 26 years at the company, made allegations about 32 problems to local regulators.  In response, South Korea ordered Hyundai Motor Co and affiliate Kia Motors Corp to recall 240,000 vehicles over safety defects flagged by a whistleblower - a sharp slap on the wrist that will...

February 27, 2017

Tokyo-based Takata Corporation pleaded guilty and was sentenced to pay a total of $1 billion in criminal penalties stemming from the company’s conduct in relation to sales of defective airbag inflators.  According to admissions made during the course of the guilty plea, Takata carried out a scheme to defraud its customers and auto manufacturers by providing false and manipulated airbag inflator test data that made the performance of the company’s airbag inflators appear better than it actually was.  Even after the inflators began to experience repeated problems in the field, Takata executives continued to withhold the true and accurate inflator test information and data from their customers. DOJ

Takata Pleads Guilty to Airbag Scheme

Posted  02/28/17
By the C|C Whistleblower Lawyer Team Tokyo-based Takata Corporation, one of the world’s largest suppliers of automotive safety-related equipment, pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud and was sentenced to pay a total of $1 billion in criminal penalties stemming from the company’s conduct in relation to sales of defective airbag inflators. Two restitution funds will be established with the payout: a $125...

Celebrating Motor Vehicle Safety Whistleblower Act's First Anniversary

Posted  12/6/16
Ari Yampolsky published in The Hill.  Click here to read the article. (December 6, 2016)

Celebrating Motor Vehicle Safety Whistleblower Act's First Anniversary

Posted  12/6/16
By Ari Yampolsky (Published in The Hill) In December 2015, Congress enacted the Motor Vehicle Safety Whistleblower Act, which offers monetary rewards to auto-industry insiders who report serious safety violations. Yet one year later, safety advocates are still waiting to see if federal regulators will make good on Congress’s commitment to give whistleblowers a central role in the agency’s enforcement...

In Their Own Words — Lamprey

Posted  05/12/16

-- “The next big auto-safety debacle is not a question of if, but when. . . .  The Motor Vehicle Safety Whistleblower Act gives bold and concerned insiders whose employers refuse to address safety issues the protections and financial incentives they need to stand up for the public good.”

Whistleblower attorney Wayne Lamprey commenting on recent legislation encouraging whistleblowers to reveal problems in the auto...

Auto Whistleblower Law Will Help Keep Public Safe

Posted  05/12/16
CC Attorney Wayne T. Lamprey
Wayne Lamprey published in the Detroit Free Press (May 12, 2016).  Click here to read.

January 28, 2016

General Motors Company, Jim Koons Management and Lithia Motors Inc. have agreed to settle separate FTC administrative complaint allegations that each touted how rigorously they inspect their cars, yet failed to disclose that some of the used cars they were selling were subject to unrepaired safety recalls. Jim Koons Management, which has 15 dealerships in the Mid-Atlantic region, and Oregon-based Lithia Motors Inc., which has more than 100 stores in the West and Midwest, are two of the nation’s largest used car dealers. FTC

September 17, 2015

Detroit-based auto maker General Motors entered into a deferred prosecution agreement with a host of federal regulators to settle criminal and civil charges of failing to disclose a deadly safety defect in its cars relating to the ignition switch.  Under the agreement, GM will pay $900 million and have an independent monitor appointed to oversee GM’s reporting of safety Issues and public statements.  Whistleblower Insider

March 19, 2014

Toyota agreed to pay $1.2B to resolve allegations of criminal wire fraud for misleading consumers by concealing and making deceptive statements about two safety issues affecting its vehicles which caused a type of unintended acceleration. It is the largest penalty of its kind ever imposed on an automotive company. DOJ