The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) announced that it investigated after the company recalled more than 1,300 motorcycles for a defect that could reduce steering capability, and the company filed a late response to a NHTSA Special Order. Yesterday August 31, 2015 the NHTSA imposed a $2.9 million civil penalty against Triumph Motorcycles Ltd. and Triumph Motorcycles (America) Ltd. for violations of Safety Act reporting requirements and failure to fully respond to the agency’s communications.
“Manufacturers must comply with their reporting obligations. The law requires it, and public safety demands it,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx. “When companies fail to meet those obligations, we will hold them accountable.” Under a consent order issued to Triumph, the company must pay a $1.4 million cash penalty and must spend at least $500,000 meeting a series of requirements to improve its safety practices. An additional $1 million in penalties could become due if the company violates the consent order or if additional Safety Act violations emerge.
The penalty stems from Triumph’s September 2014 recall of more than 1,300 motorcycles for a defect that could reduce steering capability and increase the risk of a crash. This April, NHTSA began an investigation into whether Triumph had violated the requirement to report the defect in a timely manner, and into other potential violations, including failure to submit quarterly reports on recall completion rates.
In response to NHTSA’s investigation, Triumph acknowledged deficiencies in the manner in which it collected and reported early warning data to NHTSA and several instances where Triumph was late in providing quarterly reports on safety recalls. In addition, the company failed to respond by the required deadline to a NHTSA Special Order issued as part of the investigation. Triumph admits that it violated the Safety Act by failing to file certain quarterly reports on safety recalls in a timely manner; by failing to furnish NHTSA with copies of notices, service bulletins, and other communications sent to more than one manufacturer, distributor, dealer, owner or purchaser as required by law; and by failing to submit accurate early warning reports.
Hey, Triumph. Don’t play with our safety!
Sounds like a load of crap. George, do you ride a Triumph? I doubt the safety recall is even unsafe. How many bikes crashed because of this? Well I guess George did.
@Steal Your Face, the only load of crap I see here is your post. Did you have an actual point to make or are you just here to be a jerk?
Hard to imagine what “…could reduce steering capability…” even means, let alon figure out how to measure it.
Given the lack of scooter-savvy at NHSA its possible they don’t know what counter-steer is and are simply complaining that a Triumph doesn’t steer out on the road like it does in a parking lot….. 🙂
-nicker-
The NHTSA investigation was opened in April of 2015. Triumph recalled its motorcycles in September of 2014. I know its patriotic to assume that all government oversight is bad, but in this case, It doesn’t appear that the bureaucracy is to blame.
What “exactly” is this defect? Anyone know?
Dave Blevins,
Tx for the only sensible comment here – indeed; exactly what is the “fault”?
I don’t own a Trumpet but I too would like to know what the defect is. That isn’t the core issue though.
I pay taxes. The feds have a laundry list of things they do with my money, much of it providing zero value to me. Requiring highway use vehicles to report failures in a timely manner, that one I have no problem with. I am on that highway.
Triumph may have done nothing worse than sloppy document control, but that’s the point. You sell a product to Americans, you sign on to insuring that it performs to a standard you agree to meet. If you fail to meet the standards, you set about correcting it and that includes prompt reporting. That is, unless we want to pay regulators to stand over Triumphs assembly line verifying every bike is up to scratch. You can add another zero on the end of the pricetag if you go that route.
They left themselves wide open for a spanking and they got it. They manned up and admitted their error. More importantly, other manufacturers can see that failure to report gets you a ticket which can result in explaining to stockholders why the CEO should continue to drag down stupid money when he hasn’t done job one… maintain a tight ship.
In this case, or other cases, who profits from this assessment/fine? Where does the money go?
RE:
“… I know its patriotic to assume that all government oversight is bad …”
-No-
In this governments case its not a matter of patriotism, its a matter of necessity.
They’ve proven to be, not just incompetent, but also criminally negligent.
-nicker-
The fine is for failure to properly file paperwork, not the actual defect, whatever that might have been. The description of the problem sounds like utter bullshit to me! Motorcyclists are far more competent than automobilists, and perfectly capable of moving a wire/hose out of the way…
RE:
“… utter bullshit …”
-Yes-
Could be the catalyst for a new term:
“Uber Bullshit”
-nicker-