The Obama administration slapped Toyota Motor Corp. on Monday with $32.425 million in civil penalties, the maximum allowed by law, for failing to properly disclose what it knew about safety defects linked to recalls of millions of vehicles last year and earlier this year.

Toyota earlier this year paid a record $16.375 million to resolve a related government investigation, and has agreed to pay the new fines, the U.S. Transportation Department and the company said in statements released Monday.

In all, Toyota will have paid about $49 million to the U.S. government for infractions related to the recall of millions of vehicles globally over gas-pedal and sudden-acceleration problems. A fourth U.S. investigation into the recalls is ongoing, a U.S. official said.

The settlements come roughly 10 months after Toyota Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Akio Toyoda testified before Congress to both apologize for his company's handling of a series of safety scandals that led to the recalls of more than five million vehicles for defects linked to unintended acceleration. Mr. Toyoda vowed to overhaul the way the company dealt with U.S. regulators and consumers, including giving North American executives more say in quality and safety recall decisions.

'These agreements are an opportunity to turn the page to an even more constructive relationship' with U.S. safety regulators, Toyota said in a statement.

Toyota's agreement to pay the fines comes as the company is fighting to regain momentum in the U.S. market after suffering damaging blows to its reputation for quality and corporate integrity.

Monday's fines resulted from investigations that determined Toyota failed to report defects to regulators in a timely fashion. One investigation was prompted by the fatal crash in August 2009 of a California Highway Patrol officer and his family, who died when the trooper couldn't stop his Lexus from speeding up and crashed into another car.

'Auto makers are required to report any safety defects to NHTSA swiftly, and we expect them to do so,' said David Strickland, head of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. 'NHTSA acknowledges Toyota's efforts to make improvements to its safety culture, and our agency will continue to hold all auto makers accountable for defects to protect consumers' safety.'

美国奥巴马政府本周一对丰田汽车公司(Toyota Motor Corp.)处以3,242.5万美元的民事罚款，因为后者未能完全披露其所知道的与该公司去年和今年早些时候召回数百万辆汽车有关的汽车安全缺陷。这一罚款额是美国法律所允许的罚款上限。

美国运输部和丰田汽车公司在周一发表的声明中说，丰田今年早些时候拿出创纪录的1,637.5万美元来了结一项美国政府对其展开的相关调查，并已同意向美国政府支付上述罚款。

丰田总计将向美国政府支付约4,900万美元，以弥补与其在全球召回数百万辆汽车有关的侵害，这些汽车是因存在油门踏板问题和出现突然加速问题而被召回的。一位美国官员说，美国正在就这一召回事件展开第四宗调查。

在丰田汽车公司与美国政府达成这些和解前大约十个月，该公司董事长兼首席执行长丰田章男(Akio Toyoda)出席了美国国会的听证会，他在会上就丰田对该公司一系列安全丑闻的不当处理导致公司召回500多万辆汽车一事以及该公司与汽车突然加速有关的产品缺陷问题表示了道歉。丰田章男当时保证，要大力改革丰田与美国监管机构和消费者打交道的方式，包括给公司北美业务的管理人士在质量和产品召回决策方面更大的发言权。

丰田汽车公司在一份声明中说，公司与美国政府达成的这些和解协议，将使丰田与美国安全监管部门的关系有机会翻开更具建设性的一页。

就在丰田同意向美国政府支付罚款之际，该公司正努力在美国市场重新赢得增长动力，此前该公司因产品质量和诚实度问题而使自身声誉遭受了破坏性打击。

美国政府之所以周一作出向丰田罚款的决定，是因为此前进行的调查认定，该公司未能及时向监管部门汇报产品缺陷问题。美国政府的一项调查是在美国加州一名高速公路巡逻员及其家人2009年发生一起致命性撞车事故的推动下进行的，当时这名巡逻员无法阻止他所驾那辆雷克萨斯(Lexus)轿车不断加速，这辆车后来撞上了另一辆轿车，导致这名巡逻员死亡。

美国全国高速公路交通安全委员会(NHTSA)的负责人斯特里克兰(David Strickland)说，汽车生产商需要向NHTSA迅速报告其任何产品缺陷，我们希望他们能这样做；NHTSA承认丰田在改善其安全文化方面所付出的努力，为保护消费者的安全，NHTSA将继续让所有汽车生产商为其产品缺陷负起责来。