A luxury automaker has been sentenced to pay $12.5 million for failing to inform consumers about the recall of life-threatening airbags.
Mercedes-Benz is required to pay a $12.5 million fine.
It was determined that the business did not successfully recall its defective Takata airbags.
Approximately 33 fatalities have been related with defective Takata airbags worldwide.
Mercedes-Benz was ordered by the Federal Court to pay the fine within 30 days.
Mercedes-Benz has been sentenced to pay a penalty of $12.5 million for failing to use attention-grabbing wording when informing consumers about the recall of potentially lethal Takata airbags.
The corporation has acknowledged to violating consumer law by failing to comply with a federally mandated recall notification issued in 2018.
Delia Rickard, vice chair of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, said that it was the first time a company had been punished for violating such an order.
The federal court has ordered luxury automobile company Mercedes-Benz to pay a $12.5 million fine.
A Federal Court judgement issued on Friday states that a total of 23 Mercedes-Benz owners were advised the recall was precautionary between 2018 and 2020.
Four consumers were informed in 2020 that airbags in cars from other manufacturers did not contain defects or cause accidents, injuries, or fatalities.
Takata airbags have been linked to around 33 fatalities, including one in Australia, and over 350 injuries worldwide.
Ms. Rickard said, “We feel that the remarks made by Mercedes-Benz employees might have given customers the idea that the airbag repair was less essential than the actual hazards presented.”
The court ruled that Mercedes neglected to recall defective Takata airbags that were responsible for 33 fatalities worldwide.
Suppliers were expected to recall and repair faulty airbags by December 31, 2020, as well as establish and execute a strategy to maximize airbag replacement via customer communication.
“Given that the dangers… grew over time, we were worried about any possible delays in replacing these defective airbags,” Ms. Rickard said.
The ACCC classified the Takata recall as the largest recall in Australian history, since it affects four million airbags in about three million cars.
The Federal Court ordered Mercedes-Benz to pay the fine and $100,000 towards the ACCC’s expenses within thirty days.
By July 2021, according to the ACCC, manufacturers had successfully recalled 99.9 percent of cars with defective Takata airbags.