Toyota has paid $16.4 million dollars in fines. This was paid in order to settle charges by the federal government insisting that the auto manufacturer hid vehicle defects. The feds claim the defects were hidden for at least four months. Aside from the $16.4 million, one Los Angeles injury attorney stated that this is just the beginning of fines Toyota will pay once their product liability issues have been settled.

The automaker said they paid the fine in order to move forward. The company hopes to focus on steps to strengthen the quality assurance operations. Still, Toyota emphasized that it is paying the fine although not admitting to any wrongdoing.

The fine is the largest permitted by law. It is also the largest civil penalty ever assessed against an automaker. The fine related to the 'sticky pedal and slow-to-return pedal' defects causing a still unknown amount of car accidents. These defects resulted in the company recalling 2.3 million vehicles in January in the United States. By law an automaker must disclose any type of safety defect within five days of learning about such. In this situation Toyota did not respond until four months later.

The U.S. Senate's Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation will hold hearings this week to discuss auto safety legislation. This is a result from the response to Toyota's handling of recalling 6.4 million of their vehicles in the U.S.