The Obama administration is seeking substantially higher fines for auto safety violations even as automakers are quicker to report defects to U.S. regulators in the wake of Toyota Motor Corp.'s recall crisis. David Strickland, the government's top auto safety official as administrator of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, said on Thursday the current maximum fine of $17 million per case is inadequate.
He said it will not deter businesses with deep pockets from withholding safety information from regulators deliberately or inadvertently.
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