DaimlerChrysler to pay for Clean Air violation

DaimlerChrysler and its Mercedes-Benz USA unit agreed to pay a $1.2-million civil penalty for failing to disclose defects in air pollution controls on Mercedes vehicles from 1998 to 2006, the Justice Department said.

Failing to notify the Environmental Protection Agency of emission-control defects is a violation of the Clean Air Act, the Justice Department said in a statement in Washington.

The lack of notification “is a serious violation because it deprived EPA of the opportunity to promptly determine whether emission standards would be exceeded and whether to order a recall of any of these vehicles,” Assistant Atty. Gen. Sue Ellen Wooldridge said in the statement.

In response to the EPA’s investigation, Mercedes began voluntary recalls for two defects and notified owners that it would extend warranty coverage for a third defect, at a cost of about $59 million, the government said.