Sands Chevrolet of Surprise, Arizona, was fined $40,000 by US regulators after selling two new cars subjected to an open recall without fixing them first.
The action fails to comply with federal law and the civil penalty was paid by the Chevy dealer after it reached a settlement with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) two years after the investigation was made public, AutomotiveNews writes.
In a brief interview, dealer operator at Sands Chevrolet, Jerry Moore, declined to comment and cited a confidentiality agreement with the feds: “It was something that happened a few years ago and we’re moving on from it.”
However, dealer representatives explained that selling the two cars was a mistake and blamed off-site storage. Since then, Sands Chevrolet have changed internal procedures and are now making sure that all cars are checked for open recalls before they are being sold.
The two recalled vehicles delivered to customers two years ago were Malibu Eco sedans, which were part of a safety campaign due to a malfunctioning generator control module, which could drain battery and causing the engine to stall, leading to possible fires in extreme cases. Both of them were repaired at a later date, after their customers took delivery.
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