DETROIT (AP) — Ford Motor Co. will pay the US government a penalty of up to $165 million for proceeding too slowly with a recall and failing to provide accurate information about the recall.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says in a statement Thursday that the civil penalty is the second largest in its 54-year history. Only the fine Takata paid for the defective airbag inflators was higher.

The agency says Ford was too slow to recall vehicles with defective rearview cameras and failed to provide the agency with complete information, which is required by the federal Motor Vehicle Safety Act.

Ford agreed to a consent order with the agency including a $65 million payment and $45 million in costs to comply with the law. Another $55 million will be deferred.

“Timely and accurate recalls are critical to keeping everyone safe on our roads,” NHTSA Deputy Administrator Sophie Shulman said in the statement. “When manufacturers fail to prioritize the safety of the American public and meet their obligations under federal law, NHTSA will hold them accountable.”

Under the order, an independent third party will monitor the automaker’s vehicle recall performance obligations for at least three years, and Ford must cooperate with the monitor.

Ford must also review all recalls from the past three years to ensure enough vehicles have been recalled and file new recalls if necessary.

The company also needs to review and change its recall decision-making process, improving the way it analyzes data to find safety defects in its vehicles. They also need to invest in technology to be able to track parts by vehicle identification numbers.

Ford says it will invest the $45 million in advanced data analytics, a new document system and a new testing lab.

“We appreciate the opportunity to resolve this issue with NHTSA and remain committed to continuous safety improvement,” Ford said in a statement.

By law, an automaker must notify NHTSA by filing a defect report within five business days of learning that a line of vehicles has a safety defect.

issues recall of more than 620,000 vehicles in the USmore than 700,000 in North America, came in September 2020 for rearview cameras that can fail several 2020 models, including the F-series pickup, the best-selling vehicle in the U.S.

In agency documents, NHTSA said Ford found warranty claims about the defective cameras from February to April 2020, and the issue was brought to a Ford committee in May of that year.

In July 2020, NHTSA contacted Ford about complaints received about defective cameras, and during an August 2020 meeting with NHTSA, Ford showed data for many 2020 models with high rates of camera failures.

The company issued the recall on September 23, 2020, and about a year later, NHTSA began investigating whether the recall was done quickly enough or included enough vehicles.

In 2022 and 2024, Ford issued two more recalls for the same problem, adding approximately 24,000 vehicles in the first camera recall.

In the consent order, NHTSA said its investigation found Ford violated several parts of the law by moving too slowly to recall vehicles with defective cameras, providing the agency with inaccurate or incomplete information and failing to file required quarterly reports on additional recalls .

The order said Ford disagreed with his claims.

For several years, high warranty and recall costs have hurt Ford’s profits, but the company says it is working to fix the problems.