NHTSA: Fiat Chrysler under-reported number of deaths

The scope of Fiat Chrysler's failure to handle recalls efficiently deepened Tuesday as the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration accused the automaker of widely underreporting the number of deaths in accidents involving its vehicles.

The revelation of the discrepancy — which NHTSA administrator Mark Rosekind called "significant" — comes about two months after the automaker agreed to pay fines of up to $105 million for its failure to report recalls quickly and fix vehicles effectively.

Rosekind on Tuesday pledged in a statement to "take appropriate action after gathering additional information on the scope and causes of this failure," signaling that additional fines are possible.

The federal agency had promised to punish Fiat Chrysler further if it discovered any more problems in its recall processes during the course of its investigation.

Rosekind said NHTSA notified Fiat Chrysler of the "apparent discrepancy" in late July, after which the automaker investigated the matter and discovered "significant under-reported notices and claims of deaths, injuries and other information" the company is legally required to report.

Fiat Chrysler said in a statement that it "promptly notified NHTSA of these issues and committed to a thorough investigation" after discovering the problems in the summer. It pledged "complete remediation."

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The company "takes this issue extremely seriously and will continue to cooperate with NHTSA to resolve this matter and ensure these issues do not re-occur," Fiat Chrysler said in a statement.

The episode marks the latest in a cascading series of regulatory scandals that have rocked the auto industry.

Earlier this month, German automaker Volkswagen acknowledged flouting government standards for emissions by installing manipulative software on 11 million vehicles worldwide. And last year, General Motors admitted that it failed to fix a deadly ignition-switch defect for more than a decade — with the faulty parts eventually leading to at least 124 deaths.

Regulators have also faced scrutiny over their responsiveness and effectiveness. NHTSA has pledged a crackdown on automakers despite budgetary constraints.

Fiat Chrysler agreed in July to a consent decree requiring it to pay up to $105 million in civil penalties for failures spanning 23 separate recalls and more than 11 million vehicles, including primarily Ram trucks and Dodge SUVs made between 2008 and 2012. The company also agreed to buy back some vehicles from customers.

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It was not immediately clear on Tuesday whether the under-reporting of deaths is connected to those recalls or other incidents.

"Preliminary information suggests that this under-reporting is the result of a number of problems with FCA’s systems for gathering and reporting EWR data," Rosekind said.

Follow USA TODAY reporter Nathan Bomey on Twitter @NathanBomey.