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Fiat Chrysler faces record $105 million safety fine

Fiat Chrysler is expected to agree to certain actions to improve its continuing recall of 1.59 million Jeeps equipped with rear-mounted gas tanks that can catch fire in high-speed collisions.Carlos Osorio/Associated Press/File

DETROIT — Federal regulators are expected to levy a record fine of $105 million against Fiat Chrysler Automobiles on Monday for failing to complete 23 safety recalls covering more than 11 million vehicles, according to two people briefed on the matter.

The fine would be the largest ever imposed on an automaker for recall violations by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, surpassing the $70 million penalty imposed last year on the Japanese automaker Honda for faulty air bags.

The people briefed on the announcement, who were not authorized to speak publicly, said the fine is part of a consent agreement that will be signed Monday by Fiat Chrysler and the safety administration.

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The agreement is also expected to include the installation of an independent monitor to oversee Fiat Chrysler’s safety actions, and an order for the company to buy back some vehicles covered by the 23 recalls that have come under government investigation.

A Fiat Chrysler spokesman, Gualberto Ranieri, declined to comment Sunday. An agency official, Gordon Trowbridge, did not confirm the pact .

Under the expected settlement, Fiat Chrysler is expected to agree to certain actions to improve its continuing recall of 1.59 million Jeeps equipped with rear-mounted gas tanks that can catch fire in high-speed collisions.

The company is installing trailer hitches on the Jeeps to mitigate the impact of rear-end collisions, linked to more than 50 deaths. But the rate of repairs on that has been slow, according to government investigators.

Fiat Chrysler is also expected to buy back about 300,000 Ram pickups, two people briefed on the matter told the Associated Press.

Some of the trucks, which are the company’s top-selling vehicle, have steering problems that have lingered without proper repairs for more than two years, according to documents filed with the safety administration, the Associated Press reported.

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It is unclear how the $105 million fine is broken down among the 23 recalls under investigation.

The safety administration is authorized to impose a maximum fine of $35 million for an individual recall that is not completed in a timely manner.

The government’s action against Fiat Chrysler is the latest move by the agency’s new administrator, Mark Rosekind, to turn up the pressure on automakers to fix defective vehicles.

“We need a proactive safety culture in this country,” Rosekind told reporters last week at a briefing in Detroit.

The safety administration has come under harsh criticism in Congress and by the Transportation Department’s inspector general for lax enforcement of auto safety regulations.

The agency is overhauling its internal operations, as well as stepping up its investigations of individual car companies.

The moves, Rosekind said, were set off by the revelation last year that General Motors had failed for a decade to recall about 2.6 million small cars with faulty ignitions that could suddenly cut engine power and disable air bags. At least 124 deaths have been tied to the defect.