Honda has said it will pay $70m in penalty fines to the US government for failing to report hundreds of injuries and deaths involving its cars.

It is the largest civil penalty ever levied against a carmaker by the US government.

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Last year Honda admitted that it did not report 1,729 cases involving deaths or injuries between July 2003 and June 2014.

The company said it would change its internal reporting.

The company’s US subsidiary, American Honda, will pay two $35m fines following an investigation by the NHTSA that looked into violations of the NHTSA’s “Early Warning Reporting” regulations.

Those NHTSA rules require carmakers to immediately report possible defects, deaths and injuries or damage and warranty claims made by consumers.

Reuters reported that Honda had earlier attributed its disclosure transgressions to data entry and computer programming errors, and also said it had relied on an “overly narrow interpretation” of its legal reporting requirements

“We have resolved this matter and will move forward to build on the important actions Honda has already taken to address our past shortcomings in early warning reporting,” Rick Schostek, executive vice president of Honda North America Inc, said in a statement.

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