Hitachi Automotive Pleads Guilty to Price Fixing, Again

Hitachi Automotive Systems Ltd. has agreed to plead guilty and pay a fine of at least $55 million for fixing prices on shock absorbers it sold to Suzuki and Toyota, the U.S. Dept. of Justice says.

It’s the second guilty plea for the company. In 2013 Hitachi Automotive admitted rigging bids on electric starter motors, alternators and other electrical components it supplied to Ford, General Motors, Honda, Nissan and Toyota. The company agreed to pay a $195 million fine for those infractions.

The Justice Dept. says Hitachi’s fine in 2013 had been reduced because the company assisted in the bid-rigging investigation. Now it says that penalty should be significantly increased because of Hitachi’s failure to uncover its price fixing on shock absorbers. The department also recommends the company be placed on probation for three years.

The new charge, like the earlier one, is a result of a continuing worldwide probe into bid rigging and price fixing throughout the auto parts industry. The Justice Dept. has now charged 46 companies and 64 executives in the U.S. and levied more than $2.8 billion in criminal fines.