UPDATE: Japan Slaps Wrists of Suppliers That Fixed Prices

Japan's Fair Trade Commission has fined four of the country's parts makers a total of 3.4 billion yen ($41 million) for inflating prices of such components as radiators and windshield wiper systems in 2000-2003.

The companies are Nissan affiliate Calsonic Kansei, Mitsuba, Mitsubishi Electric and T.rad.

The FTC also ordered the four suppliers and Hitachi's auto unit to take measures to prevent a recurrence of the violations. The commission says Toyota affiliate Denso also broke the law but was not punished because it blew the whistle on the conspiracy and handled the violations internally.

The charges are the result of a joint probe by authorities in Japan, the European Union and the U.S.

American officials have taken harsher action against nine suppliers and 12 Japanese executives who have pleaded guilty of price fixing. Total fines of more than $790 million have been assessed, including a $470 million penalty against Yazaki Corp. The individuals also have received U.S. prison sentences of one to two years.