Toyota will pay the U.S. government a $17.4 million fine for its slow response in recalling the 2010 Lexus RX earlier this year, the automaker said Tuesday morning.

This is the fourth fine levied against the company by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration; it has already paid $48.8 million for three separate recall violations involving trapped floor mats and sticking throttle pedals in 2010. As with the past three fines, Toyota said it did not violate any safety regulations but decided to pay the settlement "in order to avoid a time-consuming dispute and to focus fully on our shared commitment with NHTSA to keep drivers safe."

In June, Toyota recalled 154,000 cars, the 2010 Lexus RX 350 and RX 450h, to prevent throttles from sticking under poorly placed floor mats. The vehicles were part of an initial 2009 recall that covered around 9 million cars worldwide. The problem, NHTSA said, was that Toyota was aware of 63 related problems as early as 2009 and did not report them until contacted by the agency in May.

No other automaker has faced such a record fine, NHTSA said.

Toyota is still facing hundreds of civil lawsuits alleging sudden acceleration and, in some tragic cases, wrongful deaths, that won't begin to go to court until next year, according to Automotive News. Toyota, which has refused to settle cases, reportedly has so many supporting documents to fight back that they would stack as high as eight Empire State Buildings.

[Source: Toyota, NHTSA]