Who was sanctioned, and for what?

Between September 2020 and September 2024, Bosch exported MEMS sensors and vehicle software worth around 72.4 million USD from outside the US without a licence to Huawei and affiliated companies on the Entity List (Foreign Direct Product Rule). Bosch voluntarily disclosed the violations; around 3.6 million USD of the penalty imposed by the US Commerce Department's Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) is credited against a disgorgement agreed with the DOJ.

Authority / court

U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS)

Area of law

Sanctions and export control · Export control and dual-use goods

Legal basis

Export Administration Regulations (Foreign Direct Product Rule, Entity List)

Action

Fine

Status of proceedings

final

Sector

Automotive

Employees

10,000 or more

Mitigating circumstances

Voluntary self-disclosure and cooperation

Published

17 Jun 2026

Original amount 36,184,680 USD, converted at the ECB reference rate of 16 Jun 2026.

Checked against the official source on 25 Sep 2026 · Direct link

Around 10,000 heavy-duty Volvo diesel engines from model years 2010 to 2016 used auxiliary emission control devices (AECDs) that were not disclosed during certification and emitted more NOx than permitted. The settlement with the California Air Resources Board (CARB) comprises 17.5 million USD in penalties and costs, 71 million USD for mitigation measures and 108 million USD for emission reduction projects in California.

Authority / court

California Air Resources Board (CARB)

Area of law

Environment and sustainability · Emissions and permits

Legal basis

Kalifornische Emissions- und Zertifizierungsvorschriften für schwere Nutzfahrzeugmotoren

Action

Fine

Status of proceedings

final

Sector

Automotive

Employees

10,000 or more

Mitigating circumstances

Cooperation during the investigation; recall and extended warranty for engines from model years 2014 to 2016.

Published

18 May 2026

Original amount 196,500,000 USD, converted at the ECB reference rate of 18 May 2026.

Checked against the official source on 25 Sep 2026 · Direct link

The FTC finalised its order against General Motors and OnStar. According to the authority, GM used a misleading enrolment process to sign customers up for the OnStar service and the Smart Driver feature, collected precise location and driving behaviour data from millions of vehicles and sold it to third parties, including consumer reporting agencies, without clear notice and affirmative consent. GM may not disclose this data to consumer reporting agencies for five years and, for the 20-year term of the order, must obtain affirmative consent before collecting, using or sharing connected vehicle data, allow access and deletion, and offer a way to disable location collection; the order does not provide for any payment. The authority allegedly made the findings set out here; this account is not based on a final judgment.

Authority / court

Federal Trade Commission (FTC)

Area of law

Data protection · Marketing and consent

Legal basis

Section 5(a) FTC Act, 15 U.S.C. § 45(a) (unlautere und irreführende Praktiken)

Action

Order

Status of proceedings

final

Sector

Automotive

Employees

10,000 or more

Published

14 Jan 2026

Checked against the official source on 3 Oct 2026 · Direct link

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) issued a Withhold Release Order: car tyres from Linglong International Europe D.O.O. Zrenjanin (Serbia) are being detained at all US ports of entry because there are indications of forced labour (ILO indicators including deception, debt bondage, isolation, retention of identity documents and withholding of wages (nine indicators in total)).

Authority / court

U.S. Customs and Border Protection

Area of law

Supply chain and human rights · Forced and child labour

Legal basis

19 U.S.C. § 1307 (Tariff Act of 1930, Section 307)

Action

Order

Status of proceedings

unknown

Sector

Automotive

Published

18 Dec 2025

Checked against the official source on 25 Sep 2026 · Direct link

Valvoline wanted to acquire around 200 Oil Changers shops from Greenbriar for 625 million USD. Because the two competed directly in 25 local markets, under the proposed consent order the acquisition may only be completed if 45 shops are sold to Main Street Auto.

Authority / court

Federal Trade Commission (FTC)

Area of law

Competition law · Merger control

Legal basis

Section 7 Clayton Act; Section 5 FTC Act (Consent Order)

Action

Order

Status of proceedings

unknown

Sector

Automotive

Checked against the official source on 25 Sep 2026 · Direct link

Between 2010 and 2019, the Toyota subsidiary submitted false certification applications, altered emissions data and fabricated test results; more than 105,000 non-compliant diesel engines were imported into the USA. The court imposed a fine of 521.76 million USD and forfeiture of 1.087 billion USD, plus five years of probation with an import ban on Hino diesel engines.

Authority / court

U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan (Ermittlungen: EPA Criminal Investigation Division, FBI)

Area of law

Environment and sustainability · Emissions and permits

Legal basis

Clean Air Act; Verschwörung zum Betrug der Vereinigten Staaten und Schmuggel (Schuldbekenntnis)

Action

Fine

Status of proceedings

unknown

Sector

Automotive

Employees

10,000 or more

Culpability

intentional

Published

19 Mar 2025

Original amount 1,608,760,000 USD, converted at the ECB reference rate of 19 Mar 2025.

Checked against the official source on 25 Sep 2026 · Direct link

Honda required excessive information for opt-out requests, used a cookie tool without equivalent choices, made it harder to appoint authorised agents and passed data on to ad-tech firms without the required contracts. The order of the California Privacy Protection Agency (CPPA) requires, among other things, a simplified procedure and training for employees.

Authority / court

California Privacy Protection Agency (CPPA)

Area of law

Data protection · Data subject rights and transparency

Legal basis

California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA)

Action

Fine

Status of proceedings

final

Sector

Automotive

Employees

10,000 or more

Published

12 Mar 2025

Original amount 632,500 USD, converted at the ECB reference rate of 7 Mar 2025.

Checked against the official source on 25 Sep 2026 · Direct link

From 2010 to 2019, the Toyota subsidiary altered test data, carried out tests improperly or fabricated them entirely for more than 50 engine families (around 105,000 on-road and 5,700 off-road diesel engines). The resolution with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Department of Justice comprises a civil penalty of 525 million USD and a criminal fine of 521.76 million USD (together 1.047 billion USD), five years of probation and an import ban on diesel engines; including the recall and mitigation measures, the overall resolution totals more than 1.6 billion USD.

Authority / court

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency / U.S. Department of Justice

Area of law

Environment and sustainability · Emissions and permits

Legal basis

Clean Air Act

Action

Fine

Status of proceedings

unknown

Sector

Automotive

Culpability

intentional

Original amount 1,046,760,000 USD, converted at the ECB reference rate of 15 Jan 2025.

Checked against the official source on 25 Sep 2026 · Direct link

CARB reached a settlement of 4,185,820 USD with FCA US because model year 2014 to 2016 Ram ProMaster vehicles with a 3.0-litre diesel engine had an unapproved device that controlled emissions differently in real-world driving than in certification testing; according to CARB, almost 55 tonnes of excess nitrogen oxides were released. The civil penalty is 2,092,910 USD. An environmental project of the same amount, to slow cargo vessels, stays outside the amount field. The vehicles will be recalled. CARB had already taken action against FCA over similar allegations in 2019 and 2022. The authority allegedly made the findings set out here; this account is not based on a final judgment. The amount field records only the civil monetary penalty.

Authority / court

California Air Resources Board (CARB)

Area of law

Environment and sustainability · Emissions and permits

Legal basis

Luftqualitäts- und Fahrzeugemissionsvorschriften des California Air Resources Board

Action

Fine

Status of proceedings

final

Sector

Automotive

Repeat case

yes

Published

23 Dec 2024

Original amount 2,092,910 USD, converted at the ECB reference rate of 23 Dec 2024.

Checked against the official source on 3 Oct 2026 · Direct link

Since 2015, the Texas-based manufacturer has sold more than 81,000 tuners that deactivate emission controls, as well as 8,400 exhaust pipes with fewer or weaker catalytic converters. The proposed settlement with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Department of Justice (subject to court approval) provides for a civil penalty of 2,914,000 USD in four instalments, as well as a ban on defeat devices, removal of the ‘delete’ functions, information for dealers and customers, buy-back and destruction of such devices held by employees, and Clean Air Act training for the workforce.

Authority / court

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency / U.S. Department of Justice (U.S. District Court, Western District of Texas)

Area of law

Environment and sustainability · Emissions and permits

Legal basis

Clean Air Act § 203(a)(3)(B), 42 U.S.C. § 7522(a)(3)(B)

Action

Fine

Status of proceedings

unknown

Sector

Automotive

Mitigating circumstances

Amount of the penalty based on demonstrated limited ability to pay; payment in instalments.

Original amount 2,914,000 USD, converted at the ECB reference rate of 16 Sep 2024.

Checked against the official source on 28 Sep 2026 · Version 4 · Company name anonymised since 16 Sep 2026 · Direct link

According to the EPA, a US manufacturer of vehicle tuning parts manufactured, sold or installed large numbers of parts for diesel pickups over several years that could remove or disable emission control systems; according to the EPA, the additional emissions equalled those of several million additional vehicles. In the criminal proceedings, the company received a multi-million-dollar fine and a term of probation; a civil settlement providing for a multi-million-dollar civil penalty payable in instalments was subject to court approval.

Authority / court

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency / U.S. Department of Justice

Area of law

Environment and sustainability · Emissions and permits

Legal basis

Clean Air Act § 203(a)(3)

Action

Fine

Status of proceedings

unknown

Sector

Automotive

Culpability

intentional

Mitigating circumstances

Payment in instalments because of demonstrated limited ability to pay.

Checked against the official source on 28 Sep 2026 · Version 7 · Company name anonymised since 10 Sep 2026 · Direct link

The engine manufacturer programmed the engine software so that emission controls were reduced or switched off during normal driving (around 630,000 heavy-duty pickups of one vehicle maker from model years 2013–2019) and failed to disclose auxiliary emission control devices in a further approximately 330,000 vehicles. Civil penalty of 1.675 billion USD – the highest ever under the Clean Air Act – plus recall and mitigation measures, totalling around 2 billion USD.

Authority / court

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency / U.S. Department of Justice (U.S. District Court, District of Columbia)

Area of law

Environment and sustainability · Emissions and permits

Legal basis

Clean Air Act

Action

Fine

Status of proceedings

unknown

Sector

Automotive

Employees

10,000 or more

Original amount 1,675,000,000 USD, converted at the ECB reference rate of 10 Jan 2024.

Checked against the official source on 28 Sep 2026 · Version 4 · Company name anonymised since 10 Jan 2026 · Direct link

The manufacturer of hydrogen commercial vehicles misled investors about customer relationships and sales, reported 87 vehicles sold for 2021 when the actual number was zero, and showed a misleading video of a purportedly hydrogen-powered vehicle. The company is paying 25 million USD.

Authority / court

U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)

Area of law

Capital markets and financial supervision · Disclosure and reporting obligations

Legal basis

Antifraud- und weitere Vorschriften der US-Wertpapiergesetze

Action

Fine

Status of proceedings

unknown

Sector

Automotive

Employees

250 to 999

Liability of senior managers

Measures against individuals are not reported here.

Original amount 25,000,000 USD, converted at the ECB reference rate of 26 Sep 2023.

Checked against the official source on 28 Sep 2026 · Version 6 · Company name anonymised since 26 Sep 2025 · Direct link