(Bloomberg) -- Hyundai Motor Co., South Korea’s largest automaker, agreed to pay a $17.4 million U.S. fine for failing to promptly report defects in brakes on Genesis models.

Hyundai had instructed dealers in 2012 to replace brake fluids without explaining that the reason for the service was because of potential corrosion that may harm braking, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said in a statement today. It wasn’t until after NHTSA began an investigation that Hyundai in 2013 issued a formal recall.

The NHTSA fine is one of the biggest in history for such a violation and comes three months after General Motors Co. had to pay a record $35 million penalty for how it handled the recall of 2.59 million small cars. Regulators have since been pushing lawmakers to raise the maximum allowable fine to as much as $300 million to deter companies from hiding safety defects.

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