Cruise—Cruise admitted to filing false federal report omitting pedestrian dragging, paid $500K criminal fine
Cruise filed documents with NHTSA that omitted the fact that its robotaxi had dragged the pedestrian 20 feet. During an October 3, 2023 meeting with the California DMV, Cruise showed video only up to the first stop, concealing the subsequent dragging. The company did not correct the report for 10 days. Cruise agreed to a deferred prosecution agreement and $500,000 criminal fine, plus $1.5 million NHTSA fine and $112,500 CPUC settlement.
Scoring Impact
| Topic | Direction | Relevance | Contribution |
|---|---|---|---|
| Consumer Protection | -against | secondary | -0.50 |
| Corporate Transparency | -against | primary | -1.00 |
| Overall incident score = | -1.128 | ||
Score = avg(topic contributions) × significance (critical ×2) × confidence (0.75)
Evidence (3 signals)
Cruise agreed to $500K criminal fine for filing false NHTSA report omitting pedestrian dragging
Cruise agreed to a deferred prosecution agreement and $500,000 criminal fine after admitting to filing an incomplete report with NHTSA that omitted the dragging of a pedestrian. During an October 3 meeting with California DMV, Cruise showed only partial video footage, concealing the dragging. The report was not corrected for 10 days. Additional penalties included $1.5M NHTSA fine and $112,500 CPUC settlement.
Cruise admitted to filing false report, concealed dragging video from California DMV for 10 days
ABC7 reported that Cruise admitted to filing a false report about the October 2023 robotaxi pedestrian dragging. During an October 3 videoconference with NHTSA, employees omitted the dragging from their verbal summary. The 1-day-report submitted to NHTSA also omitted the dragging. Cruise did not correct the record for 10 days.
DOJ announced Cruise admitted to filing false federal report omitting pedestrian dragging, agreed to pay $500K fine
The US Department of Justice announced that Cruise admitted to submitting a false report to NHTSA with intent to impede the federal investigation. Cruise held a videoconference with NHTSA the morning after the October 2023 crash but omitted the dragging from their verbal summary. A video they attempted to show had 'technical difficulties' that cut the dragging portion. Written reports also omitted the dragging. Cruise agreed to pay $500,000 and accept criminal responsibility.