New fines possible for Toyota but a couple of months away

More fines for automaker Toyota probably won't happen for at least a couple of months as the Transportation Department slogs through thousands of pages of company documents. 

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, meeting in Japan on Monday with Toyota executives, including President Akio Toyoda, about the recall of 8.5 million vehicles worldwide -- 6 million here -- because of a sticky pedal issues, said he was pleased with the company's efforts but hoped they followed through. 

Toyota was hit with a $16.4 million fine, the highest ever civil penalty levied against an automaker, for failing for four months to report and recall 2.3 million vehicles in the United States for the acceleration issue. Toyota didn't admit wrongdoing but it didn't fight the fine. 

LaHood said it would take some time -- probably a couple of months to investigate the contents of more than half a million documents from Toyota, which could lead to more fines. 

Toyota recently announced additional recalls and still faces hundreds of lawsuits. 

Toyoda testified before Congress in February and LaHood said he invited him back to the United States to talk to lawmakers again and try to smooth out its reputation.