WASHINGTON, Feb 10 (Reuters) – BMW North America will pay a $3 million fine to settle U.S. government allegations that it failed to promptly notify auto regulators about safety defects and recalls.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said on Friday that it found a number of disclosure violations related to 16 investigations of 2010 recalls affecting more than 338,000 passenger vehicles and motorcycles.

The biggest recall, accounting for nearly two thirds of the total number of vehicles cited by NHTSA, involved certain BMW 5 and 6 Series cars from 2004-10 and 7 Series models from 2002-08. A potential oil leak in the brake vacuum pump heightened crash risk, regulators said.

“NHTSA expects all manufacturers to address automotive safety issues quickly and in a forthright manner,” NHTSA Administrator David Strickland said in a statement.

BMW could not immediately be reached for comment.

The BMW penalty was the largest since Toyota Motor Corp agreed to pay nearly $50 million in fines stemming from disclosure issues that included massive recalls in 2009 and 2010 for sudden acceleration.

Since Toyota, U.S. auto regulators have become more aggressive in launching safety investigations and have gotten tougher with automakers about their recall practices.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Commercial airlines often complain about government rules and at times seek to change them, but Spirit Airlines has created turbulence in Washington in response to a new mandate by naming a $2 fare hike after the U.S. Department of Transportation.

The low-fare carrier, which has tangled with regulators in the past, struck at the Obama administration after new rules requiring greater transparency in industry fare advertisements took effect last month.

Spirit, calling the changes “misguided and expensive,” announced that it was adding an additional $2 charge per ticket, which it called the “Department of Transportation Unintended Consequences Fee,” which took effect on Tuesday.

“Regulators like to try to sell the idea of this rule, but have ignored the cost impact to consumers,” Spirit CEO Ben Baldanza said in a statement.

Spirit was particularly unhappy with a requirement that gives customers who make a reservation but do not commit to flying 24 hours to cancel their plans without paying a penalty. Airlines cannot sell the seat during that period even if another customer is prepared to pay for it immediately.

Major carriers have sued to overturn the rule. Spirit says restrictions on selling all seats will spread costs over fewer customers, resulting in higher fares.

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood called the regulations common sense and fired back at Spirit.

Jan 31 (Reuters) – The U.S. Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp, which has responsibility for insuring certain benefits under private defined benefit pension plans, said on Tuesday it believes American Airlines will seek to terminate employee pensions in bankruptcy.

The agency said it filed a $92 million lien against American parent AMR Corp (AAMRQ.PK: Quote, Profile, Research) for the balance of unpaid pension plan contributions. It added that the lien was applied to AMR assets outside the United States, mainly in Latin America.

American filed for Chapter 11 protection in late November, citing uncompetitive labor costs. The carrier has yet to issue a labor cost-savings target and did not immediately comment on the PBGC statement.

Airline unions expect American to detail its targets for labor cost cuts this week, but they do not know what the goals may be.

“We believe that tomorrow they will outline the size of the cuts at American,” said Jamie Horwitz, spokesman for the Transport Workers Union.

He said he did not know when the workers of American Eagle, AMR’s regional carrier, would learn the labor cost savings targets for that airline.

PBGC continues to press AMR for information about pensions. The agency said it is not convinced from the data it has received, and the airline’s cash on hand that plan terminations are necessary for the airline to reorganize.

By Kyle Peterson and John Crawley

(Reuters) – United Continental Holdings (UAL.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and JetBlue Airways(JBLU.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) posted stronger-than-expected quarterly earnings and increased revenue, underscoring an industry recovery helped by higher fares and restrained capacity.

The profits, reported on Thursday, follow those posted in recent days by Delta Air Lines (DAL.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), US Airways Group (LCC.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and Southwest Airlines (LUV.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz).

Shares of United Continental, parent of United Airlines, rallied almost 8 percent to $22.03 on the New York Stock Exchange. JetBlue was up 2.2 percent at $5.69 on Nasdaq.

The industry is in recovery mode after a decade-long downturn that brought several major airlines into bankruptcy. But capacity cuts and mergers have helped trim costs and drive up fare prices, giving the embattled companies a much-needed toehold on stability.

Both United Continental and JetBlue said they benefited from higher fares during the fourth quarter.

For United Continental, the results speak well of the company’s post-merger performance, Maxim Group analyst Ray Neidl wrote in a research note.

Jan 26 (Reuters) – United Continental Holdings (UAL.N: Quote, Profile, Research) and JetBlue Airways(JBLU.O: Quote, Profile, Research) posted higher-than-expected quarterly earnings and increased revenue, underscoring an industry recovery helped by higher fares and restrained capacity.

The profits, reported on Thursday, follow those posted in recent days by Delta Air Lines (DAL.N: Quote, Profile, Research), US Airways Group (LCC.N: Quote, Profile, Research) and Southwest Airlines (LUV.N: Quote, Profile, Research).

Shares of JetBlue were up 3.6 percent at $5.77 in premarket trading, while United Continental gained 4.6 percent to $21.35.

The industry is in recovery mode after a decade-long downturn that brought several major airlines into bankruptcy . But capacity cuts and mergers have helped trim costs and drive up fare prices, giving the embattled companies a much-needed toehold on stability.

United Continental, parent of United Airlines, said that excluding $247 million of special items, it had earned 30 cents per share in the fourth quarter, topping the average Wall Street forecast of 12 cents .

The company’s net loss narrowed to $138 million, or 42 cents per share, from $325 million, or $1.01 per share, a year earlier. The company, formed from the 2010 merger of UAL Corp and Continental Airlines, said revenue rose to $8.9 billion from $8.5 billion. United Continental ended the quarter with $8.3 billion in unrestricted cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments and undrawn lines of credit.

Despite the renewed industry stability, airlines face soaring fuel costs and economic troubles that could still disrupt the industry recovery, given their potential ripple effects on travel demand from businesses and consumers.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Chevy Volt became a political punching bag on Wednesday, with Republicans accusing the Obama administration of hiding fire risks from the public, and General Motors saying its signature electric vehicle unfairly got caught in political crosswinds.

Jim Jordan, chairman of the House Oversight regulatory subcommittee, said it was disturbing that U.S. safety regulators waited six months to open a formal investigation after their own crash tests uncovered fire risks.

He speculated that the administration may have been preserving its own interests. President Barack Obama has heavily promoted electric vehicles like the Volt, and his administration oversaw a U.S. government bailout and bankruptcy restructuring of GM in 2009.

GM Chief Executive Dan Akerson had his own theories about how politics influenced the probe. He told the hearing that the Volt got “disproportionate scrutiny” because it became a surrogate for election-year politics and commentary on GM’s business and Obama administration policy.

“We did not engineer the Volt to be a political punching bag. And that, sadly, is what the Volt has become,” Akerson said.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration opened an investigation on November 25 into the safety of the Volt’s battery pack after its own repeated tests uncovered fire risks.

The fires occurred after NHTSA crash tests or other tests where the car’s lithium-ion batteries were purposely damaged, and GM has stressed that no “real world” incidents have been reported.

WASHINGTON, Jan 25 (Reuters) – Republicans accused the Obama administration on Wednesday of purposely delaying disclosure of Chevy Volt battery fires to avoid criticism of its General Motors Co (GM.N: Quote, Profile, Research) bailout and to protect its interests in electric car development.

Jim Jordan, chairman of the House Oversight regulatory subcommittee, said at a hearing that a six-month delay last year was inexplicable and disturbing.

He also said auto safety regulators had not fully cooperated with a congressional investigation of disclosure and other issues involving the Chevrolet Volt, made by GM.

“While it remains to be seen whether GM received special treatment during (the investigation) of the Volt fires, it’s clear that the administration has tremendous incentives to protect the political investment it has made in the company and the vehicle,” Jordan said.

Volt battery fires first erupted at government test sites in May and then again in November, the last prompting a formal investigation by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

There were no “real world” fire incidents, and NHTSA closed the investigation last week without finding any defects and expressing satisfaction with GM’s remedies to better protect the lithium-ion battery pack.

GM Chief Executive Dan Akerson was also making accusations that politics played a role in the Volt probe.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Barack Obama proposed plowing half the money America will save from the end of its wars in Iraq and Afghanistan into high-speed rail lines and repairs to the nation’s creaking roads and infrastructure.

The plan likely will face an uphill battle in Congress where Republicans frequently point to high-speed rail projects as a waste of money at a time of tight budgets.

“So much of America needs to be rebuilt,” Obama said in his annual State of the Union address on Tuesday, adding the United States has “crumbling roads and bridges.”

He provided no dollar figures for his plan. The Congressional Budget Office has estimated savings from the wars would result in “about $440 billion less” in spending in 2012-2021.

Democrats have previously proposed using some war savings to help pay for infrastructure upgrades but such ideas have died in Congress.

CONSTRUCTION JOBS

In recent years, the United States has fallen sharply in the World Economic Forum’s ranking of national infrastructure systems. In the forum’s 2007-2008 report, American infrastructure was ranked sixth best in the world. The 2011-2012 report showed America at No. 16. The quality of U.S. roads is now about on par with those of Malaysia.

WASHINGTON, Jan 24 (Reuters) – General Motors’ chief executive plans to tell lawmakers that he believes politics motivated a U.S. government investigation of battery fires in Chevy Volts.

In testimony prepared for delivery at a House Oversight Committee hearing on Wednesday, Dan Akerson said it appears the Volt became, “perhaps unfairly”, a surrogate for election-year politics and commentary on GM’s business and Obama administration policy.

President Barack Obama has heavily promoted electric vehicles like the Volt, and his administration oversaw a U.S. government bailout and bankruptcy restructuring of GM (GM.N: Quote, Profile, Research) in 2009.

Akerson said electric vehicle technology remains unfamiliar to most consumers, also part of the likely explanation for why the fires received “disproportionate” scrutiny.

“These factors should not be discounted as to why federal regulators opened an investigation into the Volt’s battery safety,” Akerson said.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration opened an investigation on Nov. 25 into the safety of the Volt’s battery pack after its own repeated tests uncovered fire risks.

The fires occurred after NHTSA crash tests or other tests where the car’s lithium-ion batteries were purposely damaged, and GM has stressed that no “real world” incidents have been reported.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Republican Senator Rand Paul was stopped at an airport on Monday for setting off an alarm and refusing a patdown, prompting his father, presidential candidate Ron Paul, to accuse security officials of being part of an “out of control” police state.

In a harshly worded attack on the Transportation Security Administration, which handles security screenings at U.S. airports, Ron Paul, known for his strident libertarian views, said the TSA “gropes and grabs our kids and our seniors and does nothing to keep us safe.”

After Rand Paul refused the patdown, he was escorted out of the airport security area in Nashville, Tennessee, by local authorities, the TSA said. Paul missed his flight to Washington, but was later rebooked and rescreened without incident.

As favorites of the anti-Washington Tea Party movement, Paul and his father, who is a U.S. Representative from Texas, have helped lead the charge against what critics call excessive federal intrusion, from healthcare to body searches.

At a Senate hearing last June, Rand Paul challenged TSA Administrator John Pistole over his agency’s random patdowns of travelers at airports, including the case of a 6-year-old girl from his home state of Kentucky.

“This isn’t to say that we don’t believe in safety procedures,” Paul said. “But I think I feel less safe because you’re doing these invasive exams on a six-year-old. It makes me think you’re clueless that you think she’s going to attack our country and that you’re not doing your research on the people who would attack our country.”

On the campaign trail, Ron Paul has called for the abolition of the TSA on the grounds that it wastes taxpayer money and violates personal liberties.