In another major victory, a Senate committee has passed an auto safety bill that would force automakers to meet new safety standards, and impose far stricter penalties on companies that fail to report auto defects immediately to federal authorities. The bill also includes enhanced powers for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, an often embattled agency that has found itself at a loss to be able to announce recalls quickly, and keep Americans safe.

Class action attorneys have been monitoring the bill as it finally heads towards becoming law. The process was set in motion because of the massive recalls involving Toyota vehicles last year, and an international scandal related to a sudden acceleration problem in the Japanese-made vehicles. A national outcry over dozens of deaths involving acceleration in these cars, and the fact that the NHTSA did little to recall the cars, have helped push the bill forward. Last month, the new auto safety bill cleared a House committee. Lawmakers are pushing for the bill to be cleared before the 4th of July.

This is the most wide-reaching auto safety bill in years. It addresses a wide variety of problems that lawmakers and class action attorneys have been concerned about. Under the provisions of the bill, not only will the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration have greater powers to announce a recall, but will also have the power to impose higher penalties on automakers for failing to speed up a recall. Earlier this year, Toyota was slapped with a laughable fine of a maximum of $16.4 million. Under the bill, the maximum penalties that can be levied on automakers will be spiked to $300 million.

Automakers will also be required to equip their cars with black box data recorders and brake override systems. The NHTSA is expected to benefit from an expanded budget of $280 million from the current $140 million.