The Department of Justice is in hot pursuit of product safety cases, and if the record penalty it hit Toyota with last month is any indication, companies such as General Motors that have large safety issues with a product could be in for an unwelcome surprise.

The agency is taking a novel approach to its pursuit of product safety cases, including filing wire fraud charges and applying such laws very broadly and using other aggressive enforcement tactics.

Jaclyn Jaeger is a freelance contributor to Compliance Week after working for the company for 15 years. She writes on a wide variety of topics, including ethics and compliance, risk management, legal,...