This penalty involves the “sticky pedal” and “slow to return pedal” defects that led to Toyota’s recall of about 2.3 million vehicles in the United States in late January.

The carmaker did not admit wrongdoing, and the fine levied by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration does not release Toyota from civil or criminal actions. Numerous lawsuits have been filed against the carmaker, by crash victims and relatives of people killed in crashes, seeking billions of dollars. Toyota’s actions are also under investigation by the Justice Department and the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Toyota, in a statement, said it disagreed with the penalty, but decided not to fight it “in order to avoid a protracted dispute and possible litigation, as well as to allow us to move forward fully focused on the steps to strengthen our quality assurance operations.”

Steve Berman, a lead lawyer for the plaintiffs in more than 100 lawsuits against Toyota, said the fine could play a significant role as the cases go to trial. The cases, including one filed by Mr. Berman’s firm seeking refunds for Toyota buyers in 12 states, have been consolidated to federal court in California, where a hearing is scheduled for May 13.

“If people were buying these cars and driving them after Toyota knew there was a problem, that is going to be very powerful evidence,” Mr. Berman said. The fine is the maximum amount allowed by law.

If not for that cap, Toyota could have been ordered to pay $13.8 billion instead — $6,000 for each of the 2.3 million vehicles — the agency’s chief counsel told the company in a letter this month.

The letter also said the agency was considering a second $16.4 million fine against Toyota, based on evidence suggesting the pedals might have had two separate defects. An investigation into the company’s November recall of 5.4 million vehicles, to fix pedals that are susceptible to getting trapped under the floor mat, also could result in additional fines.

The regulators, which received more than 70,000 pages of documents from Toyota, said company officials either knew or should have known the pedals were problematic for at least several months.