General Motors, the world’s largest automaker, paid a civil penalty of $1 million to settle charges that it failed to provide timely notification of the existence of a safety-related defect, according to documents made public Wednesday.

The problem involved windshield wiper failure in 581,344 Trailblazers, Bravadas, Envoys and Isuzu Ascenders manufactured in 2002 and 2003.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration accepted payment on July 22, 2004, but did not announce the penalty until Dec. 29, when it published an annual roundup of civil actions.

In addition, Porsche and Ferrari paid civil penalties totaling more than $9 million for failing to meet Corporate Average Fuel Enconomy (CAF�) limits.

(via National Highway Traffic Safety Administration)