The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration hit Ford with the second-largest civil penalty in its history, saying the automaker failed to recall vehicles in a timely manner.

The U.S. auto-safety agency said Ford failed to recall more than 600,000 vehicles with defective parts in a timely manner.

The federal government announced on Thursday that it has levied a $165 million civil penalty against the Ford Motor Company over the automaker's failure to comply with federal recall requirements. It is the second largest penalty in the history of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration,