Toyotas cleared?

NYT reports that the Transportation Department has concluded its safety investigation into runaway Toyotas:

"The Transportation Department, which was assisted by engineers with NASA, said its 10-month study of Toyota vehicles concluded there was no electronic cause of unintended high-speed acceleration in Toyotas."

Not just a simple investigation either:

"NASA reviewed 280,000 lines of software code to look for flaws that could cause the acceleration. Investigators tested mechanical components in Toyotas that could lead to the problem and bombarded vehicles with electro-magnetic radiation to see whether it could make the electronics cause the cars to speed up."

But didn't everyone already suspect this? The sudden jump in claims after the media fed the fire with sensational stories of runaway Toyotas was suspect. The ABC News investigation was revealed as exaggerated and partially faked. The whole 95 MPH Prius being chased down by CHP was likely a complete hoax.

So what happens with all the fines that Toyota paid, if the only real flaw other than sticky pedals, was what people did with their own vehicles?  (How sticky were those pedals, that people didn't notice it a long time before it triggered any accident?)  Does the Transportation Department return some or all of it back, or does Ray LaHood get to pretend that it doesn't matter?