- South Korean automakers Hyundai and Kia on Friday said they will reimburse car owners in the United States and Canada for exaggerating the fuel-efficiency claims of their vehicles.
- The two automakers blamed "procedural errors" at their joint testing operations in South Korea for the overstated fuel-economy claims.
- Both companies pledged a reimbursement program for affected current and former vehicle owners to cover the additional fuel costs associated with the MPG revision.
South Korean automakers Hyundai Motor Co. (IW 1000/54) and Kia Motors Corp. (IW 1000/122) on Friday said they will reimburse car owners in the United States and Canada for exaggerating the fuel-efficiency claims of their vehicles.
The announcement came after the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said it discovered inflated gasoline-economy numbers on a wide range of Hyundai and Kia models in an investigation sparked by consumer complaints.
The exaggerated numbers, which ran from one to six miles per gallon, helped push some of the models into the much-vaunted 40-miles-per-gallon club of gasoline-sipping vehicles.
Hyundai Motor America and Kia Motors America said the problem involved nearly 1.1 million 2011 through 2013 vehicles sold in North America: about 900,000 in the United States and 172,000 in Canada.
The two automakers blamed "procedural errors" at their joint testing operations in South Korea for the overstated fuel-economy claims.
"I sincerely apologize to all affected Hyundai and Kia customers, and I regret these errors occurred," said W.C. Yang, chief technology officer of Hyundai/Kia research and development, in a statement.
Hyundai, South Korea's largest automaker, has a 34% stake in Kia, and the companies share the same chairman, Mong-Koo Chung.
