Hyundai, Kia Overstated Fuel Economy Claims

The U.S. units of Hyundai Motor Co. and affiliate Kia Motors Corp. overstated fuel economy numbers on the new-car window stickers on 35% of the vehicles they sold over the past two years, The Detroit News reports.

John Krafcik, president and CEO of Hyundai America, tells the newspaper the two brands inadvertently misstated mileage estimates on about 900,000 cars from the 2011-2013 model years.

The Environmental Protection Agency has ordered the company to lower fuel economy claims by 1-4 miles per gallon for 13 Hyundai and Kia vehicles from the 2012 and 2013 model years. The agency could levy fines against the company.

The affected models include three the Hyundai Accent, Elantra and Veloster for which Hyundai had erroneously bragged about highway fuel efficiency of 40 miles per gallon. They must now be rated at 37-38 mpg highway.

Adjusting the data will reduce Hyundai-Kia's city/highway fleet average fuel economy for 2012 to 26 mpg from 27 mpg, according to Krafcik. He says the company has changed the testing procedure in South Korea that accidentally inflated the highway fuel economy numbers.

The brands plan to issue debit cards to past and current owners to reimburse them for the savings they would have realized if the fuel efficiency estimates for their cars had been more accurate plus 15% for the inconvenience. Current owners can refresh their cards for as long as they own the vehicles. Hyundai-Kia has not disclosed a cost estimate expected to be millions of dollars for reimbursing customers for the discrepancy.

The News notes that revisions to mileage estimates are rare. The EPA tells the newspaper that until now it had required the reduction of fuel economy figures for only two models since 2000.