Christian Hutter
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The South Korean automakers, which
together make up the world’s 5th-largest
automotive group, made ‘shocking’ errors in
calculating fuel efficiency.
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On Monday, the Justice Department and
Environmental Protection Agency (E.P.A.)
officials reported on the largest-ever penalty
for a violation of the Clean Air Act. The
Korean automakers Hyundai Motors and Kia
Motors will pay the federal government a
combined $300 million as part of a
settlement for overstating vehicle fueleconomy standards on 1.2 million cars.
The violations concern
the Hyundai Accent,
Elantra, and Santa Fe
vehicles and the Kia Rio
and Soul vehicles.
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For years Hyundai and Kia built their brands
around the idea that their cars got better
mileage than their competitors, a claim they
promoted in ads that denigrated less efficient
rivals.
The E.P.A. said the fuel efficiency standards
reported by Hyundai and Kia were off by one
to six miles per gallon.

Under the agreement, the automakers will
pay $100 million in fines and forfeit an
estimated $200 million in greenhouse-gas
emissions credits, which auto companies earn
by building vehicles with lower emissions
than are required by law.
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Announced by Attorney
General Eric H. Holder Jr.
this plan is part of a
broader, more aggressive
enforcement effort by
federal regulators on the
auto industry. Analysts
said it was meant to send
a clear message to
automakers that they
would be harshly treated
for compromising federal
rules.
Attorney General Holder
said, “This type of
conduct quite simply will
not be tolerated,”
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He was joined by Gina
McCarthy who is the
Administrator of the
Environmental Protection
Agency (E.P.A.), who
added, “ we will never
rest or waver in our
determination to take
action against any
company that engages in
such activities.”

Hyundai and Kia must audit their fleets for
model years 2015 and 2016 to ensure that
vehicles sold to the public conform to the
description and data provided to EPA.
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Chris Hosford, a Hyundai spokesman said,
“Hyundai’s view is that this was an honest
mistake and there was a lack of clarity/broad
latitude in EPA rules and guidance that
resulted in the issues outlined by the
government.”
Kia has not made a statement yet.
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In conclusion we see that the federal gov’t is
making a more concerted effort to make sure
companies who are getting subsidies play by
the rules and if they do not or try to appear
that they are will face heavy fines and lose
credibility among consumers.
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http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/04/us/po
litics/us-fines-korean-automakers-formisstating-mileage
http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/he
alth-science/epa-fines-hyundai-kia-forunderreporting-emissions