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Feann Torr9 Jul 2014
NEWS

Lawsuit filed against Hyundai

More than 1000 Hyundai Santa Fe owners are suing for overstated fuel economy figures

Hyundai will be fined one billion won ($1 million) by the South Korean government and is facing a lawsuit for overstating the fuel efficiency of a Santa Fe model in its home country.

Several other manufacturers were also fined for similarly misleading fuel economy ratings, with the Chrysler Jeep Grand Cherokee, Audi A4 2.0 TDI, Volkswagen Tiguan 2.0 TDI and BMW MINI Cooper Countryman to be fined up to 4 million won ($4,000).

The Santa Fe SUV was claimed to travel 14.4km per litre of fuel consumed, but the Korea Automobile Testing & Research Institute showed these figures were up to 8.5 cent higher than stated. This figure was above the five per cent margin of error allowed by the government, opening it up to fines.

But it's the lawsuit that has been filed at the Seoul Central District Court that has the greater potential damage Hyundai's reputation.

Around 1500 owners of the Hyundai Santa Fe 2.0 Diesel 2WD, which is only sold in Korea, are so unhappy with real-world fuel consumption figures of the diesel-powered model they have filed a lawsuit against Hyundai.

Kim Woong, a managing partner at the Yeyul law firm which is filing the suit on behalf of aggrieved Santa Fe owners, told Bloomberg the message was simple: if products do not live up to claims, customers can sue.

He said "you can get a red card if you mess with your customers".

However in an official statement, Hyundai Motor Corporation said it was "very confused" because two different government ministries reported two different fuel results.

"We hope that the confusion and disorder regarding the fuel economy measurement system ends soon through internal discussions within the government and that we are given a chance to fully explain our position," stated Hyundai.

"Going forward, we will continue our utmost efforts to improve our fuel economy technologies and maximize our customers’ satisfaction," it added.
The inaccurate fuel efficiency claims are not limited to the domestic market either. In 2012 Hyundai and sister car maker Kia ran into similar trouble in the USA, paying out almost $400 million in reimbursements for 900,000 vehicle owners whose fuel consumption did not match the manufacturer's claims, also after a lawsuit was filed.

Clearly there's a disconnect between what motorists expect from their vehicles and real world mileage results, something that's not uncommon in Australia.

Despite a sometimes confusing fuel consumption standard in Australia, called Australian Design Rule (ADR) 81/02, Hyundai Australia has not faced legal proceedings from customer unhappy with fuel consumption.

Bill Thomas, Public Relations General Manager at Hyundai Australia said there's "occasionally" questions from customers who don't get the same real world mileage as official figures, "but this is common with all manufacturers because of the [ADR 81/02] test".

The ADR 81/02 test is carried out on a stationary dynamometer by manufacturers, and runs for 20 minutes between speeds of 19km/h and 120km/h. See the image gallery for the official testing graph.

The government carries out random audits to ensure the guidelines are closely followed by manufacturers, however a common complaint from motorists is not being able to match the efficiency levels quoted by official ADR figures.

The ADR 81/02 fuel consumption and Co2 emission test is almost identical to those conducted in Europe, and Thomas says it provides a benchmark to measure others by.

"The [ADR 81/02] isn't the most real world test, but it does give you a baseline to compare car with car, rather than real world economy," he said.

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