Hyundai Kia to pay 900 000 owners

[parakitoJDM]

this doesn't really surprise me, i mean not hitting the 40mpg hiway economy numbers....
a few months ago a famous car magazine did a comparo with all the other leading Compact cars
such as Cruze, Mazda 3, Corolla, Civic HF, etc.... guess what the more powerful Mazda 3
with 2.0li SkyActiv-G edged out the supposed to be fuel efficient Elantra.... just by a small margin though....

anyway back to the original topic, so how do they plan to compensate owners?

[niky]

They'll take a look at the mileage on the odometers, back-calculate the difference, then pay the owners the equivalent in money spent due to the fuel economy difference between what customers expect and what they actually get.

And they'll do this over the lifetime of the vehicle. So owners will now get a check in the tens to hundreds of dollars, and have the opportunity at a rebate totalling thousands over the life of the vehicle... especially if they bought a Kia soul, whose highway economy dropped from 36 to 30 mpg.

Actually, every other car gets a 3-5% adjustment, which they can attribute to rounding and conversion error (1-2 mpg). It's the Soul that's really shocking. 16% highway? That's some crazy crap there. Maybe they also got the aerodynamic numbers adjustment wrong, too. (EPA testing is on dyno, aero adjustments are added after the fact)

[anonemus]

Although HARI doesn't specifically quote EPA, but they sure refer to their mother company's US reputation about it. From HARI's May 9, 2011 press release entitled Hyundai’s Fuel-Efficient Vehicles Topped Sales in April:

“The sales prove positive for Hyundai, as the figures show that Filipinos are growing increasingly supportive of ways to minimize fuel consumption and their carbon footprint with their patronage of vehicles that are energy efficient,” said Ms. Fe Perez-Agudo, President and CEO of Hyundai Asia Resources, Inc., noting the significant gains of Hyundai’s fuel-efficient range of vehicles. “Everyone is seeking new ways for cleaner and better mobility and Hyundai’s line-up of best-of-breed innovations are built with technologically advanced engines to answer to such need. We, at HARI, are one with Hyundai Motor Company in keeping to our promise of responsible motoring by continuing to offer vehicles powered by Hyundai’s newest in eco-saving technologies, chief of which is Hyundai’s Blue Drive strategy. Our bestselling models such as the Accent, Sonata, Tucson, and Santa Fe, and our newly launched Elantra, are equipped with Blue Drive components that efficiently improve fuel economy and drivability. We trust that Filipino motorists will continue to trust that Hyundai will deliver in pursuit of our collective aim for sustainability,” she concluded.

And from mainstream local journalists (Aida Mendoza of PDI, no less!) quoting 40MPG:

When supply cannot meet demand | Inquirer Business

And various tsikot posts blabbering about 40MPG advantage of Hyundais.

At the very least, HARI should say something about the issue. Delicadeza na lang sana for Pinoy consumers.

[niky]

What motoring journalists say about their products is not in their control. I could claim that the Elantra can leap tall buildings in a single bound, and it would not be HARI's fault.

There is still nothing in that press release saying anything about the EPA. Thus, no falsehood.

Remember, new Hyundais are only going down about 5% on EPA ratings, and 38 mpg is still very respectable in today's market (though not as good as the 40-42 the Cruze and Focus ECO models claim) and matches the Civic and regular Focus.

Again... this is not to say this isn't an issue, and I'd like to hear the explanation myself about how they messed this up in the US. If it is shown that the over-stating was deliberate, Hyundai stands to lose millions in class action suits. And they'll deserve to. But this still has nothing to do with us in the Philippines, as EPA numbers have not been used to sell cars here.

Yes, customers will research EPA ratings when buying cars here, but that's not HARI's fault. They've said time and again that cars are retuned for local fuel, and local variants have different tuning and almost completely different engine choices from the US (again, no GDI).

It's a sure bet HARI will release a press statement to deal with this issue, probably within the week, as the staff would not have been on hand to do damage control over the All Saints Day weekend.

[anonemus]

A press release from HARI will surely help, kahit walang apology basta lang to show they recognize that there is an issue even if affected models are only in the US (allegedly for now).

[Ry_Tower]

this doesn't really surprise me, i mean not hitting the 40mpg hiway economy numbers....
a few months ago a famous car magazine did a comparo with all the other leading Compact cars
such as Cruze, Mazda 3, Corolla, Civic HF, etc.... guess what the more powerful Mazda 3
with 2.0li SkyActiv-G edged out the supposed to be fuel efficient Elantra.... just by a small margin though....

anyway back to the original topic, so how do they plan to compensate owners?

They'll issue debit cards with amount in it that corresponds to the mileage incurred.

The firms said they would issue debit cards to the owners of these vehicles to reimburse them for the higher-than-expected fuel costs, based on the difference between their actual mileages and the firms' claimed mileages.

Consumers will be able to top-up their debit cards for as long as they own the vehicle.

The companies say they will pay an additional 15% over and above the reimbursement amount "as an acknowledgement of the inconvenience" to consumers.

Previous owners of affected vehicles, who have already sold their cars, will also be reimbursed.

[niky]

A press release from HARI will surely help, kahit walang apology basta lang to show they recognize that there is an issue even if affected models are only in the US (allegedly for now).

That's just the thing. There's nothing wrong with the cars. It's just the US-specific label that was incorrect.

It's like cars in the US supposedly certified for use with 87 AKI gasoline suddenly turn out to be 92 AKI only. Doesn't affect us because we don't use AKI at all, and our cars are labelled correctly as requiring 95 RON.

[crazy_boy]

They'll issue debit cards with amount in it that corresponds to the mileage incurred.

Ok ito. May subsidy ka sa gas hehe may premium pa na 15%

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[parakitoJDM]

ser Niky, even though HARI and Kia Phil. doesn't state EPA ratings in their cars sold locally, they still have to issue a statement...an apology at the very least that their car's arent performing to what they advertised.... its assumed that its same cars because they sell Global models.... . and yes they claim our Elantra 1.8li has the same 148hp and 6speed A/T as US does!!! the Monetary compensation maybe impossible though but i strongly feel that HARI shouldn't keep mum about this issue w/c was discovered across the Pacific ocean.

[niky]

I agree. They definitely have to issue a statement to reassure their customers. Because this will be a big black eye, and may affect sales.

Here's the best article I have seen so far on this issue:

EPA finds Hyundai exaggerated fuel economy claims, refunds coming to customers

Apparently Hyundai did not follow proper procedures on the coast-down test, which made for the 3% across the board discrepancy. I suppose the higher discrepancy for the Soul is because the poor aerodynamics will show up much more dramatically with revised coast-down data.

Mind you, as Consumer Reports notes, Hyundai cars are still competitive in terms of fuel economy, but not class leading.