Hyundai, Kia Admit to Overstating Gas Mileage on Most Models

Korean automakers Hyundai and Kia have admitted to overstating fuel mileage claims on most of their models over the past three years, and are now paying back car owners for their embarrassing error.

Both automakers will begin to retrofit their cars with new window stickers immediately, that reduce the fuel consumption ratings by up to 6 mpg depending on the vehicle model. The companies are reimbursing around 900,000 customers, for the entire lifetime that they own the vehicle. The reimbursement amount will be based on the mileage of the vehicle, and will attempt to pay back money that the owners would have saved if the fuel mileage rating was originally correct. Additionally, Hyundai and Kia will add on 15 percent to help compensate for the inconvenience this has caused.

As an example, if you own a 2012 Kia Soul Eco that has been driven 15,000 miles, and you are paying an average of $3.90 for a liter of gasoline, the company will have to reimburse you around $285. The reimbursement depends on the average gas price in your area, as well as the mpg adjustment, which in the case of the 2012 Kia Soul Eco, was lowered by 4 mpg combined. After the first payment is received, customers can re-visit the dealership as often as they’d like to have there mileage re-checked. They will then be compensated for the extra miles they have tacked on to the odometer.

An audit by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) revealed that the brands turned in numbers that did not match their own test results on these cars, and an investigation is now being launched into all of the automakers vehicles.

Hyundai and Kia claim that the error was unintentional, and have already issued a public apology. The brand’s will run full-page newspaper and digital ads starting this coming Sunday to inform the public of the error.

For more information on the models affected, you can visit www.kiampginfo.com, or www.hyundaimpginfo.com.

Correction Notice: The original sentence, “Korean automakers Hyundai and Kia have admitted to overstating fuel mileage claims on most of their models over the past three years, and will now be forced to pay back car owners for their embarrassing error.” has been changed to read, “Korean automakers Hyundai and Kia have admitted to overstating fuel mileage claims on most of their models over the past three years, and are now paying back car owners for their embarrassing error.”

And the sentence “The companies are being forced to reimburse around 900,000 customers, for the entire lifetime that they own the vehicle” has been changed to ” The companies are reimbursing around 900,000 customers, for the entire lifetime that they own the vehicle.”