Hyundai & Kia to spend up to $395 million on lump sum fuel settlements

Hyundai and Kia look set to make payments of up to $395 million in the USA to compensate owners for overstated official fuel economy figures.

Back in 2012, Hyundai and Kia had to stand up and accept that they’d overstated the official economy of a number of their models and attempt to put things right.

They did that by offering all buyers of affected cars a compensation plan which repaid owners for their losses over expectation, added 15 per cent for good measure and made that ongoing for the lifetime of the ownership.

But this is the USA, so it wasn’t all as straightforward as that.

It seems many owners of Hyundai and Kia cars who were due the compensation didn’t like the idea of getting a drip of compensation related to their mileage (and having their local dealer verify their usage) so Hyundai and Kia have come up with a lump-sum compensation plan.

Instead of getting an average payment of around $88 a year, affected Kia and Hyundai owners will be able to opt for a one-off payment to clear the liability – expected to average $353 for Hyundai owners and $667 for Kia – which will cost Hyundai $210 million and Kia $185 million.

The settlement still needs to be ratified by the court process, but that looks likely to happen early in 2014.

It’s a chunk of money, but it’s probably the best way top wrap up the issue, put it to bed and move on.