Hyundai, Kia overstated gas mileage on most models, EPA says

Hyundai and Kia overstated the gas mileage on most of their models from the past three years in an embarrassing blunder that could bring sanctions from the U.S. government and millions of dollars in payments to car owners. Because of the inflated mileage claims, discovered during an audit by the Environmental Protection Agency, the Korean automakers must retrofit the window stickers on the cars, reducing their fuel economy figures by one-to-six miles per gallon depending on the model, the agency announced today. The EPA says its inquiry into the errors is continuing, and the agency would not comment when asked if the companies will be fined or if a criminal investigation is under way. But the EPA adds it’s the first case in which erroneous test results were uncovered in a large number of vehicles from the same manufacturer. Only two similar errors have been discovered since 2000, and those involved single models. Hyundai and Kia executives apologized for the errors, saying they were unintentional, and promising to pay the owners of 900,000 cars and SUVs to compensate for the differences in mileage, claimed versus actual. The payments, which will be made annually for as long as people own their cars, are likely to cost the companies hundreds of millions of dollars. Read the full story here.