[First Lady]

Hyundai, Kia overstate mileage on 1 million cars, offer compensation

— yesterday, Hyundai announced that the owners of more than one million Hyundai and Kia vehicles, including 172,000 in Canada, will get money back for the extra fuel they use, as the South Korean automakers overstated gas mileage on 13 models.

And those owners will keep getting money back for as long as they drive their car.

It is the biggest fuel-efficiency mistake in the auto industry in at least the past 12 years — only two similar errors have been discovered since 2000, each involving single models. And the payback could end up costing the companies hundreds of millions of dollars.

Canadian car owners — about 41,000 Kia and 131,000 Hyundai vehicles are affected — will get a debit card that will reimburse them for the extra fuel they have burned. Payments will be made each year for the lifetime of the car, with a 15 per cent inconvenience premium added.

My agenda for starting this thread: Spread the word to other Hyundai & Kia owners.

Mine is on the list. You can check your Hyundai here.

You can chekc your Kia here.