In vehicle manufacturer news that doesn’t have to do with recalls, Hyundai and Kia will pay a record $100 million penalty to the Environmental Protection Agency and the California Air Resources Board for not being completely truthful about their vehicles’ fuel economy estimates. [More]
hyundai
Have You Experienced An Infestation Of Car Spiders?
By 8.27.14
After posting about today’s recall of Suzuki Kizashi sedans that are susceptible to cracked fuel lines due to spider webs, we learned that the problem isn’t limited to Mazda and Suzuki vehicles. There have been reports of other spider-infested ventilation systems from at least two other companies, Honda and Hyundai. [More]
Hyundai Fined $17.35M For Failing To Issue Brake Recall For More Than A Year
By 8.8.14
If we’ve learned anything this year it’s that vehicle recalls are a big deal, and, as a car manufacturer, ignoring signs of a recall will most certainly land you in hot water with U.S. regulators. And so, Hyundai will pay more than $17 million for delaying a recall related to defective brakes. [More]
Hyundai Announces Three More Recalls, Bringing This Week’s Total To 1.3M Vehicles
By 8.1.14
Hyundai managed to remain relatively unscathed when it came to what I’m now referring to as “year of the recall,” but that changed this week. Hot off the heels of an 800,000-vehicle recall on Wednesday, the South Korean manufacturer is now issuing three additional recalls – for a host of issues – totaling more than 420,000 cars. [More]
Hyundai Recalls 880,000 Sonatas Because When You Put The Car In Park It Shouldn’t Continue To Move
By 7.30.14
One would assume that when shifting a vehicle into park that means all forward and backward motions of the vehicle have ceased. That apparently wasn’t the case for some Hyundai vehicles that are now being recalled in the United States and Puerto Rico for a transmission issue. [More]
Regulators Investigating Hyundai Because Seatbelts And Airbags Are Supposed To Work
By 7.25.14
Since there’s no point in having seatbelts or airbags in a car if they don’t function when needed, the National Highway Traffic Administration is looking into an issue that could knock out these safety features in some Hyundai vehicles. [More]
EPA Wants Car Companies To Test Gas Mileage In Real World
By 7.15.14
Over the last few years, car makers have had to fork over more than $500 million in refunds to customers because of exaggerated fuel economy estimates on new vehicle stickers. In an effort to provide more accurate mileage information to consumers, the Environmental Protection Agency wants car companies to do their mpg testing on the road instead of in the lab. [More]
Mini Cars Are Mega Failures In New Crash Test Results
By 1.22.14
The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (better known as the people that get paid to smash cars into walls) recently put 11 mini cars — including well-known models like the Fiat 500, Honda Fit, Hyundai Accent, and Toyota Prius C — through its newest form of crash-testing. The results were not good, with only one of the tested vehicles earning an overall “Acceptable” rating. [More]
Hyundai & Kia To Refund Total Of $395 Million To Customers Over Misstated Mileage Claims
By 12.23.13
Last year, the Environmental Protection Agency found that Hyundai and Kia had misrepresented the gas mileage on around 900,000 vehicles sold between 2010 and 2012, leading to several current and former owners of these vehicles to sue the South Korean car makers. Today, the companies announced they had reached a settlement deal that would refund up to $395 million to customers. [More]
Hyundai Deferring Car Payments For U.S. Federal Employees During Gov’t Shutdown
By 10.2.13
Just because the government has the misfortune to shut down doesn’t mean all the expenses federal employees have to pay for are put on hold — far from it. Bills are still due for many affected by the shutdown, but Hyundai Motor says it wants to help any affected U.S. workers by deferring payments they owe on the car company’s vehicles. [More]
Have A Very Hyundai Christmas, In Late August
By 8.30.13
Maybe they sent out the wrong mailing at the wrong time. Maybe they’re planning way ahead. Or maybe Gabriel’s local Hyundai dealership is putting whatever random crap gets people to open messages from them in the subject lines of their e-mails. In Gabriel’s case, it worked. He opened it. [More]
Hyundai Rejects Retired Colonel’s Military Discount, Then Says “No We Didn’t”
By 6.3.13
What should have been a no-big-deal $500 discount on a $21,000 car has turned into more than a month of finger-pointing and form letters for one retired Army officer in New Jersey. [More]
What Are America’s Most Damaged Brands Right Now?
By 4.26.13
How mighty brands fall. Bad leadership, bad planning, a run of bad products: any of these can damage a brand in a short amount of time, and it can take years to recover: if, indeed, the brand recovers at all. What brands are the most battered in the United States right now? 24/7 Wall Street rounded them up, based on which publicly-traded major companies are currently dealing with aggressive competition, reputation disasters, and a lack of direction. [More]
Hyundai Pulls Awful Ad Showing Failed Suicide Attempt Using Car Exhaust Because It’s Awful
By 4.25.13
UPDATE: Hyundai has issued a longer apology on its British Twitter page, reading: “Hyundai understands that the video has caused offence. We apologise unreservedly. The video has been taken down and will not be used in any of our advertising or marketing.” [More]
Hyundai And Kia Recall 1.7 Million Vehicles Because Brake Lights Are Supposed To Work When You Brake
By 4.3.13
The entire point of brake lights on a car are to indicate to others that the driver has pressed the brake, so it’s a bit of a problem when that fails to happen, or when pressing the brake doesn’t disengage the vehicle’s cruise control like it should. And thus we have the reason why 1.7 million Kia and Hyundai vehicles are being recalled. [More]
Hyundai Recalls 13,500 Veloster Coupes Because Sitting Beneath A Shattered Sunroof Isn’t Fun
By 12.19.12 — Updated: 12.20.12
Driving along on a gorgeous day with the sunroof open is fantastic, which is ostensibly why the Hyundai Veloster Coupe and its panoramic sunroofs could be attractive to custoemrs. But having that closed sunroof shatter? Well that’s far from fantastic, which is why the car company is recalling 13,500 model year 2012 Velosters. [More]
EPA Report Says Hyundai & Kia Overstated Mileage Claims On 900,000 Cars
By 11.2.12
Yesterday Hyundai and Kia admitted to overstating the estimated fuel economy of about 900,000 cars by way of window stickers since 2010, after the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency started poking around. That’s a major no-no, so the companies will now have to shell out millions of dollars to customers to make up for those faulty claims. [More]
Wes Anderson Helms Impossibly Adorable Commercials For Hyundai
By 2.28.12
Director Wes Anderson, he of the requisite slow-motion scene in his much-gushed over movies like Bottle Rocket, The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou and The Royal Tenenbaums, is now bringing his twee touch to commercials for Hyundai. [More]
