Hyundai, Kia to pay $41.2 million to U.S. states over mileage claims

Korean carmakers Hyundai Motor Co and affiliate Kia Motors Corp will pay $41.2 million to resolve an investigation by 33 U.S. states over the their 2012 mileage restatements, state attorneys general said on Thursday.

Hyundai said it agreed to settle state consumer protection claims but didn't admit to violating any laws.

The $41.2 million fine to Hyundai and Kia covers the attorneys general "investigative costs," Hyundai said. read more »

Used Cars Slip Past Recall Safeguards, Putting Drivers in Danger

The outdoor lot of Mr. Z Towing in Flushing, Queens, looked like an automotive graveyard.

A beat-up Pontiac Grand Prix, one of 20 towed or abandoned cars that the New York City Department of Finance was auctioning on Tuesday, came with a Popeyes fried chicken box on its dashboard. Others were scuffed and dented. The cars did not even have keys.

Some of the vehicles on offer had another serious flaw: safety problems for which recall notices had been issued but repairs were never made. read more »

Buying at a Used Car Auction? What You Don’t Know Could Kill You

On Tuesday, two reporters from The New York Times visited a car auction held in Queens by the New York City Department of Finance.

It was a lesson in how consumers can purchase cars that have deadly defects and how sellers have few obligations to disclose those defects to the public.

The department was auctioning 20 cars, which had probably been abandoned or towed, to a group of about 50 bidders. The vehicles were in various states of disrepair and no one had even bothered to remove trash from the interiors.

The list of vehicles, along with their vehicle identification numbers, was posted on the department’s website before the auction. It took the reporters less than a half-hour to run all 20 cars through a federal database of safety defects — something any interested potential consumer can do. That search showed that half of the cars had been recalled for various reasons, including faulty ignition switches and Takata airbags, which between them have killed or injured hundreds of people worldwide.

The vehicles’ inclusion in the database denoted that the recall problems had not been fixed. read more »

Which Automakers Have The Lowest Recall Rates -- And The Most Serious Recalls

Automobile recalls continue to make the news, with nearly 700,000 vehicles being recalled so far this month in the U.S. to repair safety-related defects. Unfortunately, far too many motorists seem to be tuning out the long-running litany of reports and are ignoring recall notices issued for their rides.

According to data compiled by J.D. Power, more than 45 million vehicles that were the subject of safety recalls issued between 2013 and 2015 had yet to be brought in for covered repairs by summer’s end. read more »

GM Wants Brand Devaluation Claims Gone From Ignition MDL

Vehicle owners whose theory that the General Motors brand lost value because of an ignition switch defect was rejected by the New York federal judge overseeing their multidistrict litigation should not get to amend that claim because it was dismissed permanently, GM argued on Tuesday.

In a July 15 order on GM’s motion to dismiss a third amended consolidated complaint over a deadly ignition switch defect, U.S. District Judge Jesse M. Furman called the vehicle owners’ “brand devaluation” damage theory “unprecedented and unsound,” but never explicitly dismissed it with prejudice, setting off a battle between the two sides over whether the owners are allowed to amend it in a fourth complaint.

In an Oct. 18 letter to Judge Furman, counsel for the vehicle owners argued that the final paragraph of his order made clear that further amendments — without limitation — were authorized. read more »