Seoul to enforce stricter measures on automakers’ fuel efficiency claims

The South Korean government plans to enforce stricter measures on automakers’ fuel efficiency claims.
The move follows an unprecedented acknowledgment and apology from South Korea’s two leading automakers — Hyundai Motor Co. and Kia Motors Corp. — earlier this month that the fuel economy ratings of their 900,000 cars sold in the U.S. between 2010 and 2012 had been inflated due to what they called “procedural errors at testing operations.”
The two carmakers, both members of the Hyundai Motor Group, have yet to make such an acknowledgment about cars sold elsewhere, including South Korea.
Currently, automakers are allowed to mark their own fuel efficiency ratings within a margin of error of plus or minus 5%, according to the Ministry of Knowledge Economy.
The ministry plans to reduce the allowed margin of error to 3% and also to begin publishing the result of its own tests on vehicles to verify automakers’ claims.
The government plans to revise related laws and regulations early next year, which means the new measures could come into effect in the latter half of 2013, an official from the ministry said.