- The safety violations by Hyundai involved a design flaw in engines that were seizing up or catching fire causing possible deaths to its passengers.
- South Korean engineer Kim Gwang-ho was given $24 million by US authorities for reporting Hyundai and Kia’s safety violations.
This is not the first time Hyundai, South Korean automaker, is in the news for all wrong reasons. While Hyundai posted anti India tweet, Trunicle investigated it further and found out that this automaker has done some serious frauds in this engines forcing one of its former employee to blow the whistle and warn the government authorities.
A former Hyundai Motors engineer was rewarded with $24 million for reporting safety violations committed by the South Korean carmaker.
Kim revealed that Hyundai had failed to address a design flaw in its Theta II engines, which were seizing up and sometimes catching fire which can lead to catastrophic events.
“I am pleased that I have been justly compensated for the risks I took to protect owners of these defective cars, and grateful that the US’s legal system had a program in place to make this possible,” said Kim in the statement.
He also said he hopes his whistleblowing will help lead to “real safety improvements, both at Hyundai and throughout the industry.”
Citing the report by the Quality Strategy team, Kim told that Hyundai already knew the issue was more serious and widespread, but the carmaker did not bother fixing them. The problem was not just with the manufacturing process but also engine design, meaning Hyundai would need to fix engine in all the affected cars he said.
Hyundai for wrong reasons in the news, has certainly demeaned India’s stand on Kashmir. The moment Hyundai tweet appeared, people got furiously angry with Hyundai management, who allowed a political tweet on such a sensitive issue. People started hammering Hyundai for this tweet and the hashtag #BoycottHyundai was trending on Twitter in India on Sunday, with many individuals requesting that the company’s products not be purchased in the nation.
