In Hyundai-Kia Engine Recall Case
A former Hyundai Motor employee who reported safety issues with vehicles from Hyundai Motor Co. and Kia Corp. to the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) will receive an award of US$24.3 million.
NHTSA announced on Nov. 9 (U.S. local time) that it has paid the award to the whistleblower for providing information regarding engine safety issues in 1.6 million Hyundai and Kia vehicles sold in the United States. This marked the first time that NHTSA has paid an award to a whistleblower.
The whistleblower is Kim Kwang-ho, a former manager of Hyundai Motor. Kim worked as an engineer at Hyundai Motor for more than 20 years. He reported to NHTSA and the Korean government in 2016 that Hyundai Motor was not taking appropriate measures even though it was aware of defects in its Theta 2 engine. Based on this report, NHTSA launched an investigation into Hyundai-Kia’s Theta 2 GDi engines and 1.6 million vehicles were recalled.
Accordingly, NHTSA imposed a fine of US$81 million on Hyundai Motor and Kia in November 2020. It also required Hyundai Motor and Kia to invest a total of US$56 million to strengthen safety performance measurements and develop quality data analysis systems. If the two companies fail to do so, U.S. authorities will impose an additional fine of US$73 million on them.
NHTSA has decided to pay 30 percent of the penalty, the legally allowed maximum rate, as a whistleblower award to Kim.
“I am happy to be duly compensated for the risk I took to protect owners of these defective models,” Kim said in a statement on Nov. 9. “The U.S. legal system made this possible. I hope my report will contribute to substantially improving safety at Hyundai Motor and across the automobile industry.”