Stefan Mileschin

South Korean auto manufacturers Kia and Hyundai have found themselves on the unpleasant end of a $775 million lawsuit after they admitted significantly inflating fuel economy figures on some of their cars.

Both admitted that they inflated the efficiency figures for over 1 million sold and owned vehicles in Canada and the United States.

Although they agreed to pay car owners the bill on extra fuel costs, 23 Hyundai and Kia customers filed a lawsuit in the District Court for Central California which argues the compensation is just not good enough.

Hyundai and Kia's proposed plan, Reuters reports, is a debit card customers can carry that will reimburse them for the difference in fuel economy, as well as an extra 15 percent to say sorry about the hassle. From the customers' point of view, the value of their vehicles has considerably reduced value of their vehicles, and they want reimbursement for that too.

A similar lawsuit has been filed in the Southern District of Ohio.

Hyundai is keeping schtum. However, the company was sued by Consumer Watchdog earlier this year over claims it misled customers about fuel efficiency on the 2011 and 2012 Elantra models.

Hyundai shares have dropped seven percent since the lawsuit whispers began, while Kia's stock has dropped five percent since last week.

http://news.techeye.net/hardware/hyu...-over-fuel-fib