EPA v. Hyundai Motor Company and Kia Motors Corporation

Case summary

Automakers Hyundai and Kia will pay a $100 million civil penalty to resolve alleged Clean Air Act violations based on their sale of more than 1 million vehicles that collectively will emit approximately 4.75 million metric tons of greenhouse gases (GHG) in excess of what the automakers certified to the EPA. The companies will forfeit GHG emission credits in order to put the companies in the place they would have been had they accurately reported the GHG emissions from these vehicles in the first place. The companies also will take measures to prevent future violations. The California Air Resources Board joined the United States as a co-plaintiff in this settlement. In 2009, the EPA found that current and projected concentrations of GHGs threaten the public health and welfare of current and future generations. At the same time, EPA found that GHG emissions from motor vehicles contribute to these threats, which include: hotter, longer heat waves that threaten the health of the sick, poor or elderly; increases in ground-level ozone pollution linked to asthma and other respiratory illnesses; as well as other threats to the health and welfare of Americans. To address these threats of climate change, EPA set limits on GHG emissions for passenger vehicles for model years 2012 through 2025. This enforcement effort against Hyundai and Kia protects the integrity of the light-duty vehicle GHG standards by ensuring that emissions reduction credits claimed by automakers are tied to actual reductions of GHGs. Without this enforcement action, Hyundai and Kia would have been credited for reducing emissions by roughly 4,750,000 in excess of what they actually achieved. This is equal to the GHG emissions from each of the following: 1,000,000 passenger vehicles being driven for a year; energy use from over 433,000 homes for one year; over 11 million barrels of oil consumed; and over 14 months of operation from an average coal-fired power plant in the U.S. The consent decree requires defendants to pay $100 million. This is the largest-ever penalty under the Clean Air Act. Payment is due within 15 days from the date that the court enters the decree. Defendants must pay $93,656,600 to the United States and $6,343,400 to the California Air Resources Board. For more information, see : http://www2.epa.gov/enforcement/hyundai-and-kia-clean-air-act-settlement or http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/united-states-reaches-settlement-hyundai-and-kia-historic-greenhouse-gas-enforcement-case.

Defendants (6)

• Hyundai Motor AmericaNamed in complaintNamed in settlement
• Kia Motors AmericaNamed in complaintNamed in settlement
• Hyundai Motor CompanyNamed in complaintNamed in settlement
• Kia Motors CorporationNamed in complaintNamed in settlement
• Hyundai Motor GroupNamed in complaintNamed in settlement
• Hyundai America Technical Center Inc.Named in complaintNamed in settlement

Facilities (1)

• HYUNDAI MOTOR AMERICA

  10550 TALBERT AVE, FOUNTAIN VALLEY, CA, 92708

  Registry ID: 110002648136

Statutes cited

• CAA 203 — Prohibited Acts - Motor Vehicle & Motor Vehicle Engines

Enforcement conclusions (1)

• Hyundai Motor Company and Kia Motors Corporationentered 2015-01-09

  Primary law: CAA

  Federal penalty: $93,656,600 · State/local: $6,343,400

Timeline (6 milestones)

• 2013-06-06Referred To Dept Of Justice
• 2013-07-19Enforcement Action Data Entered
• 2014-11-03Complaint Filed With Court
• 2014-11-03Final Order Lodged
• 2015-01-09Final Order Entered
• 2018-03-26Enforcement Action Closed