Gov. to apply tougher vehicle mileage standard

By Park Jin-hai

More cars will be subject to toughened mileage verification tests, said the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport on Sunday.

A total of 23 different models, up 64 percent from last year’s 14, should undergo verification for their mileage.

The cars will undergo safety tests and should also go through fuel efficiency tests.

Apart from 16 new models, designated for mileage tests, ten other models requiring safety tests will also undergo fuel economy tests.

For fuel efficiency verification, ten domestic cars, including Hyundai’s Aslan and Tucson, Kia’s new Sorento, Ssangyong’s Tivoli and Renault Samsung’s QM5, as well as six imported models, including Audi A7 50TDI, Lexus ES 300h and Jaguar XF 2.2D need verification.

The safety tests taken include the Volkswagen Polo, Mini Cooper and BMW X3. Of the ten models, two models of Hyundai Aslan and Tucson overlapped with fuel efficiency tests, while the Grandeur hybrid that had its fuel economy verified last year, will go without a separate fuel efficiency test.

Until last year, three different ministries carried out fuel efficiency tests. The trade ministry released fuel efficiency data under the category of energy conservation, while the land ministry conducted it for vehicle safety and environment ministry did the same for greenhouse gas emission control.

A dispute arose after Hyundai Santa Fe’s fuel economy was given a valid mark from the trade ministry but an invalid mark from the land ministry. This caused an industry-wide call for unified fuel efficiency test standards.

In November last year, the authority to test vehicle mileage was finally given to the land ministry and since then it has been suggesting tougher standards.

From this year, the fuel efficiency on city roads and highways should each come within a five percent margin of error. If car makers fail this, they could face recall and compensation orders.

Previously, the combined fuel efficiency should come within the five percent margin.

One vehicle will be sampled for a test, but if its fuel efficiency is suspected to be different from the same model, an additional three vehicles will be sampled again and the four results will be averaged.

The first test will be done by the Transportation Security Authority under the land ministry, while the second will carried out by five organizations under either the trade ministry or the environment ministry.

Currently, the subject vehicles are being warmed up for tests.

“As each model’s respective fuel efficiency on city driving and highway driving all should meet the requirement, thus the standards became tougher to meet,” said a land ministry official.

“However, by the request of car makers, three additional cars will be further sampled to raise the credibility of the test.”