Seoul to toughen checks on automobile fuel efficiency

The government plans to intensify its checks on fuel efficiency of new vehicles, the commerce ministry said Tuesday, in a move that will narrow a currently wide gap between the fuel efficiency of cars claimed by automakers and their actual efficiency.

The move also follows an unprecedented acknowledgment and apology from Korea's two leading automakers -- Hyundai Motor Co. and Kia Motors Corp. -- earlier this month that the fuel economy ratings of their 900,000 cars sold in the U.S. between 2010 and 2012 had been inflated due to what they called "procedural errors at testing operations."

The two carmakers, both members of Hyundai Motor Group, have yet to make such an acknowledgment about cars sold elsewhere, including South Korea, but many car owners here have long complained about a wide gap between their vehicles' claimed and actual fuel efficiencies.

Currently, automakers are allowed to mark their own fuel efficiency ratings within a margin of error of plus or minus 5 percent, according to the Ministry of Knowledge Economy.

The ministry plans to reduce the allowed margin of error to 3 percent and also begin publishing the result of its own tests on vehicles to verify automakers' claimed efficiency ratings.

"The government plans to revise related laws and regulations early next year, which means the new measures could be come into effect from later half of 2013 when considering the time needed to make necessary preparations," a ministry official told reporters.

The official added such measures could also include checking up to 15 percent of all units of each vehicle type sold to make sure their claimed fuel economy is within the allowed margin of error. (Yonhap)