A former Hyundai engineer has won a huge whistleblower award from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
Kim Gwang-ho, a former safety engineer at Hyundai, has received $24.3 million for his role in calling out the automaker for defective engines.
“At Hyundai, we often repeated the catchphrase ‘Quality is our pride,' " Kim said in a statement. "I blew the whistle so Hyundai and Kia would keep this promise. I am glad I helped save vehicle owners everywhere several billion dollars in repair costs that Hyundai and Kia schemed to put on them.”
Kim also helped save lives, NHTSA said.
In 2016 Kim, who lives in Seoul, South Korea, reported to NHTSA that Hyundai was failing to address a design flaw linked to its Theta II engines, which were prone to seizing up and even catching fire.
NHTSA found that Hyundai and Kia had delayed recalling the vehicles with those engines.
In November last year, NHTSA ruled that Hyundai and Kia conducted untimely recalls of 1.6 million vehicles equipped with Theta II engines and inaccurately reported crucial information to the agency about the serious defects in the engines. The automakers paid $81 million in cash penalties to the government, NHTSA said.
Under the new automotive whistleblower program, auto employees who report fraud are entitled to up to 30% of any collected monetary sanctions resulting from their claims. Whistleblowers are also protected by law.
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