NHTSA issues first whistleblower award

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said Tuesday it has issued its first whistleblower award, totaling more than $24 million, in connection with information provided regarding Hyundai Motor America and its affiliate Kia Motors America.

The NHTSA said in a statement that the whistleblower provided the agency with information related to the auto manufacturers’ violations of the Safety Act.

The statement said that in November 2020 NHTSA issued consent orders with Hyundai and Kia reflecting the agency’s assessment that both companies had conducted untimely recalls of more than 1.6 million vehicles with Theta II engines and inaccurately reported critical information about the nature of serious defects in the engines.

The combined penalties in the consent orders totaled $210 million, $81 million of which was paid in cash to the U.S. government. By statute, NHTSA can award up to 30% of collected funds to a whistleblower who is found to have contributed significant information to an action that resulted in penalties of more than $1 million, the statement said.

The NHTSA did not identify the whistleblower. However, in 2016, Kim Gwang-ho, then a Hyundai engineer, flew to Washington to tell the NHTSA the companies should have recalled more vehicles over the problem with the engines, citing an internal report.

A Kia spokesman had no comment while Hyundai did not respond to a request for comment.

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