Hyundai Canada Pleads Guilty to Safety Violation Claims

Image: Larry MacDougal (AP)

Hyundai is in trouble. This time it’s with the NHTSA’s Canadian counterpart, Transport Canada. Reuters reports that Hyundai Auto Canada will have to pay a fine after failing to notify owners of a recall notice within a timely manner.

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Transport Canada says that Hyundai Auto Canada violated Canada’s Motor Vehicle Safety Act by failing to send out recall notices within a specified time frame. In Canada, under the Motor Vehicle Safety Act, that timeframe is 60 days. In a statement, Canada’s minister of transport Omar Alghabra called what Hyundai Canada did alarming.

“Canadians have a right to obtain timely information about safety issues impacting their vehicles. It is alarming that Hyundai failed to notify vehicle owners of a recall in a timely manner on six different occasions, which is why Transport Canada pursued criminal charges against the company.”

For breaking that timeframe law, Hyundai Auto Canada will have to pay the tidy sum of a $360,000 ($267,726 USD) fine. Considering that the company recalled over 300,000 vehicles in the great white north between 2020 and 2021, that fine is comparatively small.

Hyundai Canada actually had to plead guilty to these charges before paying the fine. Transport Canada says that between the plea and paying of the fine, they consider the matter closed.

In a statement, Hyundai Canada owned up to not notifying customers within the timeframe. “Hyundai Canada recognized that during the COVID pandemic, it was not meeting the precise timing requirements identified in the applicable regulations in a limited number of instances. However, we immediately corrected the issue and accepted responsibility.”