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Hyundai to fight $248M judgment over fatal Montana crash

A Montana jury has levied a $248 million ruling against Hyundai in the case of a crash that killed two occupants in July 2011. The automaker plans to appeal the ruling.
Cousins Trevor and Tanner Olson were driving a 2005 Hyundai Tiburon when they hit another vehicle head-on. According to lawyers representing their family, the steering knuckle on the car cracked and this allegedly caused it to lose control. Hyundai claimed that fireworks had been let off inside the vehicle, which caused the driver to swerve. The company alleges that evidence that could have proved its innocence was barred from the case.
The jury found in favor of the family and awarded them about $8 million in damages after a two-week trial. It claimed that Hyundai had shown "actual malice," according to Reuters. The jurors also slammed Hyundai with a further $240 million in punitive damages.

Hyundai will add Ioniq EVs to WaiveCar car-sharing fleet

Hyundai Motor America will add its Ioniq electric vehicles to a Southern California-based car-sharing fleet that launched earlier this year with Chevrolet Spark EVs. Hyundai reached an agreement with Santa Ana, Calif.-based WaiveCar in which Hyundai will provide 150 Ioniq EVs to the fleet by the time sales begin for the model early next year. Hyundai may add an additional 250 Ioniq EVs to WaiveCar fleets in other cities. WaiveCar is an app-based car-sharing service that debuted in Los Angeles in early 2016. The company offers drivers the cars for free for the first two hours, then charges $6 an hour for more time. WaiveCar also generates revenue via external advertising wraps around the vehicles, and also features geo-located targeted ads. Take a look at Hyundai's press release about the WaiveCar agreement here. Curiously, and somewhat admirably, Hyundai earlier this week went on record as saying the Ioniq's 124-mile single-charge range won't be sufficient in the long haul. The South Korean automaker has vowed to replace the upcoming version with an Ioniq EV for 2018 that will be able to go at least 200 miles on a full charge. That's not a bad move, considering General Motors is preparing to launch its Chevrolet Bolt EV, while Tesla is working on its Model 3. Both of those models will have 200-mile-plus full-charge ranges. Hyundai announced the incoming sales of the Ioniq EV earlier this year. A hybrid version of the Ioniq also debuted in South Korea earlier this year. Overall, Hyundai is looking to debut more than two-dozen hybrids, plug-ins, and fuel-cell vehicles to the world by the end of the decade. Related Video:

Volvo leads and Mini fails in JD Power's Tech Experience Index

New cars are basically rolling computers. Everything from the engine to the infotainment runs on a series of ones and zeros, and a lot of that technology requires input from the driver. So it's no surprise that JD Power has a study designed specifically to discern which bits of tech drivers love and which bits they loathe. "New technology continues to be a primary factor in the vehicle purchase decision," says JD Power's Kristin Kolodge, executive director of driver interaction & human machine interface research. "However, it’s critical for automakers to offer features that owners find intuitive and reliable. The user experience plays a major role in whether an owner will use the technology on a regular basis or abandon it and feel like they wasted their money." The J.D. Power 2020 U.S. Tech Experience Index (TXI) Study found that Volvo owners are happiest with the technology packed inside their vehicles, followed by BMW and Cadillac, all brands that JD Power classifies as premium. The highest-rated mainstream brand is Hyundai, followed by Subaru and Kia. As was the case with the organization's Initial Quality and APEAL studies, Tesla's numbers aren't officially included because they are the only automaker that has not granted JD Power approval to contact its owners in states that require it. Tesla's projected score of 593 would have put it in second place, right behind Volvo's score of 617. The lowest-ranked brand in the TXI Study is Mini, with Porsche right behind. Diving a little bit deeper, JD Power's findings suggest that the technologies new car buyers care most about are related to helping them see their surroundings better. Camera systems, including rear-view mirror cameras and ground-view cameras, scored highest in five of the six satisfaction attributes measured in the study. The technology that owners could really do without? Gesture controls. Owners who answered JD Power's survey say they don't use gesture controls much at all after initially trying them, and they don't really care if their next vehicle has them. We have to wonder if those responses might be what kept BMW out of the top spot. The TXI Study also found that owners are split on automated driving helpers, like lane-keeping assist and automatic emergency braking. JD Power suggests that owners may need more training on those systems before they learn to trust them. Related Video: This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences.