2022 Hyundai Santa Cruz Sel Premium on 2040-cars

Auto blog

Hyundai, Los Angeles Times and Consumer Reports in fuel economy skirmish?

On Wednesday, Consumer Reports issued a story taking umbrage with the auto industry's move toward smaller, turbocharged engines, noting its own testing revealed that many such powerplants fail to deliver their promised fuel economy numbers. The story covered a variety of domestic and foreign automakers, with Ford and Chevrolet featuring prominently in the discussion. Hyundai was also mentioned for its Sonata Turbo, but the Korean automaker's family sedan came within one observed mile per gallon of its EPA ratings in CR's test, and its normally aspirated 2.4-liter counterpart actually beat its combined EPA ratings, 27 mpg to 26.
Good news for Hyundai, right? The automaker was so pleased with its report card that it sent out a small statement to a handful of news outlets including Autoblog, reading in part:
"We at Hyundai believe that Consumer Reports real-world average fuel economy testing results and EPA combined fuel economy results should correlate, and in fact do correlate nicely for some brands. Among all brands, Hyundai does particularly well in this correlation, with no high-volume brand having a better correlation between EPA combined and Consumer Reports real-world fuel economy."

Super Bowl car commercials: Follow along as we riff on them live

Join Autoblog editors Sunday starting around 6:30 p.m. ET as we react to all of the car commercials during the game. We know Hummer, Porsche, Hyundai and others will have splashy ads, and naturally, there's usually a few surprises. Whether you're a Chiefs or 49ers fan — or don't care about football — the commercials are always a highlight. And for us, the car spots are the most intriguing. Weigh in with your own thoughts in the comments section. Let's kick off.   FIRST QUARTER Editor-in-Chief Greg Migliore liveblogs the first quarter. F9 We'll count this as a car commercial. The latest edition of the Fast & Furious looks like it well, will have cars. We'll punt on further comment. PORSCHE I like it. Creative. Sort of a Night at the Museum feel. The guards stage a theft and then a car chase. The Taycan looked good. Get fired up — the future for Porsche is electric. The spot is meant to illustrate how fun that can be. I don't need any convincing.    SECOND QUARTER Associate Editor Byron Hurd is liveblogging the second quarter.  HYUNDAI Hyundai checked in super early with their Sonata "Smaht Pahk" commercial, which manages to score points for being both cute and clever while also being a fairly good commercial in a vacuum. We saw it last week, so there were no surprises here, but we enjoyed it nonetheless.  Fun note: If you go to the Sonata landing page on Hyundai's web site, you can choose "plain old English" or "the Boston way" for your language; the latter will translate the page. Enjoy.  FORD Hi ho, West Coast Editor James Riswick here. Apparently, the guys in Detroit didn't get the Mustang Mach E ad featuring Idris Elba and a whole boat load of awesome old Mustangs. Pretty sure it's bound to be viewed the exact same way as the car itself: traditionalists will be aghast, while non-car people will be intrigued by a new, all-electric, crossover version of one of the few cars they've heard of.  GENESIS They're coming more rapidly now. Genesis gets some love thanks to Chrissy Teigen and John Legend; this was another known quantity, but Hyundai's luxury brand managed another solid entry here thanks to its choice of stars. Teigen and Legend got the chance to throw back to the latter's "Sexiest Man Alive" honors, which Teigen often teases him for. Another solid all-around spot.  GMC/HUMMER Are there just no surprises left? Don't tell me; I know the answer. LeBron James fronts the revived Hummer, which will be an EV sold as a GMC.

Hyundai fined $17.35 million for late Genesis recall

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has slapped Hyundai with a $17.35 million fine for delaying a recall on the 2009 to 2012 Hyundai Genesis sedan back in 2013. The recall grew from the original figure of 27,500 units to 43,500 sedans in November of last year, and focused on brake fluid that wouldn't prevent corrosion of the hydraulic control unit.
"Hyundai remains committed to making safety our top priority, and is dedicated to ensuring immediate action in response to potential safety concerns including the prompt reporting of safety defects," David Zuchowski, Hyundai's president and CEO, said in a statement.
Hyundai originally issued a technical service bulletin warning dealers to replace brake fluid. This was expanded to a full recall following NHTSA's involvement.