Whistleblower against Kia and Hyundai awarded US$24 million

The United States National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has awarded a whistleblower US$24 million (AU$32.6m) in compensation for providing insider information about a safety defect.

Former Hyundai engineer Kim Gwang-ho reported a defect to the NHTSA in 2016 relating to a design flaw within Hyundai and Kia's Theta II, inline four-cylinder engines which would unexpectedly catch fire.

The Korean manufacturers were fined a total of US$210m (AU$285m), with $81m (AU$110m) paid to the United States Government, which then compensated Kim with the maximum award available of 30 per cent.

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The former engineer said he was glad to be properly compensated for putting himself on the line to protect affected owners.

“I am pleased that I have been justly compensated for the risks I took to protect owners of these defective cars, and grateful that the US’s legal system had a program in place to make this possible,” said Kim.

“I hope my reporting leads to real safety improvements, both at Hyundai and throughout the industry.

“At Hyundai, we often repeated the catchphrase ‘quality is our pride.’ 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.”

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Roughly 1.6 million vehicles fitted with the Theta II engine were recalled, affecting the 2011-2014 Hyundai Sonata, 2013-2014 Hyundai Santa Fe Sport, 2011-2014 Kia Optima, 2012-2014 Kia Sorento, and 2011-2013 Kia Sportage.

Kim is the first person to be awarded compensation under the United States Motor Vehicle Safety Whistleblower Act, passed in 2015.