Master Automotive Technician Cleared of Defamation Charges against Hyundai Motor
Master Automotive Technician Cleared of Defamation Charges against Hyundai Motor
  • By Jung Yeon-jin (info@koreaittimes.com)
  • 승인 2015.09.21 10:49
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A master auto mechanic, who was sued by Hyundai Motor for obstruction of business and defamation, has been freed of all charges. Park Byung-il has recently had an interview local daily newspaper The Kyunghyang Shinmun.

In November last year, Hyundai Motor, the largest automaker in South Korea, sued master auto mechanic Park Byung-il for making comments on Hyundai vehicle defects in nine separate interviews. Park publicly provided his opinions on a 2013 recall of Tucson ix crossover utility vehicles for a defect in the air bag assembly; an alleged SUA (sudden unintended acceleration)-caused bus accident in Songpa-gu in 2014; controversy over Santa Fe and Avante MD water leaks; Korean vehicles’ airbag problems; and girl group Ladies' Code’s fatal Hyundai Starex crash.

Following a six-month long investigation into the allegations, police have decided not to prosecute Park for defamation and cleared him of suspicion of committing the obstruction of  business.

Park told The Kyunghyang Shinmun: “ I wasn’t spooked. I want to say right things. I want to become an independent fighter who stands by consumers.” Hyundai Motor said that it would not respond to the media until the final decision comes out.”

“I just wanted to speak hard truths. I didn’t want consumers to be victimized and tried to encourage carmakers to manufacture better cars.” Park added.

Meanwhile, Hyundai Motor neither sued two other professors who had raised similar questions over the Avente MD’s engine room water leakage nor filed a complaint with the Press Arbitration Commission against broadcasters who aired critical views of its vehicles.

As regards Hyundai’s recent head-on collision test of two Sonata models, one manufactured for the domestic market and the other for the US market, Park said: “It felt like window-dressing.” As consumers increasingly suspect that Hyundai vehicles manufactured for the domestic market are different from those for the US market, Hyundia has recently held a Sonata crash test event.

“If Hyundai was really confident in the safety of its vehicles, it would go for dismantling the two Sonanta models piece by piece in front of the camera. Consumers are not curious about the extent to which car bodies can be damaged by a crash. And I wonder why Hyundai did only frontal crash test. It should have carried out a side-impact test, as well as a rear-impact test. In the case of frontal crash tests, since the lengths of the hood, the engine and the passenger compartment are the same, vehicles could be crushed in a similar fashion,” Park argued.

He also expressed his negative views on the implementation of the EDR (event data recorder) disclosure law, slated for December, “The implementation of the law still provides no guarantee of holding car manufacturers accountable for defects like SUAs,” Park mentioned.


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