Hyundai unveils safety center arising from settlement with U.S. regulators

ANN ARBOR, Mich. – Hyundai Motor North America has christened a $51.4 million safety and investigation center outside Detroit that will focus on quick response and countermeasures to auto problems in the field.

The Safety Test and Investigation Laboratory, dedicated Tuesday near Ann Arbor, Mich., was developed in compliance with a record-setting $201 million civil penalty agreed to with U.S. safety regulators.

That consent order with the U.S. divisions of Hyundai Motor Co. and Kia Corp. came in 2020 after the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration found the automakers failed to recall about 1.6 million vehicles for engine-fire risk in a timely fashion. The recalls were in 2015 and 2017.

Hyundai said the order required the carmaker to spend $25 million on a safety facility but that the company decided to double the investment to fund a state-of-the-art facility.

"Hyundai recognized the importance of expanding its hands-on field safety evaluation and investigation processes to help ensure the safety of our customers," Jose Muñoz, president and CEO of Hyundai and Genesis Motor North America, said in a news release.

The new laboratory is built on the site of the Hyundai America Technical Center and employs 160 people. It will open in mid-October, the company said.

It will be unique in North America for being dedicated to the rapid response to field issues, Hyundai said. Among its capabilities will be a field crash investigation lab, high-voltage battery lab, forensics lab, 400-meter track and vehicle dynamics area skid pad.

Automakers typically outsource such work to vendors, but the new facility will allow Hyundai to conduct such investigations and analysis internally, the company said.

The center will assist in new technology development, while identifying and replicating vehicle field issues, expediting investigations and conducting regulatory safety testing.

"Having such a capable and expansive safety and investigations laboratory in-house, will allow Hyundai to take a more proactive approach in determining safety issues and trends early-on," said Brian Latouf, Hyundai Motor's global chief safety officer.