WASHINGTON, Nov 3: South Korean automakers Hyundai and Kia said on Friday they will reimburse car owners in the US and Canada for having exaggerated the fuel efficiency of their vehicles.

The announcement came after the US Environmental Protection Agency said it had discovered inflated gasoline economy numbers on a wide range of Hyundai and Kia models in an investigation sparked by consumer complaints. The exaggerated numbers, which ran from one to six miles a gallon, had helped push some of the models into the much-vaunted 40 miles per gallon (MPG) club of gasoline-sipping vehicles.

Hyundai Motor America and Kia Motors America said the problem involved nearly 1.1 million 2011-2013 model year vehicles sold in North America: about 900,000 in the US and 172,000 in Canada. —AFP