American automobile giant General Motors recently announced that it will be compensating all its customers who purchased a 2016 model GM SUV after the company had exaggerated the fuel efficiency of its new cars by 1 mile to 2 miles per gallon.
The compensation program worth $100 million will cover roughly 135,000 retail customers, who may receive an average of $450 to $900, as the company overstated fuel efficiency on specific 2016 SUVs. In fact, GM discovered that specific 2016 models of the company's GMC Acadia, Buick Enclave and Chevrolet Traverse vehicles were given the erroneous fuel economy sticker, Tech Times reported.
As per the provisions in the compensation program, people owning the affected models have the option to choose to receive a debit card worth anything between $450 and $900. Alternatively, they can also opt for a vehicle protection plan good for 48 months or 60,000 miles.
The vehicle protection plan will be in addition to the 36-month/36,000 warranty offered by GM. It will commence after the expiry of the original factory warranty of the vehicle.
The company further stated that all customers who are leasing any one of the vehicles that are covered by GM's compensation program will only receive the debit card. The compensation program is meant to repay car owners, who are possibly spending additional money on fuel compared to what they expected for their vehicle, owing to the wrong fuel economy stickers.
GM, however, said that the value of the debit card provided to the customers will be subject to specific factors like whether the vehicle was purchased or leased or whether the vehicle is a front-wheel or all-wheel drive, Detroit News quoted the company spokesman Jim Cain as saying.
People who have purchased the specific GM 2016 SUVs or people who are on long-term lease will receive the maximum payouts. On the other hand, those who took the vehicles on short-term lease will receive the minimum compensation values.
General Motors will be dispatching letters to the affected customers regarding the compensation offer starting Wednesday, May 25.
Watch "GM deceiving consumers on MPG for nearly ten years?" below:
