A survey conducted in South Korea found that 3/4th of its respondents felt Hyundai built its cars to a different safety standard abroad than it did locally. As Malaysians, this is a pretty valid concern, even in 2015. But instead of avoiding the issue, Hyundai put its money where its mouth was. Before a live audience, they got a North American-built Hyundai Sonata and a South Korean built version of the same car to drive straight into each other at 56km/h.
The best part is they actually posted a clip of what happened on Youtube. Fast forward to the 1:30 mark to skip the real action, everything else is either fluff or in Korean. The car in ‘Venetian Red’ is the US-market variant while the Korean corner is represented by the Sonata in ‘Lakeside Blue’.
As the results show, both cars are pretty much matched in terms of structural integrity proving that Hyundai builds its domestic products to the same standard as it does for its export market. Kudos to Hyundai not only for making this happen, but for doing the right thing to begin with.
