General Motors Co. announced Friday it had stopped temporarily the sales of about 59,823 vehicles — the 2016 models of GMC Acadia, Buick Enclave and Chevrolet Traverse SUVs — because the window labels on those cars overstated the fuel economy of the vehicles. There is no indication that GM put the incorrect labels on vehicles deliberately.
The automaker first informed its dealers about the “inadvertent error” on Wednesday through a memo which said the window stickers on the listed models mentioned their fuel economy “as 1-2 MPG [miles per gallon] higher than it should have been.”
Automotive News, which first reported the error and has a copy of the memo sent to dealers, reported that replacement labels with the correct mileage information would start reaching dealerships Saturday, and that all stickers were expected to reach the dealers by Tuesday. The Wednesday memo also said the error was discovered by company engineers while working on labels for 2017.
Tom Wilkinson, a spokesman for GM, said the company notified the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) immediately after discovering the error. Laura Allen, spokeswoman for EPA, confirmed being notified by the car manufacturer.
“We have asked the company to provide all relevant information to the agency,” Allen said.
Continue Reading Below
Without specifying how the company would deal with customers who have already purchased the vehicles, Wilkinson said GM “will contact owners of the affected models to address the situation.”
GM shares fell by 2.15 percent on the New York Stock Exchange Friday.
In April, Mitsubishi Motors had admitted to exaggerating fuel efficiency on some models it sold in Japan. In 2014, Hyundai Motor, Kia Motors and Ford Motor had all agreed to pay out claims to owners of their vehicles after the companies admitted to overstating fuel economies.