LOS ANGELES, March 16 (Kyodo) — Honda Motor Co.'s settlement of a class-action suit by hybrid owners over the Japanese carmaker's alleged overstatement of gas mileage won approval from a California state judge in San Diego on Saturday.
Under the terms of the settlement, Honda agreed to hand out benefits such as $100 to $200 in cash to some 200,000 individual owners, with the judge in charge estimating the value of the settlement at $170 million.
The settlement involves Civic hybrid models manufactured between 2003 and 2009. The owners claimed that the cars did not get as much as 50 miles per gallon in fuel economy as advertised by Honda.