Customer Corner : Part 2 – Hyundai Corruption Equipment

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In our first piece exposing Hyundai Construction Equipment’s rotten ways – we took you back to those years from 2012 to 2015 when they hoarded outdated diesel engines like some doomsday prepper, engines that belched out filth way beyond what the Clean Air Act allows. They slapped them into excavators and wheel loaders, sold them as compliant, and pocketed the cash while the rest of us choked on the smog. Fines came raining down – a £1.5 million criminal hit in 2018 for conspiring to defraud the U.S. government, then a whopping £36 million in 2019 from the EPA and DOJ for illegally importing and selling 2,269 machines. And let’s not forget Cummins, the engine supplier with a laundry list of their own sins, including that £1.3 billion settlement in 2023 for defeat devices. Hyundai didn’t just dip a toe; they dove headfirst into this cesspool, relying on Cummins for years – decades, even – to power their beasts. Is this partnership just business, or is it a toxic ecosystem where ethical standards are treated like optional extras? Cummins’ repeated emissions scandals scream that they’ve got their own twisted playbook on “compliance,” and Hyundai’s eagerness to team up suggests they’re reading from the same grubby pages. It’s not coincidence; it’s complicity, a long-standing bromance built on cutting corners and screwing the planet.

But that’s old news, or at least the tip of the iceberg we scraped in Part 1. Hyundai’s not done digging their own grave. They’ve got a trail of scandals stretching from rainforests to rubble-strewn villages, from exploited workers to bullied suppliers. This is no isolated fuck-up; it’s a blueprint for how a corporate giant treats the world like its personal landfill. Let’s wade through the muck, shall we? Because if Part 1 was the wake-up call, Part 2 is the goddamn alarm blaring at full volume.

Ravaging the Amazon: Fuelling Illegal Mining with Blood Money Machines

Imagine the Amazon – that steaming, vibrant lung of the planet – getting carved up by machines stamped with Hyundai’s logo. Not in some abstract report, but right there, in the heart of Brazil’s Indigenous territories. Between 2021 and 2023, a damning Greenpeace investigation exposed how HD Hyundai Construction Equipment’s excavators dominated the illegal gold mining scene. Out of 176 machines registered for this destructive bullshit, 43% were Hyundai’s – that’s 76 beasts tearing through protected lands, poisoning rivers with mercury, and displacing communities like the Kayapó and Yanomami. These aren’t rogue operators; Hyundai sold them through shady dealerships like BMG, turning a blind eye to where the iron would end up. The result? Ecosystems gutted, water turned toxic, kids born with defects from the runoff. It’s profit over paradise, pure and simple.

Hyundai’s response? A half-arsed promise in April 2023 to pause sales and maintenance in high-risk states like Amazonas and Pará, even canning their BMG deal. But fast-forward to 2024, and Repórter Brasil’s probe shows Hyundai machines still topping seizure lists from illegal sites on Indigenous and conservation lands. What the hell? This isn’t reform; it’s a PR Band-Aid on a gaping wound. And tie this back to Cummins – those same diesel hearts pumping the fury, engines from a partner who’s no stranger to environmental felonies. Hyundai’s not just selling tools; they’re arming the apocalypse, one scoop at a time. If this is their idea of sustainability, count me out – the Amazon’s paying the price for their greed.

Demolishing Lives: Complicity in Palestinian Homewrecking

Shift gears to the occupied West Bank, where the rumble of Hyundai excavators isn’t building futures – it’s burying them. Amnesty International’s 2023 report laid it bare: at least five demolitions in Masafer Yatta alone, using models like the HX330AL and HW210 to flatten Palestinian homes and schools. Fifteen souls displaced, including children, in a region staring down mass expulsion. Israeli forces wielded these machines like weapons, visible Hyundai branding and all, courtesy of distributor EFCO. This isn’t “construction”; it’s collective punishment, breaching the Fourth Geneva Convention on forcible transfer and property destruction – war crimes, if you need the legal jargon to make it sting.

By March 2025, Amnesty updated the tally, urging Hyundai to yank sales from EFCO and audit their human rights due diligence. Hyundai’s reply? Vague platitudes about “commitments” without pulling the plug. Who Profits’ database backs it up – Hyundai’s gear keeps showing up in these atrocities. And here’s the Cummins kicker: those engines, reliable as clockwork in demolition, come from a supplier fined billions for emissions lies. Ethical behaviour? Hyundai’s ecosystem seems to thrive on selective blindness – profit from destruction abroad while dodging fines at home. It’s outrageous, a slap in the face to anyone who thinks heavy machinery should build, not break. These aren’t accidents; they’re choices, and Hyundai’s choosing the dark side every time.

Squeezing the Little Guy: Subcontractor Exploitation and IP Theft

Hyundai’s sins aren’t just global; they’re baked into their supply chain, right down to the folks who actually build the damn things. South Korea’s Fair Trade Commission nailed them in May 2019 with a 431 million won fine for nicking subcontractors’ tech – sharing confidential wiring harness drawings with rivals to slash costs and bully prices. Three suppliers screwed over, two execs facing prosecution. This wasn’t a slip; it was calculated theft, part of a pattern probed since 2017.

It didn’t stop there. In July 2020, another FTC slap – 970 million won – for unfair trade practices: jacking up prices on subs, delaying payments, shoving coercive contracts down their throats. And in June 2024, FairLabs called out illegal worker dispatching to core lines, skirting labor laws and leaving subs’ employees exposed to crap wages and hazards. This is Hyundai’s underbelly – a machine that grinds down the small fry to fatten the top. Riffing off Part 1’s Cummins tie-in, it’s the same vibe: partner with whoever bends rules, whether it’s emissions cheats or IP pirates. Ethical alternatives? Nah, Hyundai’s ecosystem rewards the ruthless. It’s infuriating – these giants preach innovation while stealing the sparks from the little innovators who make it possible.

Death in the Yard: Hiding Accidents and Endangering Lives

Nothing exposes Hyundai’s rot like the blood on the factory floor. Fast-forward to 2024-2025, and the Metal Workers’ Union is screaming bloody murder – literally. They accused HD Hyundai Heavy Industries (Hyundai CE’s parent) of covering up workplace accidents across shipyards and equipment plants, dubbing it a “death factory.” A January 2025 fatality at the Ulsan shipyard – a motorcyclist crushed – and a 2024 explosion that killed workers, all swept under the rug to dodge fines and bad press. Over 1,500 industrial deaths in South Korea since 2022, with Hyundai sites in the mix, and the union says it’s systemic underreporting.

Hyundai’s fix? A nine-day shutdown in July 2025 under their “Safe Care” farce, plus a 3.5 trillion won safety pledge – basically admitting the problem while counting on it not to dent profits. Government talks followed, but workers are still dying. This ties straight to the Cummins engine saga: power your machines with dodgy hearts, run your factories like sweatshops – it’s all the same disregard for human cost. Outraged doesn’t cover it; it’s criminal negligence, the kind that leaves families shattered while execs sip champagne on sales bonuses. Hyundai’s not building equipment; they’re building body counts.

Dealer Wars: Betraying Partners in the Shadows

Even their business partners aren’t safe from Hyundai’s knife-in-the-back routine. In 2023, an Alabama court hit HD Hyundai CE North America with contempt for breaching an injunction in a row with dealer Southern Lift Trucks – claims of contract violations and tortious interference. It ballooned into a 2025 Supreme Court of Alabama appeal under the Alabama Heavy Equipment Dealer Act, alleging shady terminations and damages. Separate suits piled on: a February 2025 federal case against Large Lift Rentals for breach and misappropriation, plus John Lee’s 2023 claim of financial sabotage.

This is Hyundai turning on allies, eroding the network that sells their gear. Grey market warnings in 2023 about non-spec imports highlight the chaos – no warranties, safety risks, lawsuits brewing. Link it to Cummins: a partnership ecosystem where trust is as rare as clean air from their engines. It’s a house of cards, built on betrayal, and it’s collapsing under the weight of their own bullshit.I

In the end, Hyundai Construction Equipment isn’t just a company; it’s a symptom – a hulking, diesel-fuelled monster that treats regulations, people, and the planet like disposable rubble. From Amazon clear-cuts to West Bank ruins, from stolen tech to hidden deaths, the pattern’s clear: profit trumps everything, ethics be damned. And that Cummins bromance? It’s the rotten root, feeding a system where “alternative ideas on ethical behaviour” means none at all. We’ve fined them, shamed them, but they keep digging. Time for buyers, regulators, and us to shove a spade in their spokes. Demand better, or we’re all buried in their mess.

Lee Thompson – Founder, The Cummins Accountability Project

Sources

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