Hyundai loves to start ’em early. The Korean brand has some of the youngest buyers, beaten only by Mazda and Volkswagen according to one study published a few years ago.
Carmax found that the average Hyundai buyers was just under 38, compared with 47 for Cadillac, but that’s nothing compared with the age of people building those Hyundais. Last year Reuters revealed that children as young as 12 were employed at a factory in Alabama producing metal body panels.
That revelation was a cause of major embarrassment to Hyundai and this week the company told shareholders that it would be getting rid of a controlling stake in the disgraced plant. Hyundai owned 72 percent of SMART Alabama LLC in Luverne, Alabama, which supplies parts used in the construction of Hyundai cars and SUVs made in the nearby Hyundai auto plant in Montgomery.
Hyundai CEO Jaehoon Chang said in a letter to shareholders that the company had carried out audits at 29 of its parts suppliers in Alabama and was confident that it was “now in full compliance of underage labor laws.”
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Chang confirmed that Hyundai was currently “in the process of divesting its ownership interest in SMART” but also pledged that it would work to preserve jobs in rural Luverne. The CEO hasn’t revealed how Hyundai will dispose of its stake, or when that will happen.
According to U.S. and Alabama state law children under the age of 16 aren’t allowed to work in industrial plants and anyone working in potentially dangerous roles including operating metal stamping machines must be at least 18 years old.
But many of the children found working in the Alabama parts plants were recruited by third-party recruiting agencies who provided false documentation, Reuters reports. Chang said he wanted to discourage parts suppliers from using those kinds of agencies going forward, but ultimately accepted that the buck stopped with Hyundai itself.
“The responsibility is with Hyundai to make sure all our suppliers understand and meet our high global workforce standards,” Chang told shareholders.