Some 330,000 vehicles produced and sold by South Korea's leading carmaker Hyundai Motor Group are still running on the road here years after it promised a voluntary recall of the cars that were found to emit excessively high levels of hazardous gases into the air, industry sources said Thursday.

The number is around three times larger than 125,000 Volkswagen automobiles that the environment ministry recently ordered to be recalled in South Korea in connection with the fake emissions scandal involving the German auto giant.

In 2011, the government found that some models of Hyundai Motor Co. and its smaller affiliate Kia Motors emitted nitrogen oxides that far exceeded the legally permissible level when their air conditioner is running.

Hyundai Motor Group denied any foul play at the time as opposed to Volkswagen confessing its wrongdoing, saying that the problem was caused merely by a "mistake." It got off scot-free as there were no regulations in place to punish the company.

In response to the environment ministry's request for any "improvement measures," Hyundai Motor announced a voluntary recall of all related cars in what it says is an "ethical" and "goodwill" gesture.

According to industry and government sources, Hyundai Motor has recalled around 540,000 units out of the 870,000 cars that it promised to recall. This represents 62 percent of the total to be brought back for repairs.

Subject to the recall are 12 models of Hyundai Motor and its smaller affiliate Kia Motors that include the Tucson, the Santa Fe, the Sportage and the Sorento, all of which were produced after 2005. They promised to "reprogram" the Exhaust Gas Recirculation device, an emissions-cutting device.

Experts say that the recall ratio stands far below the conventionally accepted level, though there are no regulations that specify how high the ratio has to reach.

"Granted that the recall was not something that the government ordered and it was a purely self-initiated action, the recall ratio still stands far lower than the conventionally accepted ratio," an industry source told the English edition of Yonhap News Agency on condition of anonymity.

"In most cases, once a car is recalled, the recall ratio reaches almost 90 percent within 19 months. If not, the government has to call on the carmaker in question to ramp up its recall efforts," he added.

The 2011 case was brought back to the spotlight after U.S. environment authorities announced in September that Volkswagen had faked emissions results for some of its diesel models by manipulating the operation of emissions-reducing devices and software.

The environment ministry here conducted its own investigation into Volkswagen cars and found that the Tiguan equipped with a Euro

5 EA189 diesel engine turned off the EGR emissions-cutting device during driving tests.

Volkswagen was ordered to recall 125,000 vehicles using the same kind of engine and fined 14.1 billion won. The environment ministry said that it has canceled the certification for the cars, meaning that they cannot be sold here.

Market watchers say that the 2011 case involving Hyundai Motor does not constitute a violation of any law at the time, but it should be regarded as serious in that it could pose a serious threat not just to the environment but also to the individual passengers inside.

"Think about the numbers. Almost three times the number of the German cars in question are running on the road, possibly wreaking havoc on the environment by fuming out more hazardous gases," an industry expert said on customary condition of anonymity.

"It is not just about the environment. It's about the drivers and the passengers who could breathe polluted air coming from outside. They could also become potential victims of contaminated air whenever they step out of the cars."

The environment ministry in charge of vehicle emissions regulations acknowledged that there were suspicions over those Hyundai vehicles but noted that it is not in a position to press the automaker to ramp up recall efforts.

"There were suspicions that Hyundai Motor intentionally faked the emissions results, but it was inevitable to let go of the matter since the company insisted it was a mistake, and we also didn't have relevant regulations," an environment ministry official said. "We just accepted its voluntary recall plan ... Given the nature of the recall, we are not in a position to press Hyundai to ramp up its recall efforts."

Hyundai Motor admitted that the recall ratio stays relatively low but said that an emissions-related recall is hard to carry out because customers are not active in cooperation. It still noted that it will keep up its efforts to recall as many cars as possible by trying to contact their owners through diverse channels.

"It is difficult to reach the drivers of those cars since car ownership is changing all the time," a Hyundai Motor PR official said. "But we will work hard to increase the overall recall ratio as high as possible going forward." (Yonhap)