Hyundai-Kia ACU Settlement: $62M Fund, Open to 2027

At a glance

Status

Open

Defendant

Hyundai Motor Co., Hyundai Motor America, Kia Corp., Kia America, Hyundai Mobis, Mobis Parts America

Settlement fund

$62,100,100

Claim deadline

April 8, 2027

No-proof cash option

Yes — up to $350 for recalled Class Vehicles / up to $150 for unrecalled Class Vehicles, no proof of expense required, or up to reimbursement of documented out-of-pocket ACU-related costs (rental cars, towing, childcare, repair costs, lost wages); no flat cap stated on site

Estimated payout

up to $350 for recalled Class Vehicles / up to $150 for unrecalled Class Vehicles, no proof of expense required, or up to reimbursement of documented out-of-pocket ACU-related costs (rental cars, towing, childcare, repair costs, lost wages); no flat cap stated on site

Administrator

JND Legal Administration

Official site

www.acusettlement.com/hyundaikia

Court

U.S. District Court, Central District of California

Case number

2:19-ml-02905-JAK-JPR

Last verified September 9, 2026

Key dates

Milestone	Date	What it means
Claim deadline	April 8, 2027	Last day to file for a payment
Opt-out (exclusion) deadline	August 25, 2025(passed)	Last day to leave the settlement and keep the right to sue
Objection deadline	August 25, 2025(passed)	Last day to object to the terms
Final approval hearing	September 29, 2025(passed)	When the judge decides whether to approve the settlement
Expected payout	Not yet scheduled	Payments are not sent until after final approval and any appeals

Where to file

Hyundai-Kia Airbag Control Unit (ACU) Settlement is administered by JND Legal Administration. The only place to file is the official settlement website:

File at the official site

www.acusettlement.com/hyundaikia

Filing is free. No legitimate settlement charges a fee to file a claim.

You cannot file on RecordingLaw.com. We are an independent publisher, not the settlement administrator, and we are not affiliated with any court, agency, or defendant.

The Hyundai-Kia Airbag Control Unit (ACU) Settlement is open, and the deadline to file a claim is April 8, 2027. It covers people who own, lease, or previously owned or leased certain Hyundai and Kia vehicles built with an airbag control unit that plaintiffs say can fail during a crash. This is not a data breach and it is not a payout for anyone who was actually injured; it is a consumer class settlement over the part itself, covering repair-related costs and a smaller payment for anyone who does not have receipts to submit. Here is what the underlying case is about, who the settlement covers, and how filing actually works.

What the ZF-TRW airbag control unit defect is about

The case grew out of claims that airbag control units (ACUs) made by parts supplier ZF-TRW, and installed in certain Hyundai and Kia vehicles, are susceptible to a condition called electrical overstress. According to the settlement's own class definition, that condition can disable the airbags and seatbelt pretensioners in a crash, meaning they might not deploy or engage when the vehicle's sensors call for it.

The lawsuit is not about vehicles that were actually in a crash and had a failure. It is a defect claim: the allegation is that the part itself carries this risk, so anyone who owned or leased an affected vehicle was exposed to it and, separately, may have paid for repairs, a rental car, or other costs connected to getting the part fixed. That is why the settlement pays out for expenses and documentation tied to the defect, not for injuries suffered in a crash.

The defendants are Hyundai Motor Co., Hyundai Motor America, Kia Corp., Kia America, Hyundai Mobis, and Mobis Parts America. The case is part of a multidistrict litigation pending in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, case number 2:19-ml-02905-JAK-JPR, and this settlement addresses the claims specifically against these Hyundai and Kia entities.

Where the settlement stands right now

As of September 9, 2026, the settlement is open and accepting claims. The exclusion deadline, the date by which someone could leave the class entirely and keep the right to sue Hyundai or Kia separately, was August 25, 2025, and that date has already passed. Opting out is different from objecting: objecting means staying in the class while telling the court you think its terms are unfair. The objection deadline was the same date, August 25, 2025, and the official Key Dates page marks it passed as well.

The court held the fairness hearing on September 29, 2025 and granted final approval on October 8, 2025. The claim deadline of April 8, 2027 runs from that date, but a specific distribution or payout date was not separately announced in the record reviewed for this page, so check the official settlement site for updates on when payments will actually go out.

None of that changes the date that matters most if you have not filed yet: April 8, 2027. That is unusually far out for a settlement claim deadline, and the claims window is open right now.

Who's in the class

You may be part of the class if, as of April 14, 2025, you owned or leased, or had previously owned or leased, a Hyundai or Kia vehicle that the settlement defines as a Class Vehicle equipped with the affected ZF-TRW airbag control unit, and the vehicle was originally sold or leased in the United States.

The settlement splits Class Vehicles into two groups, and which one applies to you affects how much you may be eligible to receive. Recalled Class Vehicles are ones that were already the subject of a Hyundai or Kia recall addressing this specific ACU issue. Unrecalled Class Vehicles are ones built with the same category of part that, as of the settlement, had not been placed under such a recall.

The settlement record reviewed for this page does not list the specific makes, models, and model years covered, and getting that wrong is easy given how many Hyundai and Kia models exist across more than a decade. Rather than guess from a model name, use the VIN lookup tool on the official settlement site, which checks your specific vehicle.

How much you can realistically expect

There is no single number everyone gets, and how much you can even seek depends first on whether your vehicle is a recalled or unrecalled Class Vehicle. The fund behind all of it is capped at $62,100,100.

If your vehicle is a recalled Class Vehicle, you can choose between two paths. You can seek reimbursement for documented out-of-pocket costs tied to the ACU issue, things like a rental car, towing, childcare, a repair bill, or lost wages; the settlement record reviewed for this page does not state an overall per-person cap for this reimbursement track beyond the documented expense itself. Or, without documentation, you can instead claim a no-proof residual payment of up to $350.

If your vehicle is an unrecalled Class Vehicle, the documented-reimbursement track is not available to you, regardless of what receipts or records you kept. Unrecalled-vehicle owners are limited to the flat no-proof residual payment of up to $150.

Both the $350 and $150 figures are described as 'up to' amounts, and the settlement's own terms note that they are estimates from a common fund that can be adjusted up or down depending on how many people file valid claims and what the court approves for attorneys' fees and costs. Nothing here is a guaranteed dollar figure for any one person.

Beyond the cash payments, recalled-vehicle owners also get a non-cash benefit: a 10-year warranty, effective April 14, 2025, on new parts installed under the recalls. That warranty transfers to later owners if the vehicle is sold.

What proof you need, and which track to use

Which path is available to you depends first on whether your vehicle is a recalled or unrecalled Class Vehicle, and only then on what paperwork you kept. If your vehicle is a recalled Class Vehicle, you can choose either path: for the documented-reimbursement track, you will generally need to show what you actually spent, such as a receipt or invoice for a rental car, tow, childcare, repair, or lost wages tied to the ACU issue; for the no-proof residual payment, the settlement does not require that kind of documentation. If your vehicle is an unrecalled Class Vehicle, there is no documented-reimbursement option under this settlement regardless of what records you kept; you can only claim the flat no-proof residual payment.

The official claim form spells out exactly what is accepted and how the tracks interact; that is the authoritative source to check before you file, not a summary like this one.

How to file a claim

Filing happens only through the official claims process, administered by JND Legal Administration; the link to it renders separately on this page. As of September 9, 2026, the deadline to file is April 8, 2027, so there is no need to rush, but pulling together any receipts, invoices, or repair records now, while they are easier to find, will make the actual filing simpler later.

If you already opted out, or you're not sure your vehicle qualifies

If you sent in an exclusion request before the August 25, 2025 deadline, you are out of the class. That preserved your own right to sue Hyundai or Kia separately over this issue, but it also means you will not receive a payment from this settlement fund.

If you are not sure whether your vehicle is a Class Vehicle, use the VIN lookup on the official settlement site rather than guessing from the model name or model year, since the settlement's coverage lines are specific. It is also worth checking your vehicle's recall status directly with NHTSA using your VIN; that is a free, independent government record separate from this settlement.

This case is about a parts defect, not a data breach, so the credit-freeze and identity-monitoring steps that make sense after a data breach do not apply here.

For other open, currently verified settlements, see RecordingLaw's data breach and privacy settlement tracker.