Hyundai and Kia are recalling about 90,000 automobiles and SUVs in the US and warning house owners to park them outdoors and away from constructions and different autos as a result of they may catch hearth.
The recall is simply the most recent in a protracted and huge collection of different fire-related recollects of Hyundai and Kia autos previously few years for various causes.
This recall, affecting a number of totally different fashions, stems from a problem with the electronics in a transmission oil pump, part of the automobile’s “Idle Cease and Go” system. The system shuts the engine down every time the automobile involves a cease, then begins once more when the driving force lifts their foot off the brake. It’s a function widespread in many more recent fashions from totally different automakers.
However within the recalled Hyundais and Kias some digital elements can overheat, inflicting harm that will increase the danger of “localized melting,” the automaker stated, and of fireplace.
Hyundai is conscious of not less than 4 “thermal incidents” associated to this difficulty however no confirmed crashes or accidents. Kia is conscious of six incidents of “localized melting” however, additionally, no crashes, accidents or deaths ensuing from the issue, in line with statements from each.
Drivers are suggested to observe for indicators of a doable downside together with varied warning lights within the gauge cluster. Drivers also needs to look ahead to smoke coming from beneath the automobile in addition to burning or melting odors, in line with paperwork posted to the Nationwide Freeway Visitors Administration’s auto security web site.
New fashions concerned
Hyundai fashions concerned within the recall are 2023 Hyundai Elantra, Sonata, Tucson and Kona in addition to 2023 and 2024 Palisade. There are a complete of greater than 52,000 Hyundai autos within the US recall and a further roughly 11,000 in Canada.
Kia is recalling a further practically 40,000 autos within the US. These embody 2023 Kia Soul and Sportage autos and 2023 and 2024 Kia Seltos fashions.
The businesses will start notifying house owners concerning the recall starting in late September. House owners can be suggested to take their autos to a dealership to have the oil pump changed, if obligatory, at no cost.
Final yr, house owners of practically 500,000 Kia and Hyundai autos had been, equally, warned to park their autos away from constructions due to a threat of fireplace. In that case, there was an issue with anti-lock brake management electronics.
Hyundai and Kia additionally recalled over 250,000 autos in 2022, once more warning drivers to park outdoors, due to the potential for hearth from a trailer hitch wiring difficulty.
In a 2021 recall, house owners of 380,000 Kia autos had been additionally warned to park outdoors as a result of there was a threat of fireplace from digital circuits underneath the hood.
In 2020, Kia recalled 295,000 autos as a result of they may catch hearth whereas driving due to gasoline leaks. Hyundai additionally recalled 82,000 electrical autos in in 2021 as a result of a defect within the lithium-ion batteries might trigger them to spontaneously begin burning even when the autos had been parked.
Kia and Hyundai function as separate firms in the US, however each are a part of South Korea’s Hyundai Motor Group, and their autos share many elements.
Each firms have additionally been the topic of a unprecedented rise in auto thefts as a result of a lot of their earlier fashions lacked widespread anti-theft expertise. Each Hyundai and Kia have been taking steps to equip these fashions with anti-theft {hardware} and software program.
