Kia and Hyundai warn 485,000 SUV owners to park outside due to fire risk

Hyundai and Kia have issued a recall for practically 485,000 SUVs (and a handful of sedans) as a result of danger of engine bay fires, warning homeowners to park the autos outdoors till the restore work has been accomplished.

The issue impacts 126,747 Kias—sure K900 sedans from mannequin years 2016–2018 and all Sportage SUVs from mannequin years 2014–2016.

Hyundai has an even bigger job, because it’s recalling 357,830 autos cut up between the Santa Fe (mannequin years 2016–2018, not geared up with sensible cruise management), the Santa Fe Sport (mannequin years 2017-2018, not geared up with sensible cruise management), the Santa Fe XL (model-year 2019, not geared up with sensible cruise management), and the Tucson (mannequin years 2014–2015).

The issue in Hyundai’s case is an antilock brake controller module that may overheat and trigger a hearth within the engine bay. The primary downside was flagged in September 2020 and concerned a Canadian Hyundai Tucson with an overheated ABS module, though preliminary investigations had been inconclusive. Then, in July 2021, a US-spec Santa Fe sport confirmed an analogous downside, resulting in additional research.

In late 2021, Hyundai found that the issue is probably going on account of an inside micro leak within the module “brought on by overseas contaminants within the valve physique.”

Hyundai and Kia say that homeowners of affected automobiles ought to park them outdoors till the recall has been performed. The method will contain changing an ABS fuse and probably the ABS module if inspection exhibits it’s broken.