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Drive a Hyundai or Kia? More than half a million models pose a fire risk
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If you have a Hyundai or Kia and a garage, you should park it on the street for a while. A new recall involves a fire risk for more than half a million vehicles from these manufacturers.
Keep your Hyundai outside
The NHTSA has issued a recall for 567,912 Hyundai SUVs for tow hitch harnesses that could catch fire. The accessories either came as original equipment or were installed by dealerships.
Essentially, water can reach the circuit board in the tow hitch harness and cause an electrical short, resulting in a fire. This could happen even if the ignition is switched off.
Here are the affected vehicles:
- 2019-2023 Hyundai Santa Fe.
- 2021-2023 Hyundai Santa Fe HEV.
- 2022-2023 Hyundai Santa Fe Plug-in HEV.
- 2022-2023 Hyundai Santa Cruz.
If you own one of these vehicles, you can continue to drive it but don’t park it inside your garage. And if you do park it outside, the NHTSA advises you to keep it “away from structures.” Good luck with that.
Hyundai will notify owners of affected vehicles by mail to bring their cars to verify if they need a fix. Dealerships will remove the fuse and tow hitch module until a fix is available.
When that time comes, a new fuse and wire extension kit will be installed, along with a waterproof connecter. Notifications will go out starting May 16, and all fixes will be done free of charge.
This recall echoes an earlier one issued last August, affecting 2020-2022 Hyundai Palisade SUVs. It’s a similar situation and fix, so if you have one of those vehicles and haven’t gotten it taken care of, you should.
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