In the area of consumer alerts, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration advisory service responded to a blinking dashboard light through a recall of nearly 380,000 Kia vehicles.
“Until these recalled vehicles are repaired,” said the consultant, “the safest place to park them is outside and outside of homes and other structures.”
Korean automaker Kia issued a recall on Tuesday for Sportage compact sport utility vehicles from 2017-2021 and Cadenza sedans from the same period, amid concerns that electronic components could short out and cause fires in the engine compartment of certain models.
The affected vehicles are models that are not equipped with an “intelligent cruise control”, said the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, a unit of the US Department of Transportation, in its consumer report on Tuesday.
“The circuit in the hydraulic electronic control unit can short out,” said the agency. This short circuit “could cause a fire in the engine compartment.”
On its website, Kia describes the Sportage with a starting price of around US $ 24,000 as a “coupe-like profile and sporty stance”. The Cadenza, a full-size sedan, is “a step toward luxury,” says Kia on its website, with startup costs of around $ 38,000.
Affected car owners can take their vehicles to a Kia dealer to fix the problem. In affected Sportage vehicles, dealers can replace certain fuses in the electrical junction box and update the hydraulic electronic control unit software, the agency said. A new fuse set with a 25 A fuse can be installed in affected Cadenza vehicles, which can replace a set with a 40 A fuse.
In addition to the warning lights, drivers of affected vehicles can see a “burning / melting smell” or “smoke from the engine compartment”, the authorities said in a safety recall report.
The recall comes after the Road Safety Agency opened an investigation into engine fires involving certain vehicles owned by Kia and another automaker, Hyundai, The Associated Press reported. A message left with a Kia representative asking for comment was not immediately returned Tuesday evening.
