Recalls are an annoying but inevitable aspect of modern car manufacturing and ownership, especially as vehicles become increasingly more complex. The best you can hope for is that when your car develops some kind of fault, the automaker will fix it and you’ll be back on the road as quickly as possible. You definitely don’t want to come to the shop again for the same issue, especially when the issue involves a fire risk. This is really a frustration plaguing Kia Telluride owners.
Let’s quickly rewind two years, when Kia recalled approximately 463,000 Telluride SUVs from 2020 to 2024 models due to a faulty front power seat switch that could overheat and cause a fire even when the vehicle is parked. The issue was that the switch could have inadvertently stuck, so the technician advised To install brackets and modified knobs that will ideally prevent this from happening.
Of the recall group, Kia estimated that only 1% of the vehicles actually had defective and dangerous seat controls; Still, they all had to be improvised to stay safe.
Well, apparently the recall fixed Self This may have been done improperly, causing the same problems: stuck switch, motor overheating, fire. Those same Telluride owners are now once again being asked to park outside, as the motor can burn out even when the vehicle is turned off. To date, Kia has cited 11 customer reports of melted motors and seven others that resulted in fires under the seats, thankfully no one was injured.
It is worth pointing out that this new solution fortunately differs from the previous, unsuccessful solution. Instead of simply adding a new bracket and replacing the knob, these long-suffering, fire-prone Tellurides will now get “an electronic fuse assembly to prevent continued operation of the seat motor if the seat switch is dislocated, internally misaligned or otherwise damaged,” according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. recall report. This is what happened. The notices are expected to reach owners between August 13 and 19.
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