Kia and Hyundai are recalling around 485,000 vehicles due to a risk their engine bays will catch fire. Until the affected vehicles are fixed, owners are being told to park these vehicles outside.
As Ars Technica reports, in the case of Kia two models are affected by the fire risk. The first is the K900 sedan models released between 2016-2018, and the second is the Kia Sportage models released between 2014-2016. The exact cause of the fire for these vehicles remains unknown (an electric short circuit is suspected), but it occurs in the engine compartment where the Hydraulic Electronic Control Unit is located.
For Hyundai, the problem impacts four models including the Santa Fe models released between 2016-2018, Santa Fe Sport models released between 2017-2018, Santa Fe XL models released in 2019, and Tucson models release between 2014-2015. In this case the Anti-Lock Brake System (ABS) module can malfunction causing an electrical short and an engine compartment fire can occur even when parked.
For both Kia and Hyundai owners, an early sign that your vehicle is potentially going to have an engine compartment fire is the ABS warning light illuminating. A burning or melting smells is listed as the more obvious sign something has already gone very wrong.
Affected owners will be notified by first class mail about the problem and given instructions to bring their vehicle to a dealer for inspection. In all cases it’s okay to keep driving the vehicles, but park them outside and away from structures just in case a fire starts. I’d also suggest not leaving anything valuable in the vehicle just in case it goes up in flames.
