World Car News #Update
KIA is recalling over a half-million vehicles in the United states, this is because the airbags attached to the car may not work in a crash. This recall is also a notification passed onto KIA and Hyundai by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The affiliated automakers are recalling nearly 1.1 million vehicles due to the problem, which has been linked to four deaths.
The moves by both Korean automakers came after the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) opened an investigation into the problems in March. The safety agency said at the time, it had reports of six front-end crashes with significant damage to the cars. Four people died and six were injured.
Vehicles covered by the Kia recall include 2010 through 2013 Forte compact cars and 2011 through 2013 Optima midsize cars. Also covered are Optima Hybrid and Sedona minivans from 2011 and 2012.
In April, Hyundai expanded a recall from earlier in the year to 580,000 vehicles. Those include the 2011 through 2013 Sonata midsize car and the 2011 and 2012 Sonata Hybrid. Hyundai says the recall now includes all vehicles with the same airbag computers.
Both automakers say they’re working on a fix. Kia said it would notify owners by July 27, while Hyundai said its notification covers April 20 to June 15.
Government documents say a short circuit can develop in an airbag control computer made by parts supplier ZF-TRW, and the airbags can fail to deploy. The computer detects a crash signal, issues a command to inflate the airbags and prepares seat belts for a crash if necessary.
In documents from the investigation, NHTSA said it understands that the Kia Fortes under investigation use similar airbag control computers made by ZF-TRW. The agency noted a 2016 recall involving more than 1.4 million Fiat Chrysler cars and SUVs that had a similar problem causing the airbags not to deploy. Agency documents show those vehicles had airbag computers made by ZF-TRW.
The agency said would evaluate the Hyundai-Kia problems and will investigate whether any other vehicle manufacturers used the same or similar ZF-TRW airbag computers.
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