Recalls made by car manufacturers should not be seen as a negative aspect. The reason for that is these companies have their own paramount of concern for user safety; hence, they need to ensure the quality of products delivered to their customers.
In the case of Hyundai Motor, the company is recalling about 220,000 Santa Fe SUVs and YF Sonata mid-sized sedans in United States. The reason is that these aforementioned vehicles have faulty airbags per US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).
The models affected are those Santa FE SUVs produced between 19 April 2006 and 7 July 2008. These units total about 119,118. As for the YF Sonata’s (22,512 total units), those manufactured from 24 January to 21 June 2012 are to be recalled.
Problem identified with the Sante Fe SUV is the faulty occupant classification system (OCS). The system is unable to recognize smaller passengers in the front seat thus airbags are not deployed in some cases when there are collisions. As for the YF Sonata, side airbags were found to inflate in random which can increase risk of injury.
Models in the US are only the ones affected. Those in Korea are not as the Santa Fe’s manufactured in the land of the morning calm don’t have OCS functions. The YF Sonata’s meanwhile are different from the export models and no corresponding problems were seen.
Owners of said vehicles can call Hyundai at 1-800-633-5151 (toll free number).
