The models under investigation are the 2011-2014 Kia Optima and Sorento, the 2010-2015 Kia Soul, and the 2011-2014 Hyundai Sonata and Sante Fe.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) says it counted a total of 1,181 complaints about non-crash fires in Hyundai cars and 1,784 in Kias. Drivers reported 100 injuries as a result of the fires, and one woman in Ohio says she watched her son burn to death in a Kia Soul in 2017.
It was last June when the Center for Auto Safety sent a petition to NHTSA asking for it to look into the issue, after the consumer group counted 120 reports in the NHTSA consumer complaint database describing a fire breaking out during an otherwise uneventful drive.
NHTSA announced on April 1 that it would grant the group’s petition, and it will start by assessing “the scope, frequency, and potential safety-related consequences of alleged defects relating to non-collision vehicle fires” in the cars.
Hyundai and Kia recently issued a recall due over fire risks on 534,000 of the potentially affected cars, but the carmakers said there were no injuries or deaths linked to the defect. Their proposed fix is a software update.
The two automakers had downplayed the fire reports before finally issuing that recall.