A popular vehicle made in Georgia is included in a national recall of 1.9 million cars and SUVs by Kia Motors and Hyundai.
The lion’s share of the vehicles could have faulty brake light switches that potentially could cause accidents, though none have been reported. The switch recall covers 1.7 million vehicles from 2007 through 2011 model years. The remainder of the recall affects airbags on some Hyundai models.
Kia and Hyundai will notify owners and dealers will replace the switches free of charge. Kia will send notifications in May, while Hyundai expects to send them in June, after enough replacement parts are shipped to dealers.
The Kia recall includes 623,000 vehicles: the 2007 to 2011 Sorento model, 2007-2010 Rondo and Sportage, 2007 Sedona, 2010-2011 Soul, and 2011 Optima.
Through a spokesman, Kia said 167,280 of the Sorentos were made at its Kia Motors Manufacturing Georgia plant. Kia began building the 2011 Sorento SUV in West Point in 2009.
The recall also includes 1.06 million Hyundai models, including the 2007-2009 Accent and Tucson, 2007-2010 Elantra, 2007-2011 Santa Fe, 2008-2009 Veracruz, 2010-2011 Genesis Coupe and 2011 Sonatas. Hyundai is also recalling about 194,000 Elantra compacts from 2011 to 2013 to fix an air bag problem.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said the faulty switch may cause the brake lights to not light when the pedal is depressed, or may prevent the cruise control from deactivating. The bad switch also may affect the push-button start feature on some vehicles, prevent the gear from shifting out of “park” and cause the Electronic Stability Control, or ESC, light to come on unnecessarily.
“Failure to illuminate the stop lamps during braking or inability to disengage the cruise control could increase the risk of a crash,” NHTSA said.
Spokespeople for Kia and Hyundai said malfunctions don’t occur all the time.
In addition to the Sorento, Kia began building the 2012 Optima at its Georgia plant in 2011, but the 2012 model is not part of the recall.
