In the Hot Seat: The Kia Telluride Is Being Recalled Over Fire Fears

Kia’s Telluride just went under a recall advisory over a defect pertaining to power seats. Based on documents filed with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), the front power seat motor on the affected vehicles could overheat due to a stuck slide knob. Since the situation can result in a fire, Kia plans on recalling a whopping 462,869 examples inside of the United States.

The Kia Telluride is probably the vehicle most mentioned in our comments section. Some readers see it as one of the best-equipped SUVs available in its price range. Others see it as over-hyped trash that has somehow managed to garner loads of positive reviews and issue mocking praise in the comments about how it’s easily the greatest automobile ever manufactured.

Whatever your thoughts, the Telluride has been a strong seller for Kia. The model typically comes fairly close to moving 100,000 units inside of the United States each year and actually managed to break 110,000 in 2023. Sadly, this has also resulted in a sizable recall for the company. Just about every model sold in the U.S. is being impacted.

The affected models were said to be produced between January of 2019 and May of 2024 and the defect poses a fire risk whether you’re driving the SUV or not. Therefore, drivers are being recommended to park their vehicles outside and away from anything that they’re not okay seeing go up in flames. However, it does sound like a lot of things would have to go wrong for a fire to actually take place.

Still, better safe than sorry.

Documentation shows that the manufacturer caught wind of the problem in December 2022 after a customer noticed smoke coming from beneath the front seat. A few months later, a similar incident took place and the company began collecting parts to see what was up. After a couple more vehicles showed evidence of melted seat motors, the parts were shipped to Georgia for examination in February 2024.

A month later, the company shared its preliminary findings with its safety office, noting knob damage and stuck seat switches with continuous motor operation. From here, the investigation commences in earnest. But it wasn't concluded until a customer complained that the seat in their 2023MY Telluride caught fire while they were driving it. Inspection of the car showed that the seat switch back cover was dislodged and the seat slide knob was stuck in the upward position.

All told, there were seven separate incidents — one of which resulted in a fire. But no crashers, injuries or fatalities were reported. The manufacturer has attributed the problems to dislodged seat switch back covers which can result in the misalignment of the micro switches and forcing continuous operation of the motor until it overheats.

Fixes will come by way of Kia dealers installing a bracket for the power seat switch back covers. Seat slide knobs will also be swapped out. As this is a recall, all of the work will be done free of charge.

Owners are supposed to receive notifications in the mail by July 30th. However, concerned parties can also take advantage of Kia’s customer service hotline at 800-333-4542. The internal reference number for the recall is SC316.

Alternatively, the NHTSA has a recall website and hotline of its own (888-327-4236). In order to check to see if your Telluride is under recall, you just need to have your VIN handy.

[Images: Kia]

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