Kia Issues 'Park Outside' Recall for 2020-2024 Telluride Vehicles for Fire Risk | Hacker News Reader

Kia Issues 'Park Outside' Recall for 2020-2024 Telluride Vehicles for Fire Risk

nhtsa.gov

36 pointsjosephcsible27 comments

For those curious without reading:

> The front power seat motor on the affected vehicles could overheat because of a stuck power seat slide knob, potentially resulting in a fire and increasing the risk of injury.

(Not what I was expecting.)

Neither and considering the integrations of car systems, surprised this isn’t a OTA update

It sounds like a standard electrical switch that moves the seat could get stuck/wedged and the motor will continue to try and move the seat indefinitely. There's no software involved.

There's definitely software involved, just probably not OTA compatible

https://www.continental-automotive.com/en/components/seat-co...

Although, either the motor should be designed so that it can successfully run forever in this case (maybe draining the battery but too bad), or, so that it fails entirely after some period, it shouldn't catch fire as that's definitely not what you wanted. Hence, presumably, the safety recall.

Times of physical switches being directly wired into 12V motor supply are long gone.

Kia/Hyundai have been kinda slow when it comes to rolling out the ability to update cars OTA (although I don't know if other legacy automakers are any better). I think the first model to support full OTAs was the Ioniq 6 in 2023. It's still gradually being added to other models when they get refreshed.

I do wonder how the cost of adding OTA support compares to doing software updates the old fashioned way. My Ioniq 5 can only do OTA updates for the infotainment, and when there's been recalls to perform non-infotainment software updates it's required a short dealer trip that I assume Hyundai corporate pays for. Across all of the cars they've sold, I imagine that gets expensive

For legacy automakers it is a small miracle to get any software updates, much less OTA updates.

Shouldn't this motor have thermal overload protection that prevents it from reaching a temperature that would allow it to start a fire? I'm not sure how smart the seat moving system is, but it seems like it could also refuse to run for more than 60 seconds in a row, or incorporate limit switches or back EMF detection to stop when it reaches the end of travel.

It should! It doesn’t. Hence the recall.

Yes, the motor should have thermal overloads and/or limit switches connected to it, but this is Hyundai we’re talking about.

I’m not surprised they shaved a few cents off the BoM after they caused a car theft epidemic by saving a few bucks by leaving out a simple anti-theft device that every other manufacturer includes.

Why anyone buys a Hyundai/Kia after the last couple years is beyond me, I’ll never own one.

Because Kia/Hyundai makes very good and reliable cars and those are facts backed by lots of data.

The only brands that are more reliable are all in Japan, with 3 exceptions (Mini, BMW, Porsche) being German.

Reliability should be looked at by model, not by brand, because if you buy a BMW in the US for reliability, you may have a bad time considering the most available models there.

And I will always go for repairability, that's why I will advise to only buy models with easy electronics and reliable mechanics so that the only shit that can fail me are the axle (which is cheap to repair) and the motor (which isn't). And preferably look at how much a second hand car with the same model is worth after 2 years, that tell a lot about a model reliability.

These cars are notorious for detonating engines between a problem with sand being left in the block from the casting to direct-only injection causing premature valve failure because egr crud doesn't get cleaned off.

Two of my friends recently bought Kias, and they seem like really nice cars just from the brief time I've had to ride in them. Maybe I'm just seeing the difference between 2019 and 2023/24 models, but the camera/awareness features almost made me regret buying a Subaru Outback.

Its because they are actually quite nice on the stuff one sees and feels and usually substantially cheaper with american manufacturer levels of agressive financing available. Thats why i own a kia. They won the test drive. Had the best tech integration, and were substantially less expensive to the point i could lose an engine or a transmission or the electrical system and still be substantially ahead (and if it happened five years or more out i could lose 2 of those and still be ahead). If you can do basic math and drive less than ~20k kms a year they will often be the absolutely obvious choice to buy, they certainly were in my local situation.

I don't really see how an overheating motor could catch fire. I tried! All there is is a bunch of metal with maybe a few plastic bits and enamel on the wire. It would probably create a disturbing amount of smoke though so it seems like a prudent move on their part.

It might not be the motor itself catching fire, the motor conductors could heat up enough to catch on fire.

Pure negligence, monitoring for stall current is practically free with modern motor controller chips.

I used to think of Hyundai / Kias as nearly as reliable as toyota or honda with a 10 year warranty and no 'premium'.

Over the past few years, I've been pretty appalled by the fact so many of those cars were getting stolen for the lack of 1990's tech that probably cost a few dollars per unit. This combined with the serious recalls is pulling me back towards toyota / honda / mazda as my main car makers.

Very few of Hyundai recalls have been particularly serious. Fire hazards, but not major component redesigns.

It’s trendy to rip in Hyundai/Kia.

By contrast, certain f-150’s have a recall because the rear axle bolts can completely sheer off. The current fix is to entirely replace the axle

A couple of years ago these vehicles had a similar fire risk recall due to electrical issues with the trailer hitch connector. Probably best to steer clear of Kia if you don't want your car to burn. :/

Relevant Recall: https://www.nhtsa.gov/vehicle/2020/KIA/TELLURIDE/SUV/AWD#rec...

NHTSA still gives that year make and model a 5 out of 5 on the safety rating, probably doesn't account for this latest recall.

I'd be curious to see these recalls in the context of other year, make, and models. Are 6 recalls, 2 of which can cause it to catch on fire, typical on a 4 year old car?

My car is a 2021 Toyota SUV and it only has one recall for a minor issue where the rear turn signals could dim or fail prematurely.

anecdotally I've had multiple non-Kia cars with recalls for fire hazards, it happens

Kia Seltos also had a recall this year for 2021-2023 cars because AWD control unit under the driver's seat may become contaminated by a mixture of salt and moisture inside the vehicle and catch fire.

Yet another example of the fact just about any kind of car can catch fire while sitting parked in your garage, which is one thing lots of anti-EV people argue is a reason to avoid EVs.

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