Kia is recalling 22,883 EV9 electrical SUVs as a result of they could be lacking mounting bolts for his or her second- and third row-seats.
The EV9 arrived within the U.S. as a 2024 mannequin and is at the moment being bought right here as a 2025 mannequin. The recall consists of a mixture of autos from each mannequin years that will have left the manufacturing unit with lacking seat bolts as a consequence of an error by an assembly-line employee, Kia informed the NHTSA. All the affected autos have been assembled in South Korea; Kia started constructing EV9s at its U.S. plant in June, however has solely produced small numbers of the SUVs there.
2025 Kia EV9
With out these mounting bolts, seats might not be capable of correctly restrain occupants within the occasion of crash, rising the chance of damage, the protection company stated. House owners may additionally discover ratting or looseness of the seats if bolts are lacking.
Kia estimates that simply 1% of the recalled autos are lacking the bolts in query, and informed the NHTSA that it’s not conscious of any crashes, accidents, or fatalities associated to this problem, which was found throughout a quality-control inspection.
2025 Kia EV9
Sellers will examine the seats and substitute any lacking bolts freed from cost. Kia plans to mail proprietor notification letters Jan. 24, 2025. Within the meantime, house owners can contact Kia customer support at 1-800-333-4542 for extra info. Kia’s reference quantity for this recall is SC329.
This recall follows two in October. One addressed a distant parking system problem in 12,400 autos from the 2024 mannequin 12 months outfitted with that function. The opposite addresses a software program problem in each 2024 and 2025 fashions that would trigger digital instrument clusters to fail.