A potential defect with the seat-belt pre-tensioner on certain model year Soul crossovers and Sportage SUVs has prompted Kia to issue a recall on these vehicles in Britain.

Kia UK said the recall affects 5,787 Sportage models made at the brand’s Zilina, Slovakia factory between October 2011 and November 2012, and another 1,432 Soul models built at the Kwangju plant in Korea between August 2011 and March 2012.

“Although Kia is not aware of any injuries resulting from this possible fault, discovered as a result of on-going monitoring of customer vehicles, the company is concerned that some pre-tensioners may not work properly due to a faulty piston within the mechanism,” the Korean automaker said in a statement.

All work will be performed free of charge with Kia stating that any faulty pre-tensioners will be replaced within one to two hours. Concerned owners can contact the company’s Customer Service Centre on 0800 015 8757 for more details.

By John Halas

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