- Hyundai recalls nearly 50,000 Santa Fe crossovers for airbag issues.
- Wiring harness problems can cause unintended airbag deployment or failure.
- Dealers are told not to deliver crossovers to customers until the issue is addressed.
The 2024 Hyundai Santa Fe is getting recalled once again and the crossover is also being hit with a do not sell order. At issue are second-row air bags that could unintentionally deploy or not deploy at all in a crash.
The recall impacts 49,719 Santa Fe and Santa Fe Hybrids, which were built between December of 2023 and July of this year. The Safety Recall Report says the main floor wire harness can come into contact with the second-row folding seat hinge assembly, which can result in damage. If this occurs, it could trigger “inadvertent air bag deployment and/ or an inability to deploy the air bags during a crash.”
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This increases the risk of injury or death, and the problem is being blamed on an inconsistent routing location for the wiring harness as well as the harness not being properly secured in place.
As part of the recall, dealership technicians will inspect and properly secure the wiring harness. If the harness is damaged, it will be replaced free of charge.
The fix isn’t very exciting as it involves sliding the second-row seat forward and looking for damaged wiring. If no damage is found, the wiring harness will be secured in place by two zip ties.
The recall comes after an inadvertent air bag deployment was reported in South Korea. That sparked an investigation and Hyundai eventually “identified eight unique incidents … related to the subject recall condition in the U.S. market.” All of them happened this year, but the company said no injuries or crashes were reported.
As for the stop sale order, dealers are being told not to deliver vehicles to customers until the recall has been addressed. This shouldn’t be much of an issue as the inspection takes less than 30 minutes to complete.
