For a company like Kia, whose reliability ratings have been steadily improving over time, there’s no joy in ringing in the New Year with a recall.
The NHTSA recently made public a recall issued by South Korean automaker Kia, noting an absence of critical fasteners on certain vehicles.
Kia will recall more than 23,000 of its 2024-2025 EV9 SUVs because they say the second- and third-row seat mounting bolts may be missing. And while this is a catastrophe on its face, it’s an even worse situation for one individual considering Kia is blaming the problem on a sole factory worker.
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NHTSA says in its recall report that “a plant assembly worker” was responsible for applying the bolts at the Kia Autoland Gwangmyeong assembly plant in South Korea.
After a customer complained, random testing actually uncovered the issue on three vehicles – all of which were traced back to the same individual on the production line.
The recall involves tens of thousands of these vehicles because the period in which this worker was responsible for the fastening task stretched across a full year – from Sept of 2023 to Oct of 2024.
Kia says the bolt issue could cause affected vehicles’ seats to come loose in a crash, negating the benefits of a seatbelt. While all of the recalled vehicles will be subject to inspection, the automaker says you might know yours is impacted if the seat feels loose or if you can hear a rattling noise.
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