Kia warned owners of nearly 380,000 collected vehicles that they should park outdoors because there is a chance that the cars will catch fire.
The South Korean automaker is recalling some Sportage and Cadenza models with a defective electrical circuit that can short-circuit and could cause a fire in the engine compartment of cars.
Vehicle owners must park “outside and away from homes and other structures” until the problem is resolved, the National Road Traffic Safety Administration said on Tuesday.
But Kia has received no reports of fires, collisions or injuries from the defect, according to recall documents.
Drivers can see the “check the engine” light or other warning indicators light up before the problem occurs, the records show. Other signs of the problem include the smell of burning or smoke coming out of the engine compartment.
Repairs will be made free of charge on the affected vehicles, which include Sportage models made from December 2015 to October 2020, along with Cadenza models produced from June 2016 to June 2019, recall documents say.
Dealers will replace certain fuses in the car’s electrical junction boxes as part of the recall that is due to begin on April 30, according to the documents.
The affected cars are not equipped with Kia’s Smart Cruise Control system, the records show.
The recall came less than four months after NHTSA fined Kia and Hyundai $ 210 million for failing to conduct timely recalls of more than 1.6 million vehicles with potentially defective engines.
The agency’s Defect Investigation Office is also investigating the two automakers about concerns about fires in some of its vehicles, NHTSA officials said.