TOKYO: Hyundai Motor and its Kia Motors affiliate are recalling more than 1.8 million cars and sports utility vehicles in the US to fix faults, the British Broadcasting Corporation reported on Wednesday.
Hyundai is recalling 1,059,824 cars and SUVs and Kia 623,658 vehicles, from the 2007 to 2011 model years.
The move is to repair a problem with a switch that could increase the risk of a crash, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said.
Hyundai is also recalling 186,254 Elantra cars from 2011 to 2013.
This recall is to apply adhesive strips to the interior roof liner to prevent it becoming loose during the deployment of side curtain airbags, which could increase the risk of cuts during a crash, the NHTSA said.
The affected switch in the larger recall may cause the brake lights not to come on when the brake pedal is depressed.
The switch fault may also "cause an inability to deactivate the cruise control by depressing the brake pedal," the NHTSA said.
"Additionally, a malfunctioning stop lamp switch may also result in intermittent operation of the push-button start feature, affect the operation of the brake-transmission shift interlock feature, preventing the shifter from being moved out of the park position and cause the Electronic Stability Control malfunction light to illuminate," stated NHTSA documents.
Failure to illuminate the brake lights or disengage cruise control could increase the risk of a crash, while disabling the brake-transmission interlock could result in the vehicle rolling away, it added.
