When you live by the beach in Australia, you expect to have to do a little extra work when it comes to looking after your car. The elements can wreak havoc on the paint job, as well as the undercarriage of the vehicle, with sea salt doing all it can to start delivering rust spots that are sure to spread. Rust protection is an important part of looking after your car when you live by the beach, but there are oftentimes issues that go far beyond a little bit of rust. The good news is that the car companies are usually on top of these other repairs, leaving the anti-corrosion work up to you.
When it rains, sometimes it pours for automakers, and that is what recently happened with Hyundai and sister company Kia in Australia. They went through a stretch where they had 4 recalls in quick succession. The strange thing is that the recalls are not really tied to one another, and they don’t always affect the same vehicle, even when they are from the same brand. Let’s take a closer look at the recalls, and the vehicles affected.
The Kia Sedona and Hyundai Tucson both had problems with their hood latches. With the Sedona, roughly 219,800 vehicles from 2006-2014 were affected, with the problem being the secondary hood latch, which is the one that continues to hold your hood down once you have initially popped it. With the affected vehicles, that latch may not engage properly. It was an identical problem with the Tucson, with a total of 81,000 vehicles, all from the 2016 model year affected. Hyundai did say that an audio and visual warning would sound in the vehicle when a latch issue was noticed.
Kia also had an issue with the 2013 Forte, and this one was a little more dangerous, as it effected the seatbelts. There is a retaining plate that holds a seatbelt in place in the event of an accident, but the 5,425 vehicles that were affected by this recall had the potential of the retaining plate failing, and of having the potential of striking a passenger, which is actually something that happened. It was that incident that caused the recall to be sent out by Kia. This issue can affect both front seatbelts, and really needs to be addressed ASAP by having a Kia dealer fix the issue free of charge.
The final recall is one that is going to be an issue for the beach dwellers out there, and it affects 98,000 Kia Sedona minivans from model years 2006 to 2012. The problem here is with a part of the suspension that can corrode and break when exposed to salt, such as you might find when routinely driving by the beach. This is another issue that will be fixed by the automaker, but it also highlights the need for some real anti-corrosion protection for your vehicle if you live in the Sunshine Coast or other beachfront areas.
