Photo: Jonathan Weiss (Shutterstock)
Seat belts basically have a job: to keep humans inside a safe vehicle. This usually means making sure drivers and passengers remain relatively stationary during an accident, but in light of Hyundai’s latest record, we’ll add “don’t explode” to our seat belt wish list.
In total, 239,000 vehicles are part of the withdrawal. Here’s what you need to know.
How can seat belts explode?
When we imagine parts of a car that can explode, seat belts don’t usually come to mind. So what’s going on here?
According to a warning issued by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), the seat belts of the withdrawn vehicles were manufactured with a “pyrotechnic” component that could malfunction during a crash, throwing shrapnel at the driver and passengers:
The vehicles in question are equipped with driver / passenger pyrotechnic seat belt pretensioners that can be deployed abnormally during a collision. A specific root cause has not yet been determined.
Hyundai is currently investigating the issue. As of May 24, three people have been reported injured by seat belt explosions: two in the U.S. and one in Singapore, the Associated Press reports.
Which Hyundai vehicles are part of the recall?
This latest Hyundai withdrawal extends and replaces three of the company’s previous withdrawals and includes:
- Accents 2019-2022 (about 61,000 vehicles in total)
- 2021-2023 Elantras (about 166,000 vehicles)
- Elantra HEV 2021-2022 (about 12,000 hybrid electric vehicles)
Even if your Hyundai vehicle was repaired in one of the previous removals, you will need to take it back to your dealership to fix the seat belt problem, according to NHTSA.
What to do if you drive one of the vehicles withdrawn from the market
Hyundai will notify vehicle owners affected by the mail withdrawal by July 15 at the latest, and will provide instructions for repairing their seat belts. This will involve taking the car to the dealership, where they will secure the non-working part with a cover to prevent it from exploding.
The solution will be free for owners of all affected vehicles, regardless of whether they are still covered by Hyundai’s new vehicle limited warranty, according to the NHTSA.
If you have any questions, feel free to call Hyundai Customer Service at 1-855-371-9460 and reference number 229, or the NHTSA Vehicle Safety Hotline at 1-888-327. -4236 or visit www.nhtsa.gov.