KIA Polska provided the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection with information about the service campaign for the Optima HEV and Sportage models, the office announced on Thursday. The campaign covered over 18,000 vehicles that may suffer from an electrical short circuit and a fire in the engine compartment.
KIA Polska notified the President of the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection that in cars KIA Sportage (model code SLe), manufactured on Slovakia between March 12, 2010 and January 24, 2014, the HECU system (Hydraulic Electronic Control Unit) may fail – he said on Thursday UOKiK.
As stated, the root cause of the fault is brake fluid leakwhich may lead to an electrical short circuit during operation, causing an electrical overload in the ABS module. This condition can cause a fire in the engine compartment, whether the vehicle is moving or parked.
In affected vehicles, symptoms may include an illuminated malfunction warning light (MIL) and/or ABS warning light, as well as smoke and a burning smell coming from the engine compartment and HECU components.
It was announced in a statement in Poland the repair campaign covers 18,172 such vehicles.
Dangerous defect in KIA cars
As stated in the second Thursday announcement of the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection regarding the KIA service campaign, the same defect causing similar symptoms may also appear in cars KIA Optima HEV (model code TF HEV), manufactured in South Korea between October 28, 2010 and December 12, 2013. The repair campaign on the Polish market covers 12 copies of this model version.
Owners of both indicated models will be informed about the need to make an appointment at a KIA dealership for repairs that involve installing an appropriate fuse in the system.
Last week, the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection announced that The Korean manufacturer covered over 16,000 cars in Poland with a service campaign. KIA cars at risk of HECU failure. Three models were then indicated: over 14,000. copies of Rio models, approx. 1.2 thousand – Optima and approx. 1.3 thousand – Sorento.
KIA spokeswoman Monika Krzesak then told PAP that owners of cars covered by the campaign will be able to contact the dealership at a time convenient for them and each user will be properly notified about the situation. In addition, she said that authorized service stations are preparing to perform the necessary work.
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