Kia recalls nearly 109,000 cars over non-functional digital instrument displays

Kia has issued a recall impacting a total of 108,936 cars in the US owing to a faulty digital instrument cluster. The real document reveals that the digital instrument displays in the affected vehicle might not work, causing the vehicles to fail to comply with the US’s Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS). The document also revealed that the real campaign affects models like certain 2023 Kia Soul, Telluride, Niro Hybrid, Niro Plug-in Hybrid, Sportage, Sportage Hybrid and Sportage Plug-In Hybrid.

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), the affected models come with a 4.2-inch LCD screen as a digital instrument cluster. This display is non-functional in the affected vehicles because of a glitchy instrument cluster software and electrical noise due to voltage instability when the vehicle is starting causing boot errors in the screen. This could result in the screen being blank when the vehicle is operating, with the driver unable to see important vehicle information required by the FMVSS, further revealing the NHTSA.

The road safety monitoring agency also revealed that this issue could prevent drivers from seeing important information like tyre pressure monitoring information, warning messages, and other vital vehicle indicators. The inoperable digital displays could result in an accident. However, Kia claims that it hadn’t received any reports of accidents or injuries related to the issue.

Kia has stated that it will contact the owners of the affected vehicles and ask them to bring their cars to a Kia dealership near them. Service technicians will update the vehicle’s instrument cluster with improved software for free. Vehicle owners who already paid to fix the issue could receive reimbursement.

This comes as the latest recall affecting the Kia models. In April this year, the South Korean automaker issued a recall for just over 51,000 Carnival minivans for sliding doors that could close on people. In March, the Carnival and Telluride were part of an expanded recall related to tow hitch harness fires.