Dive Brief:
- Hyundai Motor America has recalled nearly 48,000 Kona SUVs for rear center seat belt buckles that may fail, according to documents filed with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
- The recall includes model year 2026 gas-powered Kona SUVs and 2025 Kona Electric models. The recalled vehicles were produced at various times between July 2025 and February 2026, though just 1% of the recall population is estimated to have the defect.
- Dealers will replace the rear center seat belt buckle assembly, free of charge. Owner notification letters are expected to be mailed Sept. 11, and owners are being advised to avoid using the rear center seat until the remedy is completed.
Dive Insight:
Hyundai first became aware of the problem on Feb. 3, after its seat belt buckle supplier informed the automaker of a test failure involving a rear center seat buckle produced for the Kona, which may fail to restrain a vehicle occupant in a crash, increasing the risk of injury.
According to Hyundai’s South Korea-based Tier 1 supplier Joyson, insufficient inspection controls may have allowed a stamping die to be used past its specified service life when the parts were manufactured.
In response to the supplier’s report, Hyundai escalated the issue to its North America Safety Office for investigation.
Though no related incidents had been reported, Hyundai and its supplier began identifying the potentially affected vehicle population in April, which included an inspection of recovered parts and manufacturing records. The preliminary review indicated that the suspect buckle was only produced during specific time periods. The company also confirmed that the problem was limited to only the center sealt belt buckle of the Kona vehicles.
On June 24, Hyundai met with NHTSA’s Office of Defects Investigation to discuss the company’s findings.
On July 6, Hyundai’s North American Safety Decision Authority approved a recall “out of an abundance of caution,” according to the recall report, which noted that the company is not aware of any crashes or incidents related to the suspect seat belt buckle.
Gas-powered Kona SUVs represent the overwhelming majority of recalled vehicles (47,733), while only 16 Kona Electric SUVs are included in the recall population.
The replacement seat belt buckles will be manufactured to proper specification with properly maintained tooling, per the report. Die maintenance inspection standards improvements were implemented by Joyson in January, per the report.
Hyundai has recently dealt with other seat belt buckle issues. In March, the company recalled nearly 47,000 Palisade SUVs for a seat belt buckle wiring problem that could cause the instrument panel to show that the driver side third-row seat belt was buckled when it was actually unlatched. Joyson was also the supplier of that buckle assembly.
