Fountain Valley, CA – April 15, 2022 – Hyundai (NASDAQ:HYMTF) is recalling 6,240 vehicles with front seat pretensioners – which are supposed to protect the car occupants in the event of a crash – that can explode while deploying. The metal shrapnel may injure the car occupants.
The recall includes the following models:
- 2020 Hyundai Accent
- 2021 – 2022 Hyundai Elantra
Recall summary
Pretensioners are part of seat belt retractors whose job is to tighten the seat belt to protect the occupant’s torso during the crash. To do that, they use “expanding gas to…retract a seat belt buckle during the first moment of an accident.”
In affected vehicles, front-seat passenger and driver pretensioner housing may shatter during activation, flinging metal shrapnel at the people inside the car.
The components in question are seat belt pretensioners, with part numbers 88810-AA500 or 88820-AA500 for the right-hand side and 88810-J0600 for the left-hand one.
Recall risks
These flying fragments may hit one or more occupants and injure them.
Other Hyundai recalls
There are several previous Hyundai Elantra recalls that owners should be aware of. The most recent one, from January this year, is caused by improperly fitted windshields being the most recent.
In addition, there is a Hyundai Accent recall from August 2021 because of faulty trunk latches. That recall also included Sonata and Azera vehicles.
The repair
Dealers will rectify the problem by replacing seat belt pretensioners on all affected vehicles. Notifications to vehicle owners will be sent on May 31, 2022. All repairs will be free of charge.
Is your vehicle part of this recall?
This Hyundai seat belt recall affects more than 6,000 vehicles. To do a Hyundai recall check and see if your SUV is one of them, use MotorSafety’s free vehicle lookup tool.