Hyundai Recalls Recall to Fix Fix for Seat Fires Caused By Bad Ioniq Hybrid Relays

When people think about things heating up in their back seats, this isn’t what they had in mind.Photo: Hyundai

So, despite what some folks would have you think, most automotive recalls aren’t that big of a deal. They’re the inevitable result of having thousands of people working on a design with many thousands of parts and then asking thousands of other people and robots to build it. Of course, when a recall is performed, and then that recall causes another recall, that’s kind of a different story.

Unfortunately for owners of Hyundai’s 2017 and 2018 Ioniq Hybrid and PHEV, that’s the situation they find themselves in, though it would appear that the issues at work here are enough to light a fire under Hyundai’s ass (you’ll get why that’s funny in a minute). The recall specifically stems from a bad relay in the car’s Power Relay Assembly that was initially recalled because it had poor connections, which could cause increased resistance and, therefore, a bunch of heat. A bunch of heat could cause stuff to catch on fire, and car fires are bad, especially in hybrids and EVs.

The fix for this first recall, which occurred in 2018, was simple and involved replacing just the main relay if nothing was found to be damaged or replacing the whole Power Relay Assembly if something had been overcooked. That didn’t do the trick, though, because now 10,575 owners of affected vehicles are getting their cars recalled for the same issue, with concerns that their rear seat could catch on fire (there’s the joke payoff!).

The fix for this recall is the same as the fix for the last one, and like all recall work, it’ll be performed for free by your dealer. Owners of affected vehicles can expect to get a notification by mail on or around August 26. If you have questions in the meantime, you can reach out to Hyundai’s customer service department at 1-855-371-9460 and reference recall number 232.