| Subject: | Non-crash vehicle fires |
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| Investigations Summary: | In a letter dated Jun 11, 2018, the center for auto safety (cas) petitioned the national highway traffic safety administration (NHTSA) to initiate a safety defect investigation into non-collision related fires on model year (my) 2011-2014 kia optima and sorento, and Hyundai sonata and santa fe vehicles. In a letter dated July 24, 2018, cas requested that my 2010-2015 kia soul vehicles be added to the petition. Cas stated that there is a higher number of complaints to NHTSA regarding non-crash fires on these vehicles compared to other similar vehicles. The office of defects investigation (odi) had already opened a recall query (rq17-004) on all Hyundai vehicles equipped with theta ii engines for engine failures that may cause stalling and fires. The query covers most of the petition subject sonata and santa fe vehicles. On August 21, 2018, odi opened a defect petition (dp18-003) to evaluate whether to grant or deny the cas petition. Odi sent an information request letter to Hyundai (September 2018) requesting information on all engine and non-engine related fires in the petition Hyundai vehicles. Odi performed extensive analysis on the information obtained from Hyundai. During the dp18-003 analysis, Hyundai initiated three additional safety recalls related to engine compartment fires on certain petitioned and non-petitioned vehicles, (nearly 240,000 total vehicles: recalls 18v-934, 19v-063, and 19v-204). In addition to engine compartment fires, odi has received allegations of vehicle fires affecting other components, including taillight housings, taillight wire harnesses, and/or light bulbs. Based on odi's review of the applicable materials, including responses to information requests sent to multiple manufacturers, vehicle owner questionnaires (voq), and early warning data, NHTSA has decided to grant the petition. The petition is hereby granted. A preliminary evaluation has been opened to assess the scope, frequency, and potential safety-related consequences of alleged defects relating to non-collision vehicle fires in the 2011-2014 sonata and 2011-2014 santa fe. While prior recalls of vehicles covered by this pe have primarily related to engine fires, NHTSA's preliminary evaluation is not limited to engine components and may cover additional vehicle systems or components as well. Attached is a list of the reference numbers for the 160 voqs cited above. |
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