By Park Jin-hai
Hyundai Motor will recall more than 140,000 Tucson crossover utility vehicles in the United States and Puerto Rico due to airbag assembly defects.
It is recalling 137,500 Tucsons in the United States as well as 3,500 in Puerto Rico, from model years 2011 to 2014.
According to a report the company filed with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, two bolts tightening the driver’s airbag to the steering wheel may become loose, which might result in injury to the driver in the event of a collision.
The company is currently grappling with a U.S. court verdict, delivered on May 13, ordering it to pay $248 million in damages for a 2011 accident which killed two teenagers aboard a Tiburon sports car. It is seeking an immediate appeal against the verdict.
Industry watchers say that both the recall and the U.S. verdict will have limited impact on the company’s earnings.
“The Tiburon model was phased out of the market from 2001. And the reason for the accident is not clear at the moment,” said Kim Pyung-mo, an analyst at Dongbu Securities, Monday.
He added that the charge for the airbag recall would be minimal. “It launched the new Genesis in May and its fully remodeled Sonata sedan will debut in June in the U.S. The company will rather focus on increasing its market share there.”
Meanwhile the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety in U.S. has given its all-new 2015 Hyundai Genesis its top rating after the car performed well in frontal and small overlap front-crash tests on May 7.