KIA Motors SA announces voluntary safety recall

These hoses carry hot transmission fluid from the transmission to the transmission cooler, and cooled transmission fluid back to the transmission. There is a possibility that the transmission cooling hoses may have been improperly cured during the manufacturing process and that, over time, it may leak transmission fluid. In such instances, the malfunction indicator lamp will illuminate and some vehicles may display abnormal shifting. Depending on the amount of transmission fluid lost, reduced vehicle mobility may occur. The recall only affects models with automatic transmissions.

The affected vehicles were all assembled in Korea between 27 August 2010 and 11 November 2010, and only 180 units from this production run were shipped to South Africa. Owners of affected vehicles involved will be be telephonically notified by the KIA Motors South Africa’s call centre as of Monday, 23 May 2016. The call centre will assist owners in having their nearest or preferred KIA dealer carry out the replacement of both automatic transmission cooling hoses, which will take less than an hour (depending on the vehicle’s position in the work queue on the day of the booking). KIA Motors and its dealer network will implement this recall at no charge to the vehicle owner.

More information on the recall campaign, as well as an extensive list of frequently asked questions, will also be available to customers at www.kia.co.za, which will feature a menu option allowing Cerato owners to enter their vehicle’s VIN (Vehicle Identification Number) into a search functionality. The VIN number is listed on the vehicle’s license disc, and embedded into the windscreen on the lower left side.

This function is particularly helpful for customers who are not the original owners of the vehicle or who, for whatever reason, is no longer on the KIA Motors South Africa database. Additionally, queries can also be lodged with the KIA Motors South Africa call centre on 010 596 2000.