— Airbag problems have caused Kia to recall more than 94,000 model year 2015-2018 Sedona minivans equipped with manually-adjusted front passenger seats.
Kia says the occupant detection system wiring harnesses may break from occupants sitting in the front passenger seats.
The harnesses are located under the seats and are used with the occupant detection systems to know when children are in the seats.
Kia noticed an increase in warranty claims for seat cushion replacements and determined problems occurred with the routing of the wire harnesses that connect the airbag systems with the occupant classification systems. But engineers determined the problem only occurred on Sedonas equipped with passenger seats with manual adjustments.
The automaker first chose to skip an official recall and instead issue a customer service campaign for Sedona owners, but the government suggested that wouldn't be good enough.
Kia says a broken wiring harness will not keep the passenger frontal airbag from deploying in a crash when a child is in the seat. A child can be seriously injured or killed by the force of the airbag even if the crash itself causes no harm.
The Kia Sedona recall will begin March 19, 2019. Dealerships will remove the wire harness clips to prevent the wires from breaking. However, the front passenger seat cushions will also be replaced if the wiring harnesses are damaged.
Affected Kia Sedona customers with questions should call 800-333-4542. Kia's number for this recall is SC175.
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Kia Sedona - 2015 / 2016 / 2017 / 2018 / All model years