— A Hyundai Remote Smart Parking Assist recall for nearly 12,000 vehicles has been issued for 2020 NEXO fuel-cell SUVs and 2020 Sonata cars.
The parking assist systems may do more harm than good because software may fail to prevent the vehicles from moving when they detect malfunctions of the systems.
The Hyundai Remote Smart Parking Assist feature is programmed with a fail-safe mode that will prevent vehicle movement upon detection of a system malfunction.
But errors in the software could cause the vehicle to continue moving in its last commanded direction, something that could cause a crash into pedestrians, other vehicles or surrounding objects.
The automaker learned of the defect in February during testing of the fail-safe mode in the Remote Smart Parking Assist feature. Engineers discovered coding errors in the software and quickly updated the software in Hyundai NEXO production on February 20 and Sonata production on March 6.
But in March, Hyundai received a Korean report of a 2020 Sonata indicating the car continued to move without stopping while performing a parking maneuver commanded by the Hyundai Remote Smart Parking Assist feature.
Hyundai learned the Sonata contained the older software version and decided to issue a recall based on the February fail-safe mode incident and the Korean report about the Sonata.
However, Hyundai says no crashes or injuries have been reported due to the parking systems.
The Hyundai Remote Smart Parking Assist recall is expected to begin June 4, 2020. Hyundai dealerships will reprogram the parking assist software, but concerned customers may call 855-371-9460 and ask about recall reference number 191.
CarComplaints.com has complaints from drivers of multiple Hyundai models.