Returning for Repairs
The number of vehicles recalled in Korea since 2017 crossed three million in 2022. By mid-June of this year, 700,000 vehicles were already recalled. Some of these recalls were voluntarily carried out by car manufacturers while others were ordered by the government through the Automobile Management Act.
A total of 7,745 models were recalled in the last six years from 2018 to this year, according to sources in the automobile industry on June 19. The number of imported car models (7,159 units or 92.4 percent) dwarfed that of Korean-made car models (586 units or 7.5 percent) in these recalls.
However, the numbers of vehicles recalled during the same period tell a different story. Seven out of 10 were domestically produced cars and 3 were imports. Domestically produced cars were more than double the imported cars. Of all 14,355,263 vehicles recalled, 11,744,696 (70.8 percent) were domestically produced cars and 4,180,567 (29.1 percent) were imports.
Hyundai Motor topped the list of the recalls by carmaker over the past six years. It recalled a total of 4,974,233 vehicles. Kia Corp. came in second with 3,480,484 vehicles.
The amount of recalls by Kia Corp. eclipsed the combined number of recalls (3,378,696 units) by the third, fourth, and fifth ranking automakers (1,640,640 units by BMW Korea, 895,487 units by Mercedes-Benz Korea, and 842,569 units by GM Korea).
As a result, the top five most recalls of domestically produced cars were carried out by Hyundai Motor, Kia Corp., GM Korea, Renault Korea Motors, and KG Mobility. The top five among imported brands were BMW Korea, Mercedes-Benz Korea, Volkswagen Group Korea, Ford Sales & Service Korea, and Volvo Cars Korea.
The majority of these recalled vehicles were found to have defects in their braking systems (3,515,390 units) and their prime movers (3,458,687 units). More than one million vehicles were found to have defects in riding and interior systems (1,711,518 units), electrical systems (1,629,914 units), and air conditioning and heating systems (1,058,847 units).
Of particular note is that recalls for defective electrical devices may soar from year to year. In a recall on May 10, a total of 1,467 Volt EVs and Volt EUVs imported by GM Korea were voluntarily recalled due to defects in their high-voltage batteries that could cause fires when they are fully charged.