Thousands of flagship Kia EV9 electric SUV model recalled in US. Here's why

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Kia America notified the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) last week that the automaker will be recalling certain variants from its 2024 EV9 lineup. The South Korean automaker has stated that exactly 2,401 EV9 models are going to be recalled due to potentially inadequate headliner protection during the time of a crash. Till date, there have been no reports of crashes and as such, no fatalities or injuries have been attributed to the weak headliners. The EV9 is Kia’s first three-row electric SUV launched late last year in the United States and was off to a hot-start in sales since its debut.

Within the first five months of 2024, Kia had managed to sell 7,766 EV9s in the US alone. In the month of May, a total of 2,187 EV9s had been sold. Kia had notified the NHTSA that headliners - material covering the roof of a vehicle from within the cabin - for some of these models had inadequate impact-absorbing plates which could potentially fail during a crash. As production began around the end of May, Kia reportedly discovered the problem while conducting pre-production tests at the Gwangmyeong Autoland plant in South Korea.

EV9 Light models recalled

Kia found that some variants of the EV9 manufactured in 2023 and 2024 did not meet the federal safety requirements. These models were built between September 25, 2023, and March 21, 2024 and are now being recalled. The variants built between March 22 to 28 of this year were not sold but held by the brand. Kia has stated that models built from June 11 onwards will come with the new headliners, and the automaker will replace the impact-absorbing plates for free.

The Kia EV9 was the first EV to be assembled in the US state of Georgia when it came out at the end of May. With a starting price of around $55,000 (INR 45.94 lakh), the EV9 comes with an EPA-estimated range of 489 km. It features a 99.8 kWh battery that powered a dual motor e-AWD setup and delivers a total power output of 379 bhp at 700 Nm of torque. The GT Line trim allows the EV9 to go from 0-100 kmph in just 4.5 seconds.