239,000 Hyundais Recalled for Exploding Seat Belt Pretensioners
By Patrick Masterson
May 24, 2022
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2021 Hyundai Elantra | Cars.com photo by Joe Bruzek
Being involved in a car crash is bad enough without parts of your seat belt exploding, but it’s just such a problem Hyundai seeks to resolve in its latest recall for 239,000 late-model Accent and Elantra sedans.
Affected vehicles specifically include model-year 2019-22 Accents, model-year 2021-23 Elantras and model-year 2021-22 Elantra Hybrids. In the event of a crash, the front driver- or passenger-side seat belt pretensioners may explode upon deployment, projecting metal fragments that could strike occupants and result in injury.
The resolution for dealers is straightforward: Seat belt pretensioners will be secured with a cap for free. Hyundai will begin notifying owners starting July 15, but those with further questions can call the automaker at 855-371-9460 (Hyundai’s number for this recall is 229), the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s vehicle-safety hotline at 888-327-4236, or visit its website to check your vehicle identification number and learn more.
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Patrick Masterson
Patrick Masterson is Chief Copy Editor at Cars.com. He joined the automotive industry in 2016 as a lifelong car enthusiast and has achieved the rare feat of applying his journalism and media arts degrees as a writer, fact-checker, proofreader and editor his entire professional career. He lives by an in-house version of the AP stylebook and knows where semicolons can go.