Airbag recall scoops up Hyundai’s ix35

HYUNDAI has issued a recall notice for three years worth of its top-selling ix35 compact SUVs after discovering a potential problem with the performance of the driver's airbag in a crash.

The recall relates to 32,525 ix35s built from January 2011 to the end of December 2013.

According to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) Product Safety Recalls website, the recall is due to a steering wheel airbag module retention bolt that “could be incorrectly tensioned”.

The notice said that the fault could affect the function of the horn and the correct deployment of the airbag.

Hyundai Motor Company Australia said in a statement that the airbag would not fire unintentionally if the bolt was found to be “improperly tightened” and that there had been no reports of accidents or injuries in Australia or North America – the ix35’s other big market – as a result of the problem.

The South Korean car-maker said owners would be contacted and asked to return the car to a dealership so the airbag module bolts could be inspected and tensioned if required free of charge.

The inspection should only take a few minutes, it said.

The Australian recall is a part of a global fix issued for 137,500 examples of the ix35, or Tucson as it is known in some other markets including the US, for the same fault.

Earlier this year 6193, ix35s were pulled back into dealerships in Australia after a potential fault was discovered in the cable of a seatbelt pre-tensioner that also would have affected its performance in a crash.