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(3rd LD) Hyundai to recall Sonatas in U.S., S. Korea over door-lock defect
SEOUL, Feb. 24 (Yonhap) -- Hyundai Motor Co. said Wednesday it will recall 47,300 units of the new version of popular Sonata sedan in the United States and South Korea due to a problem with their door locks.
From March, Hyundai will begin "voluntarily" recalling 1,300 vehicles of the 2011 Sonata in the U.S. and another 46,000 sold in South Korea, a company official said.
"We will voluntarily recall some of the (2011) Sonatas in the U.S. because a defect was found in their door locks," the Hyundai official said.
"As for the vehicles produced in South Korea, they will be also recalled as a precautionary measure," the official said.
The glitch of front-door latches on the 2011 Sonata, Hyundai's flagship sedan that went on sale early this month in the U.S., could trap front-seat passengers when they try to open their doors from the inside while depressing the lock button at the same time.
In South Korea, Hyundai started selling the new version of Sonata in September last year.
The planned recall came less than a day after a U.S. industry magazine AutoWeek reported Hyundai's U.S. unit ordered the halt of sales of the 2011 Sonata after notifying dealers that front door-lock modules on some of the cars could stick under the circumstances.
According to the report by AutoWeek, Hyundai's engineers were trying to determine whether the malfunction warranted notification to the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
The report comes at a sensitive time as Japan's Toyota Motor Corp. was forced to recall about 8.5 million vehicles worldwide, with the company's president set to testify before U.S. Congress over the safety of its vehicles.
Hyundai has been banking on sales of the revamped Sonata to lure customers in the U.S., where Toyota's quality reputation was tarnished over its multi-million vehicle recall.
Shares of Hyundai Motor, which sank more than 4 percent in early morning trading on Wednesday, closed down 2.56 percent at 114,000 won (US$98.9) on the Seoul bourse.
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