Hyundai Tucson recall, 2021: Fire risk and how the media blew it
Media reports of Hyundai Australia’s recall of not quite 100,000 Tuscon SUVs have been, generally, either bereft of facts or misconstruing of reality. Here’s what really went down…
I wasn’t going to report on this story until I saw the following remarkable headline from the last bastion of journalism - the Daily Mail Australia.
And I kept getting bombarded with comments like this, over and over:
Terry, stop yelling - they’re exclamation points, not emphasis points. Less is more. Just use more emphatic language.
That’s better. Thank you, Luke.
It is ‘worisome’ if you’re a pile of hay or compost, you can experience spontaneous combustion. Or if you’re that bush from the Bible.
Cars, however, do not spontaneously combust. They have fuel and/or electrical fires. There’s always an ignition source, in other words. Then there’s the media, adding fuel to the, um, explosion.
‘Explode’ in all-caps. Literary genius touch.
Pro Tip: Cars don’t typically explode. ‘Explode’ implies detonation, which involves a supersonic shockwave. Cars don’t detonate, they deflagrate. Still serious, but in the order of magnitude, less dramatic. Less likely to blow out the windows of every house in a 400m radius.
Beirut in Lebanon in August, 2020 - that was an explosion. That was a detonation.
On February 4, Hyundai Australia recalled 93,572 Tucsons because there’s a potentially defective circuit board in the anti-lock brake system - in the engine bay - which could cause an electrical fire, but not an explosion, because: Physics.
It would also be a neat trick for a circuit board in the ABS system to cause an engine to explode. I’d like to see that. Therefore, you Daily Mail geniuses might like to recall your headline - because the absence of social responsibility depicted might make a reasonable person’s head explode.
Inconveniently, this fire risk pertains even if the car is shut down, because the circuit board is continuously energized, like a lot of systems in modern cars. For example, you know how the car knows to unlock when you press the remote? (It’s because the locking system is continuously listening for the unlock signal…)
The vehicles in this recall were sold from 1 November 2014 to 30 November last year. So that’s six years and one month, inclusive, and no fires, not one, have been linked to the potential defect here in Australia. So, this is an extreme low probability, but admittedly high consequence risk.
Essentially, if you own one of these recalled Tucsons, you need to get this dealt with, but it’s probably more dangerous to cross the street with your face in your phone.
But here's what Daily Mail Australia said:
That was about a quarter of the entire body copy which totalled six whole sentences.
And the way I see it, there's six errors in those two sentences above.
Error #1: Companies are singular entities. It’s “Hyundai has”, not “Hyundai have…” I can forgive a civilian making this mistake, but this is journalism 1-0-1.
Error #2: There’s no “fear”, not rational fear, that the engine might explode. None. There might be an engine bay fire.
Error #3: It’s the ABS controller. Not the engine. Different things - profoundly different. The reporter probably doesn’t have any technical training, so it might be more of a management failure putting her on a story like this. It’s not a criticism of her, per se, more of a ‘square peg, round hole’ thing.
Error #4: The ACCC did not issue the recall, Hyundai did that. Recalls are voluntary in Australia, and it’s basically an honour system that generally works extremely well. Companies issue recalls and part of the process is they submit the recall to the ACCC, which posts the recall as a notice on their Product Safety Australia website, to make the public informed.
Companies put their reputations below public safety when they do this, which is kinda in credible when you think of global company behaviours generally. Mandatory recalls tend to be very different and are often the result of a dispute between regulator and companies.
Error #5: The date range and Error #6 the premise stated for posting those dates. It was not as stated for vehicle made between 2015 and 2021. It was for vehicles sold between November 2015 and the 30th of November, 2020.
How hard is this? That’s two lead sentences of a six-sentence story and five pretty critical errors. Is it any wonder people get the wrong idea about this sort of stuff and why trust in the media is at rock bottom?
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TOTAL RECALL
Recalls are a good thing, compared with the alternative at least, which would be sweeping these problems under the rug and hoping only a few people died as a result of these problems.
Which would you prefer?
And there are so many recalls. Just six weeks into 2021 and there have been plenty of recalls.
Nissan recall the current Leaf because it may no going into ‘Park’ one day.
Toyota recalled the current Yaris and Yaris Cross because the hybrid transmission might, approximately, go poopy in its trousers. They were also recalled because a sharp bracket in the seat structure might sever a seatbelt in a crash. I think it was the centre rear seat; I’d have to do actual research to confirm that.
Bentley recalled the Continental GT convertible because: guillotine roof risk.
Nissan recalled Infiniti Q70 - the brand, not an infinite number of - because the driveshaft might crack and detach. You’ve seen pole vaulting, right?
Mazda BT-50 got recalled because the seatbelt pretensioner might not work.
Fiat Ducato: Potentially dodgy steering knuckle.
Mitsubishi ASX and Outlander: Recalled for potential parking brake defect.
2020 BMW X5, X6 and X7: Recalled because they might lose their steering.
Same day: X5, 3, 5 and 7 Series and some MINIs were recalled because the battery might catch fire. Or explode if you’re reading it in the Daily Mail.
Also this year, Land Rover Discovery was recalled for a potential seatbelt defect, the Range Rover Evoque also got recalled because the seat fabric might burn a little too enthusiastically (explode: Daily Mail-ers).
Hyundai Kona EV and hydrogen fuel cell Nexo recalled for potential software fault.
Audi Q7, SQ7 and RS6 got recalled for a potentially defective crash sensor - which would be a big deal if you crashed with a sensor in that state.
Jeep recalled 16,000 for a potentially dodgy fuel pump relay.
And Nissan, just this week, recalled a handful of 2020 Navaras because a front wheel might fall off.
The last recall of 2020 was entertaining: Ferrari F12 Superfast may not have its rear window glued in all that well.
To Terry Martin, Mr. Deafening Silence with the exclamation mark fetish, I’ve been deafeningly silent on all these recalls because I don’t see the point kicking carmakers in the slats for doing the right thing.
This Hyundai recall is, seemingly, a carbon copy of this recall, issued in Australia on May 8, 2020, for about 69,000 i30s and 19000 Elantras. Also, Hyundai issued this recall, on the same day, for 9000 Santa Fes - and these were all for affected vehicles that were 15 years old; the safety of which is still being treated as a priority.
Recalls are precautionary measures that generally live in the domain of risk management. These defects are not happening like a pandemic out there on the road, despite the sensationalism delivered to the public by a misinformed media.
The anatomy of the most common off-road disaster. Do not let this happen to you. The road to 4X4 hell: so often paved with good intentions. What could possibly go wrong?