Kia Motors South Africa has commenced a voluntary safety recall of 180 Cerato vehicles (from the 2011 model year). The company says the purpose of the recall is to replace two automatic transmission cooling hoses on those vehicles.

Thehoses are said to pipe hot transmission fluid from the Cerato's transmission to a cooling unit, and cooled transmission fluid back to the transmission. There is a possibility that the transmission cooling hoses may have been improperly cured during the manufacturing process and that, over time, may leak transmission fluid, Kia said in a statement. In such instances, the vehicle's malfunction indicator lamp will illuminate and some vehicles exhibit abnormal shifting behaviour. Depending on how much fluid is lost, the transmission can sufferdamage and possibly fail.

The affected vehicles were all assembled in Korea between 27 August 2010 and 11 November 2010, and only 180 units from this production run were shipped to South Africa. Kia said owners of affected vehicles involved would be telephonically notified by the KiaMotors South Africa’s Call Centre from Monday, 23 May 2016. The Call Centre will assist owners in having their nearest or preferred Kiadealer carry out the replacement of both automatic transmission cooling hoses, which will take less than an hour (depending on your vehicle’s position in the work queue on the day of the booking).

KiaMotors and its dealer network will implement this recall at no charge to the vehicle owner.

More information on the recall campaign, as well as an extensive list of frequently asked questions, will also be available to customers at www.kia.co.za, which will feature a menu option allowing Cerato owners to enter their vehicle’s VIN (Vehicle Identification Number) into a search functionality. The VIN number is listed on the vehicle’s license disc, and embedded into the windscreen on the lower left side.

This function is particularly helpful for customers who are not the original owners of 2011 Cerato automatics or who, for whatever reason, are no longer on the Kia Motors South Africa database. Additionally, queries can also be lodged with the KiaMotors South Africa Call Centre on 010 596 2000.

Read aKia Cerato 1,6 EX (2009) Review

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