Hyundai recalls over 220,000 Sonata and Santa Fe models over airbag concern

 

Hyundai is recalling certain Sonata and Santa Fe models due to issues with the vehicles' airbags.

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, certain 2012-2013 Sonata models may have been built with side-curtain airbags that may deploy inadvertently, potentially injuring occupants and greatly reducing driver visibility. Hyundai will replace those airbags free of charge.

Meanwhile, the airbag system in certain 2007-2009 Santa Fe crossovers may not detect smaller adults in the front seats, which means they could fail to deploy in a collision. Hyundai will update the software that controls the airbag system free of charge.

All told, the recalls cover 199,118 Santa Fe models and 22,512 Sonata units. While the Sonata campaign is expected to begin next month, Hyundai hasn't supplied NHTSA with a campaign schedule as of yet

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Hyundai reduces global sales predictions due to struggling European, Chinese economies

   

Hyundai has lowered its 2012 global forecast for the global auto industry by 500,000 units due to faltering European economy and tightening registration restrictions in China, Automotive News has reported.


The South Korean automaker had predicted that 77.6 million new vehicles would be sold worldwide in 2012, but it has lowered that figure to 77.1 million after revising expected European sales figures. Industry-wide, sales in Europe are down 3.2 percent. Hyundai expects sales for the second of the year to be more than one million vehicles less than the first half of the year, which saw 7.65 million units sold.


Additionally, Hyundai officials said that sales in China have dropped slightly, in part because some Chinese cities have begun limiting new vehicle registrations to avoid congestion.


The drop in expectations for all automakers is arguably a minor blip on Hyundai's radar, whose operating profit was up 18 percent for the second quarter.

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Hyundai scrambling to keep U.S. market share but lacks inventory

                                                              

Hyundai owns five percent of the U.S. retail market share, but it's trying to maintain that number with razor-thin inventory levels. According to The Detroit Free Press, the situation has forced the automaker to cut back on fleet sales and pump out every vehicle it can from its Alabama assembly plant, which is prepping a third shift in the fall.


How constrained is Hyundai's vehicle supply? Looking at the traditional measure of dealer inventory in "days supply," Hyundai tracks absurdly low, at just 25-27 days, or less than one month's supply of vehicles, according to the report. The new 2012 Azera has just 12 days inventory available. The Freep says that despite its five-percent share, for every 1,000 vehicles sitting on all dealer lots across the U.S., only 25 are Hyundais. Yet the company still expects to sell 700,000 units this year, some 100,000 more than it did in 2011.


John Krafcik, Hyundai Motor America's president and CEO, has said consistently that despite rumors of a second U.S. assembly plant, his company has no current plans to build one. Hyundai's South Korean parent has capped global production this year to focus on quality.


"We're still the leanest company in the industry," Krafcik tells the newspaper

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