Hyundai Recalls 37,901 Kona Electrics and Veloster Ns

Hyundai Motor America is recalling 37,901 vehicles in the United States: 29,058 Kona Electric crossovers from the 2019 through 2023 model years and 8,843 Veloster N hatchbacks from 2019 through 2022. The company filed its safety report with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration on November 2, 2026. The federal campaign is 26V728, and Hyundai's own number for it is 311.

The fault sits in the air bag control unit, the module that reads crash sensors and orders the air bags and seat belt pretensioners to fire. A system reboot or power interruption that lands while the unit is writing to its memory can corrupt the data. When that happens, the dashboard warning light comes on and the unit deactivates the air bag system and the pretensioners, so neither may work in a crash.

Hyundai estimates only about 1 percent of the recalled vehicles carry the defect, roughly 379 cars. The company counts 331 reports of the condition in the United States, and it reports no crashes, fires or injuries tied to it. An owner whose warning light is lit doesn't have a subtle problem; the car is saying its restraints are off.

The control units came from supplier ZF Group, and three part numbers are involved: 95910-K4100 for the Kona Electric, and 95910-K9100 and 95910-K9150 for the Veloster N. Both models were built by Hyundai Motor Company in South Korea. Hyundai widened its review on September 18, 2026, after noting that other applications might use the same driver software, and it made the recall decision on October 22.

The remedy is a software update to the control unit, installed by a Hyundai dealer free of charge. The recalled vehicle identification numbers became searchable on NHTSA.gov on November 6, 2026, so owners can check today instead of waiting for the mail.

Hyundai plans to notify dealers and mail owner letters on January 1, 2027. Owners with questions can call Hyundai customer service at 1-855-371-9460 and cite recall 311, or run their 17-character VIN through the lookup at nhtsa.gov/recalls.