Hyundai Motor America is recalling nearly 600,000 vehicles for problems with hood latches and parking brake warning lights. There have been no reported accidents or injuries related to either issue.
The larger of the two recalls, made public Thursday by the National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration, involves a faulty cable for the secondary hood latch, which could corrode and prevent the hood from latching.
The recall covers 437,400 Santa Fe and Santa Fe Sport crossovers from the 2013-17 model years. Hyundai clarified the safety risk only applied if the hood is not properly closed.
Hyundai spokesman Michael Stewart said an investigation into the Santa Fe models began at the end of last year, and a production fix was applied on the Santa Fe in June 2016 rectify the issue. He said the company is currently looking into the reason an announcement about the defect was not made sooner.
"There have been three reports where the hoods actually came open, but the majority of the complaints had to do with the hood being stuck closed," Stewart said.
The problem occurs more frequently in "salt belt" states in the northeastern part of the country where large quantities of salt are applied to roads during the winter season which can can get trapped in and corrode the hood latch.
A second recall posted Thursday covers about 150,000 Sonata models and 10,800 Genesis models from 2015 and 2016.
Corrosion was also to blame for an issue with a switch involved in illuminating the parking brake, possibly keeping drivers from knowing the brake is on while driving. Hyundai identified the issue in May.
"If the driver inadvertently drives the vehicle with the parking brake applied, symptoms can include parking brake noise, parking brake 'drag,' and smoke and/or smell from driving with applied parking brake," Hyundai said in a statement.
Both recalls will begin June 30.
