Hyundai Motor America and Kia Motors America face a federal lawsuit seeking class-action certification that accuses them of failing to tell customers that certain new vehicles may be equipped with faulty airbags.
According to the lawsuit, filed Monday, two recent new-car buyers claim that, to their knowledge, their vehicles' airbags had not been repaired or replaced when they bought the vehicles.
The suit focuses on airbag control units made by U.S. supplier TRW and the German technology leader that acquired it in 2015, ZF Friedrichshafen. ZF is also named as a defendant in the suit.
The suit says that certain Hyundai and Kia vehicles contain airbags that may not deploy because the control unit becomes "over stressed" by excess electrical energy during a crash.
The suit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of California, claims the defect may prevent the airbags and seat belt pretensioners from deploying, increasing the risk of injury or death.