2020-2024 Kia Telluride Recall: Park Outside: Fire from Overheated Power Seat Motors

The 2020 through 2024 Kia Telluride is one of the most decorated three-row SUVs of the past decade, a repeat award winner that earned Kia a spot on shopping lists next to Toyota and Honda. It is now the subject of a fire recall that Kia has already tried to fix once. The first fix, in some cars, made the problem worse.

NHTSA campaign 26V430000 covers 462,869 Tellurides from the 2020 to 2024 model years. The front power seat motor can overheat and start a fire while the vehicle is parked or being driven. Kia is telling owners to park outside and away from buildings until the repair is done.

This campaign replaces recall 24V407, the June 2024 effort that was supposed to solve the same defect. After that remedy reached cars, owners reported fires starting underneath the passenger seat. Kia traced part of the trouble to inconsistent dealer workmanship during the original repair and filed a new recall with a different fix.

The Issue

Both front seats in the Telluride adjust with electric motors. Each seat rides on powered tracks, and a slide knob controls the fore-and-aft movement. When that knob sticks in the engaged position, the slide motor keeps drawing current after the seat has stopped moving. Sustained current with nowhere to go becomes heat, and the motor can climb to a temperature high enough to ignite the material around it.

The 2024 remedy under 24V407 was meant to stop the overheating. Kia now points to two ways a vehicle can still be at risk: a slide knob that continues to stick, or a first-recall repair that was not performed correctly. Both paths end at the same failure, a seat motor hot enough to catch fire.

The new remedy is not another knob adjustment. Dealers install an electronic fuse assembly that cuts power to the seat motor before it can overheat. It is a hardware circuit breaker between the motor and the current that feeds it, and it does not depend on the knob behaving.

Affected Models

Vehicle	Model Years	Estimated Units
Kia Telluride	2020-2024	462,869

The recall covers the entire first-generation Telluride, which ran from its 2020 launch through the 2024 model year. Kia skipped the 2025 and 2026 model years on the Telluride, then launched a redesigned second generation for 2027 on a new platform. That newer Telluride is not part of this campaign.

Chronology and Investigation

The story starts with recall 24V407, filed June 5, 2024. That campaign covered the same 2020-2024 Tellurides and described the same root cause, a stuck power seat slide knob that let the motor overheat. Dealers performed the prescribed repair through late 2024 and into 2025.

Then the field reports changed shape. Owners whose cars had already been through the 24V407 repair filed complaints about fires igniting under the passenger seat. Kia investigated, concluded that the first remedy was not reliably closing the risk, and identified sporadic dealer workmanship problems as one contributor. On July 2, 2026, Kia filed 26V430 to replace the earlier campaign outright.

The searchable VIN list goes live at NHTSA.gov on July 17, 2026. Owner notification letters are scheduled to mail August 13, 2026.

Reported Incidents

The trigger for this second recall was a set of owner-reported fires in vehicles that had already received the 24V407 repair, several of them originating beneath the passenger seat. Kia has not published a running injury count in the campaign filing. What moved the automaker was the pattern: a remedy that was supposed to end the fires had not ended them in every car, and some of those cars burned anyway.

What Owners Should Do

Until the repair is done, park the Telluride outside and away from your house, garage, and anything else a fire could spread to. That instruction applies whether or not the car went through the 2024 recall, because the whole point of 26V430 is that the earlier fix did not always hold.

Run your VIN at NHTSA.gov after July 17, 2026 to confirm the car is included. Owner letters mail August 13, 2026. You do not need the letter to act. Contact a Kia dealer or Kia customer service at 1-800-333-4542 and reference recall SC374. The electronic fuse assembly and its installation are free.

If your Telluride already had the 24V407 repair, you are not covered. Kia is explicit that vehicles fixed under the old recall still need the new remedy.

Symptoms to Watch For Before the Seat Motor Fails

An overheating seat motor gives warning signs before it ignites. Pay attention to four:

The power seat stops sliding or moves erratically. A slide knob that sticks is the origin of this defect. A seat that hesitates, keeps running after you release the control, or refuses to move fore-and-aft is showing the exact fault the recall targets.

A hot or electrical smell from the base of a front seat. Overheating wiring and motors smell like scorched plastic or hot metal. If you notice that odor around the seat rails, stop using the power adjustment.

Warmth from the seat base when the heated seats are off. The seat cushion or track should not be warm on its own. Heat coming from the mechanism rather than the seat heater is a sign the motor is drawing current it should not be.

A blown seat-circuit fuse or a seat that suddenly loses power. A motor pulling too much current can trip its protection. A power seat that dies without warning deserves a look, not a reset and a shrug.

If any of these appear, treat the seat as a hazard, keep the car parked outside, and get it to a dealer.

How Long Will the Recall Repair Take?

Installing an electronic fuse assembly is not a major job. The wiring runs to the seat are accessible, and a trained technician should complete the work in about an hour once the part is in hand. The likely delay is parts supply, not labor. This campaign covers 462,869 vehicles, and the fuse assembly is a new component Kia has to produce and distribute in volume.

Owners who lived through the 24V407 cycle already know the pattern. Expect a stretch between the VIN list going live and dealers having enough parts on the shelf to schedule repairs without a wait.

Bottom Line

A fire recall on one of the best-selling family SUVs in the country is serious on its own. A fire recall that exists because the first fix failed is a reason to move quickly rather than assume you are covered. The risk sits in a component almost every Telluride owner uses daily, the power driver's seat, and the failure can happen while the car is parked in a garage overnight.

Park outside until the electronic fuse assembly is installed. Do not count the 2024 repair as protection. Run your VIN after July 17, 2026, book the appointment, and keep the car away from structures in the meantime.

Find your Kia Telluride recall information: https://www.kia.com/us/en/recall

Recall 26V430 (July 2026) replaces 24V407 (June 2024), the original power-seat fire recall. Owners reported fires after the first remedy, some under the passenger seat, and Kia cited sporadic dealer workmanship. The new remedy is a hardware electronic fuse assembly rather than a knob-focused fix.

Power-seat and seat-motor fire recalls have hit several automakers, but a replacement recall issued because the first remedy did not hold is less common and raises the urgency for owners who assume a prior repair covered them.