2020 Kia Telluride Recall: High Beam Headlights May Fail

On a 2020 Kia Telluride with halogen headlamps, the high beams can quit without warning and stay off while the low beams keep working. NHTSA investigators called it a complete loss of high beams with no re-engagement, and they cited 102 owner complaints before Kia agreed to a recall.

Recall 24V148, filed February 26, 2024, covers 35,031 Tellurides built from January 9 through November 18, 2019. Kia estimates 13% of them have the defect. Dealers inspect each headlamp and either clip the damaged gear to its shaft or install a replacement assembly built to tolerate the heat. Kia's number for the campaign is SC299.

The Issue

Each halogen headlamp is a bi-function projector, with one bulb lighting both beams. A shutter inside the projector masks part of that light to form the low-beam cutoff. Selecting high beam drives a small electric motor that swings the shutter clear through a shield gear on a shaft.

Heat from the bulb damages that gear mechanism over time. Once that happens, the motor can no longer move the shutter to its open position, so that lamp loses its high beam and keeps its low beam. The two lamps wear out independently, which is why a driver can lose the high beam on one side only.

The recalled assemblies carry part numbers 92101 S9000 (left) and 92102 S9000 (right), supplied by SL Alabama of Alexander City, Alabama. Kia's fix on the assembly line, starting November 19, 2019, was a headlamp with an improved shield gear and additional venting.

Kia's dealer bulletin has the technician pull the headlamp, mount a jig on it and melt an access hole through the outer case with a soldering iron from a recall tool kit. A retaining clip goes through that hole onto the gear shaft, a borescope confirms it seated, and two adhesive pads set with a heat gun seal the opening. If the clip leaves a gap at the shaft, or the projector has come loose in the housing, the dealer replaces the whole assembly with one whose shield gear resists the bulb's heat.

Affected Models

Vehicle	Model Year	Built	Estimated Units
Kia Telluride with halogen headlamps	2020	January 9 to November 18, 2019	35,031

NHTSA's opening resume put the 2020 Telluride population under investigation at 86,920. Kia excluded any car that already had both headlamps replaced under warranty with the revised part. The recalled vehicles were not built in VIN order, so the build date alone cannot place a car in or out of the campaign.

Chronology and Investigation

NHTSA's Office of Defects Investigation raised the problem first, contacting Kia's safety office on January 4, 2023 about complaints of lost high beams. On January 27 it opened preliminary evaluation PE23002 with 23 owner complaints in hand.

At a March 1, 2023 meeting, Kia told investigators it planned to extend the warranty on the condition to 15 years or 150,000 miles. Its formal response on March 29 argued that losing high beams did not create an unreasonable risk to safety, citing low customer use of high beams, the continued operation of the low beams, and NHTSA's own precedent and enforcement history. Owners got notice of the extended warranty on April 25, 2023, and a reminder on October 13.

Between January 24 and February 18, 2024, investigators met with Kia again and asked it to consider a recall, pointing to continuing complaints and what Kia's chronology describes as a "new approach to evaluating loss of high beams issues." Kia decided to recall the cars on February 19 and filed its Part 573 report a week later. NHTSA closed PE23002 on April 17, 2024.

Kia mailed interim owner letters on April 25, 2024 while it worked on remedy parts, amended its schedule on May 7, and sent follow-up letters announcing the fix on August 9, 2024. Owners whose cars were still unrepaired got a renotice dated May 30, 2025.

Reported Incidents

NHTSA's closing resume tallies 2,516 reports: 102 owner complaints to the agency, 277 reports from Kia and 2,137 warranty records. One was a crash reported in Kia's data, and none included an injury or a death.

Kia's own figures through February 15, 2024 ran higher on the warranty side, with 4,975 warranty claims, 839 techline cases logged by dealer technicians and 543 customer complaints dating back to March 1, 2019. Kia also listed three deer strikes that owners alleged and Kia had not confirmed.

I counted 106 complaints on the 2020 Telluride that mention headlights in TWD's copy of NHTSA's complaint file, fetched October 9, 2026. That is a keyword count, so it includes headlight faults beyond the high beam.

What Owners Should Do

Run the VIN at NHTSA.gov or on Kia's recall page. The inspection and any repair are free, and Kia Customer Care answers at 1-800-333-4542; reference recall SC299.

Owners who paid for a headlamp repair before the recall can ask for reimbursement under Kia's General Reimbursement Plan, filed May 10, 2022, by sending receipts through customercare.kiausa.com or by mail with the form attached to the owner letter. Kia says it aims to respond within 60 days.

Until a dealer has inspected the lamps, Kia's letter tells drivers to adjust speed and following distance to the light available.

Symptoms to Watch For Before the High Beams Fail

The failure sets no dashboard warning, so the signs are ones a driver has to look for:

One side reaches farther than the other. Park facing a garage door at night and switch between beams; the cutoff line from each lamp should jump upward.

The low beams behave as usual. Kia's filing says low-beam operation is unaffected, so a car with this defect passes a casual walk-around.

How Long Will the Recall Repair Take?

Kia's owner letter estimates one to two hours. Its dealer bulletin pays technicians 1.0 to 2.0 hours depending on whether each side gets a clip, a new headlamp or one of each. A car may be in the shop beyond that when the inspection ends in replacement, because new headlamp assemblies are ordered against its VIN.

Kia capped dealer orders for clips and pads in proportion to submitted warranty claims, noting the limit could rise as supply grew. The bulletin lets dealers claim one round-trip rideshare or up to three days of rental car for the owner, with receipts.

Bottom Line

With the low beams still lit, a failed high beam costs the driver sight distance on unlit roads, on one side or both.

Kia's July 29, 2026 quarterly report lists 22,288 of the 35,031 Tellurides as remedied, about 64% by my arithmetic. Another 2,500 owners could not be reached by mail, and 1,168 cars had been scrapped, stolen or exported. A VIN lookup finds the recall whether or not a letter ever reached the current owner.

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

Recall 24V148 closed NHTSA preliminary evaluation PE23002, opened January 27, 2023. Kia first answered the investigation with a warranty extension to 15 years or 150,000 miles and argued the loss of high beams posed no unreasonable safety risk. Investigators asked for a recall in early 2024, and Kia filed on February 26, 2024.

Kia's 2023 case against a recall cited NHTSA's precedent and enforcement history on high-beam failures. In 2024 the agency asked for a recall anyway, citing continuing complaints and what Kia's chronology describes as a new approach to evaluating loss-of-high-beam cases.