2020 Kia Telluride Recall: Inoperative Trailer Brake Lights/FMVSS 108

A 2020 Kia Telluride towing a trailer with Smart Cruise Control switched on can brake itself for traffic ahead while the trailer's brake lights stay dark, so the trailer can fail to warn the driver behind that the rig is slowing. The SUV's own brake lamps light as usual.

Recall 20V436, filed July 28, 2020, covers 86,921 Tellurides from the 2020 model year with Smart Cruise Control, built from January 9, 2019 through July 21, 2020. Because the trailer lamps stay unlit during that braking, those SUVs fall short of Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard 108, which governs lamps, reflective devices and associated equipment. Dealers fix it with a wire kit at the fuse box under Kia campaign SC194.

The Issue

Smart Cruise Control applies the brakes independently when it senses a vehicle ahead inside the following distance the driver has set. In those moments the 2020 Telluride sends no signal to light the trailer's brake lamps, the cause Kia gives in its Part 573 report. Kia estimates that 100 percent of the recalled SUVs have the condition.

The repair kit, part number 91100 S9000QQK, adds jumper wires to the floor wiring harness. With the battery disconnected and the cowl side trim off, a technician splices the supplied wire onto pin 10 of the ICU-C connector behind the fuse cover, runs it to the EF11 connector in the multi-connection box on the driver-side cowl and joins it to the blue wire at pin 7, then tapes it along the existing harness. Dealers do this on every recalled Telluride whether or not it has Kia's port-installed tow hitch, because an owner or a third party can add a hitch later.

Kia corrected the condition on June 17, 2020, when 2021 Telluride assembly began with a new integrated signal system that sends the brake-light signal to the trailer during cruise-control braking.

Affected Models

Vehicle	Model Years	Production Dates	Estimated Units
Kia Telluride with Smart Cruise Control	2020	January 9, 2019 to July 21, 2020	86,921

Kia drew the population from production records. The SUVs were not built in VIN order, so a serial-number range cannot show whether a particular car is in the recall; a lookup of the car's VIN does.

Chronology and Investigation

On June 12, 2020, while looking into a customer complaint about a trailer harness and the 2020 Telluride's Auto-Hold feature, Kia Motors America set out to check whether the trailer brake lights came on under Smart Cruise Control. Three days later it ran a trailer harness mockup through several braking inputs and found that the trailer lamps did not light whenever the cruise system did the braking. On June 16 it sent the results to its parent, Kia Motors Corporation.

Between June 17 and June 30, Kia Motors Corporation asked Mobis, which makes the trailer wiring, to check whether the wiring caused the condition, and Mobis answered that it did not. On June 30 the customer who had raised the Auto-Hold complaint emailed Kia to say the trailer brake lights had not come on while Smart Cruise Control braked.

Testing from July 1 to July 21 on a 2020 Telluride towing a trailer confirmed that no illumination signal went to the trailer. Kia decided to recall on July 22 and filed its Part 573 report six days later. Dealers were notified September 2, owner letters were mailed September 10, and the service bulletin was revised on September 14 and November 3, 2020.

Reported Incidents

At the July 22 recall decision, Kia's chronology recorded one customer complaint and no known crashes or injuries.

What Owners Should Do

Kia's owner letter says not to use Smart Cruise Control with a trailer connected until the recall repair is done, and to contact a Kia dealer to arrange it. The work is free, parts and labor included. Kia customer service is at 1-800-333-4542; the recall number is SC194. Owners who paid for a repair of this condition before the notice can send receipts through the Owners section of kia.com or by mail under Kia's General Reimbursement Plan.

Kia's annual completion report filed July 30, 2025 counted 80,163 vehicles as remedied, a total that also includes cars inspected without needing the repair or returned to inventory. Another 1,225 were deemed unreachable and 522 were scrapped, stolen or exported. By my arithmetic, 5,011 reachable Tellurides still had the recall open.

Symptoms to Watch For

Kia's Part 573 report lists no warning to the driver.

How Long Will the Recall Repair Take?

Kia's warranty schedule pays dealers 0.5 hours for the floor harness rewire. The owner letter puts the visit at about one to two hours and notes that the SUV may be needed longer, so Kia suggests booking a service appointment. Kia told dealers on September 2, 2020 that it would ship the wire kits to them automatically, with a limited quantity available to order beyond that.

Bottom Line

Every recalled SUV has the condition by Kia's estimate, but it matters only when a 2020 Telluride tows with Smart Cruise Control doing the braking.

An open recall transfers with the vehicle when it is sold. Anyone buying a used 2020 Telluride from a Kia dealer or a private seller should run the VIN for SC194 before towing with it.

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

Recall 20V436 (July 2020) covers 2020 Tellurides with Smart Cruise Control built through July 21, 2020, whose trailer brake lights stay off when the cruise system brakes on its own. Dealers add a wire kit at the fuse box; the 2021 Telluride went into production with an integrated signal system that sends the trailer the brake-light signal.