2022-2024 Hyundai and Kia Recall: Park Outside: High Voltage Battery May Catch Fire

Fourteen electric vehicles. That is the entire population of this recall, and every owner has been told to park outside, away from the house, and to stop charging past 80 percent. The number is small. The instruction is the same one automakers give when a battery pack can catch fire on its own.

Hyundai and Kia filed two matching campaigns on July 2, 2026. NHTSA 26V432 covers six 2023-2024 Ioniq 5 crossovers. NHTSA 26V431 covers seven 2022-2024 EV6 models and a single 2024 EV9. Both trace to the same defect in cells from the same supplier: high-voltage battery cells built with misaligned electrodes that can short internally and start a fire.

A 14-vehicle recall is worth attention less for its size than for what it shows. This is a manufacturing defect caught by traceability at 14 cars instead of surfacing later at 14,000.

The Issue

A lithium-ion cell is a tightly packed sandwich. A positive electrode and a negative electrode are wound or stacked with a thin separator between them, and that separator is the only thing keeping the two electrodes from touching. If the electrodes are misaligned during manufacturing, an edge of one can end up too close to the other. Vibration, charging stress, and time can then bridge the gap.

When the electrodes make contact, the cell shorts internally. An internal short dumps energy as heat inside a sealed cell, and if that heat runs away it can ignite the electrolyte and spread cell to cell. That chain reaction is thermal runaway, the failure mode behind every serious EV battery fire. It is why the interim guidance pairs parking outdoors with an 80 percent charge cap: a cell held at a lower state of charge stores less energy to release if it fails.

The cells came from SK On, the battery supplier for Hyundai and Kia's E-GMP platform vehicles. According to the filings, SK On attributed the fault to a quality deviation in production. Because manufacturers track which cells go into which packs, the automakers could isolate the affected vehicles down to individual VINs rather than recalling an entire model year as a precaution.

Affected Models

Vehicle	Model Years	Units
Hyundai Ioniq 5	2023-2024	6
Kia EV6	2022-2024	7
Kia EV9	2024	1
Total	2022-2024	14

The vast majority of Ioniq 5, EV6, and EV9 owners are not affected. These campaigns target a specific batch of cells, not the platform. An owner who runs their VIN and comes back clear is not carrying the defect, whatever the model year.

Chronology and Notification

Both automakers filed with NHTSA on July 2, 2026. Hyundai's VIN list went searchable on July 3, 2026, with owner letters scheduled for August 31. Kia's VIN list goes live July 17, 2026, with letters mailing August 7. Dealer notification for the Hyundai campaign went out July 6.

The tight timeline and the small vehicle count fit a supplier-flagged defect. When a cell maker identifies a production deviation, the automakers using those cells can move fast because the exposure is already bounded by the batch records.

Reported Incidents

The campaigns are preventive. They stem from SK On's identification of a quality deviation rather than a wave of field fires, and the filings do not report injuries. That is the point of catching the defect at the cell-traceability level: the recall exists to replace the packs before any of the 14 vehicles has a chance to fail.

What Owners Should Do

If your VIN is included, follow both interim instructions until the repair is done. Park the vehicle outdoors and away from structures, and cap charging at 80 percent. Do not treat either step as optional; together they lower both the odds and the consequences of a cell failure.

Hyundai owners can reference recall 305 and call 1-855-371-9460. Kia owners can reference recall SC375 and call 1-800-333-4542. The remedy is a full high-voltage battery replacement at no charge, so schedule the appointment as soon as your dealer confirms parts availability.

Warning Signs of a Failing Battery Pack

An internal short does not always announce itself, which is why the pack replacement is the real fix. Still, a degrading cell can show symptoms an owner can notice:

A sudden drop in range or rapid state-of-charge swings. A cell going bad can pull down the pack's usable capacity faster than normal degradation would.

Battery or powertrain warning lights. The battery management system monitors cell voltages and temperatures and will flag an outlier. Do not dismiss a high-voltage system warning.

A sweet, sharp chemical smell or visible smoke. Venting electrolyte has a distinct odor. If you smell it or see smoke or vapor from underneath the vehicle, get clear of it and call emergency services.

Unusual heat from the floor or a charge session that keeps interrupting. Excess heat and repeated charging faults can both point to a cell the system is struggling to manage.

How Long Will the Recall Repair Take?

Replacing a high-voltage battery pack is the most involved fix in the recall world. The pack is the structural floor of the vehicle, and swapping it means lifting the body, disconnecting high-voltage and cooling connections, and installing and calibrating a new assembly. The labor itself runs the better part of a day. The real wait is parts. A replacement pack is a large, expensive component that has to be built and shipped, so expect a lead time measured in weeks even though only 14 vehicles need one.

Bottom Line

For the 14 owners on the list, this is a serious recall with a firm interim protocol and the most thorough remedy available, a brand-new battery pack. Park outside, charge to 80 percent, and get the pack replaced.

For every other Ioniq 5, EV6, and EV9 owner, this is reassurance more than alarm. A supplier flagged a production deviation, the automakers traced it to individual cars, and the fix reached owners within days. That is the system working the way it is supposed to, catching a battery defect at 14 vehicles rather than after it spreads.

Find your Hyundai recall information: https://www.hyundaiusa.com/us/en/recall

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

Two matching July 2026 campaigns (Hyundai 26V432, Kia 26V431) cover 14 total EVs with SK On battery cells built with misaligned electrodes. Preventive recall driven by supplier traceability; interim guidance is park outside plus 80% charge cap; remedy is full HV pack replacement.

Hyundai and Kia have run larger E-GMP EV campaigns before, including the multi-recall ICCU issue (24V204, 24V868) that caused loss of drive power. This battery-cell campaign is different in cause and far smaller in scope, isolated to a specific SK On production batch.