2023-2025 Kia Telluride Recall: Door Belt Molding Trim Can Detach While Driving

The satin face plate beneath each side window of a 2023 through 2025 Kia Telluride can separate from its door belt molding a little at a time and eventually drop off while the SUV is moving. Recall 25V494 covers 201,149 Tellurides built from October 3, 2022 through September 18, 2024, and Kia estimates that 6 percent of them, about 12,070 by my arithmetic, have the defect.

The Issue

The belt molding is the outside weatherstrip trim along the bottom edge of each door window, and moldings on all four doors are part of this campaign. Saedong, a tier 1 supplier in South Korea, built the assemblies, and Kia's Part 573 report gives the cause as "insufficient application of the adhesive layer between the door belt molding face plate and base of the molding by the supplier." A plate that detaches in traffic becomes a road hazard.

The replacement molding keeps the adhesive layer and adds mechanical retention to the base. Kia made the same change in production starting September 19, 2024. Each door's molding comes in two finishes, Dark Satin and Satin, with separate part numbers.

Affected Models

Vehicle	Model Years	Production Dates	Estimated Units
Kia Telluride	2023-2025	October 3, 2022 to September 18, 2024	201,149

Kia drew the population from supplier, vehicle production and warranty records. These Tellurides were not built in VIN order, so a serial-number range cannot settle whether a given SUV is included, and a lookup by individual VIN gives the answer. The 2020 through 2022 models and every Telluride built after September 18, 2024 fall outside this recall.

Chronology and Investigation

Kia North America opened a service action on June 10, 2023 for face plates delaminating on the front driver's door molding of certain 2023 Tellurides. On March 19, 2024, its Safety Office spotted a rising replacement rate for the molding on 2023 models during routine field-data review and began sending warranty-returned parts to Kia Corporation headquarters for evaluation.

Headquarters reported back on April 8, 2024: a face plate that separates from the molding falls quickly to the ground, does not bounce and lies flat. Citing the plate's weight, size and that behavior, the Safety Office concluded the issue did not present an unreasonable risk to motor vehicle safety and kept monitoring it. A second service action followed on August 14, 2024, this time for face plate separation on all doors of some 2024 Tellurides.

Between May 13 and May 23, 2025, NHTSA's Office of Defects Investigation contacted Kia about 11 owner complaints alleging trim detachment on 2023 and 2024 Tellurides. On July 2, ODI gave the Safety Office recent precedent on recalls for detaching exterior trim, and Kia began to reassess. A search of every Kia field data source, finished July 18, turned up 12,112 unique reports of potentially missing face plates on 2023-2025 Tellurides, received from May 2, 2023 through July 14, 2025. Kia decided on July 21, 2025 to recall the SUVs, and NHTSA logged the Part 573 report on July 29. A revised report dated November 4, 2025 added the remedy mailing window.

Reported Incidents

Kia's chronology lists no crashes or injuries among the 12,112 field reports and the 11 owner complaints that preceded the recall.

What Owners Should Do

Interim letters went out September 26, 2025, before the replacement part was available. Remedy letters followed in a phased mailing that began November 19, 2025 and was planned to run through December 31, and a renotification dated August 27, 2026 went to registered owners whose SUVs still had the recall open. Check the VIN at Kia's recall page or NHTSA.gov, or call Kia customer service at 1-800-333-4542 and reference Kia recall SC347. Dealers inspect the moldings and replace any assembly that was not already replaced under warranty, free of charge.

If you paid for a related repair before the recall, Kia's General Reimbursement Plan covers it. Receipts go in online at customercare.kiausa.com or by mail with the form included in the owner letter, and Kia says it will try to respond within 60 days.

Kia's quarterly report filed October 14, 2026 counted 136,168 vehicles as remedied, a total that also includes vehicles inspected and found not to need the repair. Another 7,926 were listed as unreachable and 2,353 as scrapped, stolen or exported. By my arithmetic, that leaves 54,702 reachable Tellurides with the recall open.

Symptoms to Watch For Before the Face Plate Falls Off

Kia's safety report names three warning signs: a face plate that is visibly loose, a rattle, and wind noise.

How Long Will the Recall Repair Take?

The VIN list tells the dealer which doors on each Telluride need new moldings, in 15 combinations from a single door to all four. The warranty labor allowance is 0.2 hours for one door, 0.3 hours for two and 0.4 hours for three or four. Kia's owner letter puts the visit at about one to two hours and warns that the SUV may be kept longer depending on the dealer's schedule. The service bulletin cautions technicians that a detached face plate can become sharp and cause serious injury.

Bottom Line

The crash risk in Kia's filing falls on other road users who meet a detached plate. Kia's own 2024 evaluation kept the issue out of a recall for more than a year, until ODI's 2025 inquiry changed its view.

An open recall transfers with the vehicle when it is sold. Anyone who bought a used 2023-2025 Telluride from a Kia dealer or a private seller should run the VIN rather than assume the moldings were replaced.

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

Recall 25V494 (July 2025) covers 2023-2025 Tellurides built from October 3, 2022 through September 18, 2024. Dealers replace the affected door belt moldings with an assembly whose face plate is mechanically retained as well as bonded. Kia mailed a renotification dated August 27, 2026 to owners whose vehicles still had the recall open.