2023 Kia Telluride Recall: Second Row Side Air Bags May Not Deploy

The side air bag wire harnesses inside the second-row seat cushions of certain 2023 Kia Telluride SUVs were built to the wrong length. Folding or adjusting the seat can bring the harness into contact with the seat frame, and a damaged harness can keep the second-row side air bags from deploying in a crash.

Kia filed NHTSA campaign 23V035 on January 29, 2023, covering 31,943 Tellurides built at its Georgia assembly plant from September 1, 2022 to January 23, 2023. The company's number for the recall is SC262, and the dealer repair is free.

The Issue

Adient, which supplied the harness, manufactured it at an incorrect length, according to Kia's Part 573 report. Each Telluride carries two, one per side, routed through the second-row seat cushion to the side air bag in the seat. Kia lists three left-side part numbers, for the bench, the unventilated captain's chair and the ventilated captain's chair, and two for the right side.

At that length the harness can touch the seat frame as the seat folds or slides. Contact can damage the corrugated plastic conduit wrapped around it and, past that, the two wires inside. A cut or exposed wire can leave the side air bag on that side undeployed in a crash severe enough to call for it.

When the conduit is intact, the technician confirms a zip-tie holds the harness to the adjacent wiring or seat frame and adds one if it is missing. A damaged conduit is cut open; sound wires are wrapped in 3M electrical tape and tied down, while cut or exposed wires get a new harness built to the correct length.

Affected Models

Vehicle	Model Year	Build Dates	Estimated Units
Kia Telluride	2023	September 1, 2022 to January 23, 2023	31,943

Kia corrected the harness length on the assembly line on January 23, 2023, the last build date in the recall. The affected vehicles were not built in VIN order, so a VIN range cannot show whether a given Telluride is included.

Chronology and Investigation

On December 27, 2022, Kia North America received a dealer's technical assistance case on a 2023 Telluride whose second-row side air bag harness had been damaged by contact with the seat frame, with the air bag warning light illuminated. Kia's North American safety office passed the case to Kia Georgia on January 4, 2023.

From January 5 to 12, the plant stopped shipping 2023 Tellurides and inspected 2,219 of them in its yard. Twenty showed the harness touching the seat frame, though none had a damaged harness or a warning light on.

A field data review on January 9 and 10 turned up no customer complaints, warranty claims or techline cases beyond the original dealer report, and no air bag non-deployments. Kia Corporation headquarters evaluated the condition from January 13 to 19 and confirmed that a damaged harness could stop the second-row side air bags from deploying. A second review on January 20 again found only the one dealer case. Kia decided to recall the vehicles on January 24 and filed five days later. Dealers were notified February 23, 2023, and owner letters went out February 28.

Reported Incidents

Kia knew of one damaged harness in the field when it filed: the December 2022 dealer case. Its chronology lists no fatalities, injuries, crashes or fires. Kia estimates that 1% of the 31,943 vehicles carry the defect, which works out to roughly 320 Tellurides.

What Owners Should Do

Run the VIN on Kia's recall page or at NHTSA.gov and look for SC262. Kia customer service is at 1-800-333-4542.

Owners who paid for this repair before the February 28, 2023 letter can ask for reimbursement through the Owners section of kia.com or by mail to the Kia Customer Care Center, P.O. Box 52410, Irvine, CA 92619-2410. Under its General Reimbursement Plan, Kia says it will use its best efforts to answer a claim within 60 days.

By the end of 2025, 30,258 of the 31,943 vehicles had been remedied, inspected without needing a repair, or returned to inventory, according to Kia's January 2026 annual report to NHTSA. Another 783 owners could not be reached by mail, and 79 vehicles had been scrapped, stolen or exported. Anyone shopping for a used 2023 Telluride can run the VIN before signing.

Symptoms to Watch For Before the Harness Fails

The air bag warning light stays on more than about six seconds after start-up, or comes on while driving. Kia's dealer notice warns that owners may see it. The owner letter says to pull over, stop driving and call Kia Roadside Assistance at 1-800-333-4542, available 24 hours a day, for a tow to the nearest Kia dealer.

Split or scuffed plastic tubing at the base of a second-row seat. The harness runs inside corrugated conduit under the seat cushion, and the dealer inspection starts there. A tear in that tubing is the condition that sends a technician to open it and check the wires.

How Long Will the Recall Repair Take?

Kia's owner letter estimates one to two hours at the dealer. Labor times in Kia's service bulletin start at 0.2 hours for an inspection that finds an undamaged harness already zip-tied, and taping and tying both sides is rated at 0.6 hours. Harness replacement runs 1.2 hours for one captain's chair and 1.9 for both, or 1.5 hours for one side of a bench and 2.4 for both.

Opening the conduit means disconnecting the battery and tilting the seat back. A replacement adds removing the rear seat back cover and unclipping the harness from the bottom and back of the seat frame. Dealers buy the tape and zip-ties locally, so only a damaged harness calls for a part order.

Bottom Line

Kia puts the odds that a given 2023 Telluride in this group has a damaged harness at about one in 100, and it had a single field case when it filed. A damaged harness costs the second-row passenger on that side the seat-mounted air bag in a crash, and the air bag warning light is the one sign Kia describes.

Check the VIN for SC262, book the inspection if it is open, and treat a warning light that stays on as a reason to stop driving until a dealer has the car.

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

Recall 23V035 (January 2023) covers 31,943 2023 Tellurides built September 1, 2022 to January 23, 2023, whose second-row side air bag wire harnesses Adient manufactured at an incorrect length. Kia knew of one damaged harness in the field when it filed and estimates 1% of the population is defective.

The same first-generation Telluride later drew recall 26V430 (July 2026), which replaced the 2024 power seat fire campaign 24V407 and covers 462,869 vehicles from 2020 to 2024. The 23V035 harness campaign is limited to 2023 models built between September 2022 and January 2023.