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Hyundai Recalls New Sonata Due To Lock Faults

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  • Hyundai Recalls New Sonata Due To Lock Faults

    HYUNDAI RECALLS NEW SONATA DUE TO LOCK FAULTS

    http://www.armenpress.am/news/more/id/5915 98/lang/en
    2010-02-24

    YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 24, ARMENPRESS. Hyundai Motor will recall 47,000
    of its new Sonata sedans to fix faulty door latches, seeking to
    avoid the damaging criticism Japanese rival Toyota Motor Corp faces
    for its handling of a series of safety problems, Armenpress reports
    citing Reuters.

    The South Korean automaker announced the voluntary recall after earlier
    saying it would suspend U.S. sales of its 2011 Sonata, a move analysts
    said was in contrast to Toyota's sluggish response to concerns about
    sudden unintended acceleration.

    "Recalls have become a highly sensitive issue since Toyota's recall,"
    said Yim Eun-young, an analyst at Dongbu Securities.

    "Hyundai seems to have decided to deal with these issues as fast as
    they can."

    Hyundai, which was the only major automaker to increase sales in
    the battered U.S. market last year, has targeted Toyota customers
    rattled by the acceleration problems linked to dozens of crashes and
    the recall of more than 8.5 million vehicles.

    Shares in Hyundai Motor fell as much as 4.3 percent in early Wednesday
    trading and ended down 2.6 percent versus a 1 percent drop in the
    wider market. The stock had risen 13 percent since Toyota's recall
    woes spiraled in January.

    Stephen Ahn, auto analyst at LIG Investment & Securities in Seoul,
    said the recall would undermine Hyundai's image at a time when
    customers were sensitive to quality follow.

    "But given that the flawed part is a not a key function such as the
    accelerator, powertrain or electronic controls, it will have little
    impact on Hyundai's sales," he said.

    The Sonata and Elantra are the two top selling models for Hyundai,
    the world's No.4 carmaker with affiliate Kia Motors Corp.

    "We have upgraded quality problems to a safety problem and decided
    to make a voluntary recall," the company said in an emailed statement
    in Korean.

    The recall will affect about 1,300 of the 2011 Sonata sedans built
    through February 16 at Hyundai's plant in Alabama and sold to
    customers, plus 46,000 YF Sonata units produced through December 6
    in South Korea. The new model started to be sold from September 2009
    in South Korea and this month in the United States.
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