Kia Venga safety notice
March 4th, 2010 by Richard Aucock
KIA has issued a safety notice to owners for its Venga people carrier after suspending delivery to buyers.
The maker has, in testing, discovered the front seatbelt can be damaged by the lower seat mounting rail in a crash.
This means 450 owners who were due to take delivery of their Vengas were told they had to wait. The car maker suspended handover – and also contacted owners of the 4 Vengas that had left showrooms to take the car back.
Michael Cole, MD of Kia UK, ‘the protection of our customers is our top-most priority and we will undertake whatever action is required to ensure that.
‘We immediately suspended deliveries and have asked our dealers to carry out the modification which involves fitting a protective sleeve to the belts and takes around 15 minutes.
‘Our factory production process has been changed to incorporate the fitting of the modified sleeve. We have already contacted the 4 customers who had taken delivery of their Vengas and we have carried out the modification on their cars.’
Car Dealer Magazine caught up with a spokesman at Geneva, who said the firm was taking quick action now to ensure it didn’t become an actual issue.
‘It’s not a recall, but something we noticed during our own in house crash tests – so we’ve dealt with it now to clear it up.’