Kia recalls 300,000 cars for trim that may fall off while driving

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Kia is recalling more than 300,000 vehicles in the U.S. because plastic trim pieces from around the windows and doors may fall off, potentially hitting other cars on the road. While it’s unclear how many, if any, vehicles may suffer the same defect in Canada, in the U.S., the automaker issued two separate recalls, one for some 201,149 examples of the Telluride SUV from model years 2023 through 2025; and the other for 100,063 examples of the K5 sedan, also from 2023 through 2025.

On some Telluride sport-utilities, the door belt molding — that’s the narrow strip of plastic found on the top edge of the vehicle’s door, where it meets the window — may loosen over time, and eventually fall off.

On some K5 cars, the same problem applies to the C-pillar garnish face plate — the plastic piece near the right and left rear side windows — with the automaker explaining in a notice late July that those parts “may progressively delaminate and become loose from the base of the molding.” When this happens, they, too, could fall off, posing a risk to other road users.

Kia calls the face-plate delamination a supplier issue, and says owners of affected vehicles can bring them into their dealers, where the parts will be repaired free of charge.

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