For very long time everyone, not only people riding or driving any means of transport, even minimally rapid, has relied on fans to cool down, from handheld designs to electric motors, even experimenting with internal combustion to move air. But in the case of the 2021–2023 Kia Sorento, airflow has taken an unexpected and dangerous turn: under certain conditions, the fan system can spark a fire. That’s why Kia has issued a recall affecting 39,536 vehicles.
According to documents filed with the NHTSA, the issue lies in the connection between the blower motor resistor and its wiring harness. The defect specifically occurs when the HVAC fan is set to speed 3. In that scenario, the wiring may overheat, creating a potential, though rare, fire hazard.
The problem first came to light after a 2023 Sorento LX caught fire. Kia repurchased the vehicle for testing, and further investigation, including X-ray analysis, pinpointed the failure at terminal number 2 in the connection, the exact circuit that controls fan speed 3.
Warranty data later revealed more cases. One complete vehicle fire, one localized fire, and 25 reports of melted or overheated connectors. The root cause? Suspected quality-control lapses by the supplier, resulting in wiring that fell slightly below spec and couldn’t handle the electrical load properly.
Kia’s fix is straightforward: replace both the blower motor resistor and its wiring harness. Replacement parts should be available by year’s end, and repairs will be performed free of charge. In the meantime, owners are advised to avoid using fan speed 3 until their vehicles are serviced.
What’s remarkable is how small the margin for error can be. Out of nearly 40,000 vehicles, only 0.06% showed signs of failure, yet that was enough to trigger a recall. A reminder that in automotive safety, “almost safe” isn’t good enough, only full reliability counts.
