Kia Seat-Belt Recall (NHTSA 26V356): How to Check a Used Kia for Open Recalls Before Buying

Key facts

• Campaign: NHTSA recall 26V356; Kia internal number SC372; filed by Kia America, Inc. (Irvine, CA) on June 2, 2026, with dealers notified June 3. News coverage broke around June 9, 2026.
• Vehicles: 6,264 total — 4,367 2027 Kia Telluride Hybrids (built Mar 24–May 12, 2026) and 1,897 2027 gas Tellurides (built Mar 24–May 10, 2026). Kia estimates roughly 1% contain the defect.
• Defect: A supplier error may have put an incorrect vehicle sensor in the driver's (front-left) seat belt assembly (part 88810-P8500), causing the emergency locking retractor (ELR) to lock when the driver tries to pull the belt out. Also a noncompliance with FMVSS No. 209, S4.3(j)(2)(i)(E).
• Risk: A driver who cannot extend the belt may ride unbelted, increasing injury risk in a crash. No do-not-drive or park-outside advisory has been reported in coverage of this recall.
• Remedy: Free replacement of the driver's seat belt assembly at Kia dealers; reimbursement available for repairs already paid. Owner letters mail July 31, 2026.
• Timing quirk: 26V356 VINs become searchable on NHTSA.gov on June 16, 2026 — before that date, per-VIN lookups will not return this campaign.
• Second seat-belt recall: The 2027 Telluride was already recalled in March 2026 (NHTSA 26V135 / Kia SC364) for a third-row center seat-belt anchor buckle — a separate defect, separate build window.

Which Kia models are affected by the June 2026 seat-belt recall?

Recall 26V356 covers only the 2027 Kia Telluride and 2027 Telluride Hybrid — 6,264 vehicles built between March 24 and May 12, 2026. No older Tellurides and no other Kia models are included in this campaign. Because these are brand-new 2027-model-year units, most affected vehicles are dealer stock or nearly new rather than typical used cars — but they will enter the used market, and the same VIN-screening process applies to any used Kia.

Neither filing breaks vehicles out by trim level. Gas Tellurides built on or after May 11, 2026, and Telluride Hybrids built on or after May 13, 2026, received the correct assembly in production.

What exactly fails — the pretensioner, the buckle, or the retractor?

The retractor. Due to an error at Tier-1 supplier Samsong Mexico (Ramos Arizpe, Coahuila), the driver's seat belt assembly may contain an incorrect vehicle sensor that, under certain conditions, causes the emergency locking retractor to lock while the driver is pulling the webbing out — so the belt can refuse to extend and the restraint is temporarily unavailable. This is not a pretensioner or buckle failure (the earlier 26V135 campaign was the buckle-related one, on different seating positions). The defect also makes the belt noncompliant with FMVSS No. 209's directional-rotation requirements for ELRs.

The warning sign an owner or test-driver may notice is simple: the driver's seat belt won't pull out. The safety risk is that a driver unable to extend the belt may drive unbelted, increasing injury risk in a collision.

How do I find out if a specific Kia VIN is included in recall 26V356?

As of today (June 10, 2026), per-VIN lookups will not yet return this campaign: Kia's Part 573 filing states 26V356 VINs become searchable on NHTSA.gov starting June 16, 2026. Until then, the only way to confirm a specific Telluride's inclusion is to contact a Kia dealer or Kia's Customer Care Center with the VIN. Build date alone cannot clear a vehicle, because Kia states the affected units were not produced in VIN order.

From June 16, 2026 onward:

1. NHTSA's free VIN tool (nhtsa.gov/recalls) — enter the 17-character VIN to see open recalls NHTSA has on file.
2. Kia's owner recall portal (owners.kia.com) — the manufacturer's own per-VIN recall status.
3. A Kia dealer — the authoritative source for whether a specific recall repair has been completed on a specific vehicle.

How do I check a used Kia for open recalls before buying?

Run the VIN through NHTSA's free recall lookup and Kia's owner portal, then ask a Kia dealer to confirm whether any listed recalls were actually repaired — no consumer-facing VIN report shows completed-versus-open remedy status. A pre-purchase vehicle history report adds the context recalls alone don't: accident and airbag-deployment records, salvage-auction appearances, odometer consistency, and ownership and listing history.

A practical sequence:

1. Get the full 17-character VIN from the seller or the listing — not just the model and year.
2. Check NHTSA's VIN tool for recalls on file. Remember the lag: a freshly filed campaign like 26V356 may not appear per-VIN for days or weeks after the filing (here, June 16, 2026).
3. Check Kia's recall portal with the same VIN for the manufacturer's view.
4. Pull a vehicle history report. A Zilocar VIN check screens for recall presence and count (the same scope as NHTSA's tool) and adds accident records with airbag-deployment status, junk/salvage auction records, NICB theft records, odometer checks, ownership history, and past sales listings with prices and mileage. Airbag-deployment history matters here: a prior deployment means the restraint system was stressed and parts were replaced, making seat-belt integrity questions doubly important on a recalled model.
5. Ask the seller or a Kia dealer for written confirmation that any open recall — including SC372 and, on early-build 2027 Tellurides, SC364 — has been remedied. Recall repairs are free, so there is no reason for a seller to refuse.
6. At the test drive, pull the driver's belt out fully and let it retract a few times. An inability to extend the driver's belt is the reported warning sign of the 26V356 defect — though a smooth belt does not prove the vehicle is outside the recall.

Can recalls stack on the same used vehicle?

Yes, and the 2027 Telluride is a live example: it has had two separate seat-belt recalls within roughly three months. NHTSA 26V135 (filed March 6, 2026) covers 13,499 early-build 2027 Tellurides for a third-row center anchor buckle that may not latch; NHTSA 26V356 (filed June 2, 2026) covers 6,264 later-build Tellurides for the driver's-belt retractor. Different components, different build windows, same model — both traced to the same supplier, Samsong Mexico. A used vehicle can carry multiple open recalls at once, which is why checking recall presence by VIN, rather than assuming "the recall" was handled, is the safer habit.

What can a VIN check tell you here — and what can't it?

A VIN history report can show that recalls exist for a vehicle and how many, but it cannot show whether the recall work was performed. For open-versus-remedied status, the authoritative sources are a Kia dealer, Kia's owner portal, and NHTSA's VIN tool.

Treat the history report as pre-purchase triage: it tells you which questions to ask the seller and the dealer, not whether the repair happened.

Sources

• NHTSA Part 573 Safety Recall Report — Recall 26V356 (Kia SC372), filed June 2, 2026 (PDF)
• NHTSA Part 573 Safety Recall Report — Recall 26V135 (Kia SC364), filed March 6, 2026 (PDF)
• NHTSA recall and VIN lookup tool
• Kia owner recall lookup portal
• Kelley Blue Book: Kia Telluride Recalled Over Seat Belt Issue
• Fox Business: Kia recalls over 6,000 Telluride SUVs over seat belt malfunction injury risk
• NewsNation: Kia recalls thousands of 2027 Telluride vehicles over seatbelt defect
• Autoblog: 2027 Kia Telluride faces another recall as driver's seat belt can lock up

Last verified: June 10, 2026.