6 million Kia and Hyundai vehicles escape a new defect case

Owners who hoped a federal agency would take up their throttle complaints just hit a dead end. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, or NHTSA, has denied DP21-003, a petition for a defect investigation into alleged speed-control and runaway-throttle problems in dozens of Kia and Hyundai vehicles. The denial ends that particular request, though it does not, by itself, settle whether the vehicles are safe or unsafe.

What the petition said

The petitioners said the vehicles had an excessive number of speed-control issues and repeated runaway-throttle incidents. In their amended filing, they said the accelerator control systems failed safety standards, including Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard No. 124, the rule that covers accelerator control systems. The complaint was aimed at a broad group of vehicles, not a single model or a single defect report.

What the denial means for drivers

The request was first submitted on Oct. 10, 2021, by Tom Murray and Byron Bloch and amended on Aug. 5, 2022. NHTSA opened DP21-003 on Nov. 12, 2021, to review it. With the denial now on the record, that federal investigation path is closed unless a new complaint or another safety action reopens the issue.

For now, the complaint stops here

For drivers and owners, the practical result is simple: the agency did not move forward with the formal defect probe they sought. The notice says why NHTSA rejected the petition, and that leaves the underlying concerns from the filing as the reason the case drew attention in the first place.