Hyundai Motor America, the US affiliate of South Korea’s No.1 automaker, has been sued by two owners of Hyundai vehicles in the US over a defective steering system posing major safety risks, according to local reports Monday.

Law 360, a US-based legal news service, reported a class action lawsuit has been filed against the automotive company in the US District Court for the Central District of California for concealing the faulty steering system installed in Hyundai’s subcompact car Accent and best-selling Elantra compact sedan produced between 2013 and 2016.


The suit is being led by Oregon drivers, the report said, identifying Houston Vinci, who owns a used 2013 Accent, and Ku Jae-han, the owner of a 2015 Elantra as plaintiffs.

They said in a complaint statement that “a reasonable customer who purchases a vehicle that advertises power steering as a feature expects that feature to function properly.” They also assumed that the “defendant will not sell vehicles with known safety defects, and will disclose any such defect to their customers.”

The two said they have been involved in car accidents due to the steering wheel locking up while driving, according to Law 360.

Some 100 complaints involving the Hyundai Elantra and 10 cases involving the Hyundai Accent by car owners had been made to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration over similar problems as of last week, the plaintiffs said in the suit, citing the NHTSA database.

The latest defect was also the reason for the previous recall ordered by the NHTSA for 173,000 units of Hyundai’s top-selling Sonata sedan in the US in April 2016, the plaintiffs claimed.

Hyundai Motor notified the US government of the concerned findings and recalled the affected vehicles.

Hyundai Motor said it plans to review the case.

By Kim Bo-gyung (lisakim425@heraldcorp.com)