Remember To Park Your Hyundai Tucson Outside

Hyundai has expanded its recall of the Tuscon with this distressing piece of advice: don’t park it indoors. Because there’s a fear it could burn down the structure where it sits.

According to the Tucson recall notice filed at the National Highway Transportation and Safety Administration, the anti-lock brake hydraulic electronic control unit (HECU) could corrode internally and cause an electrical short, possibly resulting in an engine compartment fire. Basically, one of the most important safety feature on your Hyundai could burn your house down (if you have an attached garage structure).

This is a broad recall that affects models from 2016 to 2021 with over 650,000 models included. For the 2016 to 2020 model years, Hyundai sold about 605,000 Tucsons. The numbers aren’t a perfect match because some models were sold in the last quarter of 2015 that aren’t reflected in the sales from 2016 to 2021.

In effect, though, if you own a 2016 to 2021 Hyundai Tucson, park it outside – and keep parking it outside because the repairs don’t start for a while, assuming you can get the service appointment. As USA Today reports, “Owners will be notified in late February to take their SUVs to a dealer, which will replace a fuse on the computer. They can key in their vehicle identification number at www.hyundaiusa.com/recalls https://autoservice.hyundaiusa.com/campaignhome to see if their vehicles are affected.” Trust us your vehicle is probably affected.

Owners of newer Tucsons face some additional work. For 2019-2021 model years, the electronic stability control (ESC) software will also be updated. So, in addition to not parking your Tucson in the garage, be additionally careful going around curves with newer versions.

What do you think? Would you risk parking a Hyundai Tucson in your garage? Even in a carport? Answer below.

Keith Griffin covers Hyundai and Kia at Torque News. He has been writing continuously about cars since 2002. Keith used to be a researcher/writer for US News & World Report, as well as numerous car sites, including Carfax and Car Gurus, and a contributor to The Boston Globe. Most recently, Keith was the managing editor for American Business Media. Follow Keith at @indepthauto on Twitter, on @LinkedIn and on his Indepth Auto Facebook page.