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Jeff Ebsch had no idea his 2022 Hyundai Santa Fe was carrying a hidden warning. Late last year, he opened his garage door to find the vehicle engulfed in flames, despite it sitting untouched with the engine off for hours, as WDay RadioNow reported. A recall notice telling him to park outside already existed for his car. He’d simply never seen it.
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More Than 1.5 Million Vehicles Now Carry the Same Warning
Federal regulators have flagged over 1.5 million cars this year for a defect capable of igniting even after the ignition is off. Jeep Gladiators, Jeep Wranglers, Kia Tellurides and BMW 530e xDrives are among the models affected. Owners have been instructed to keep their vehicles away from garages, carports and other parked cars until a permanent repair reaches dealerships.
Former NHTSA Investigator Frank Borris Explains Why Parked Cars Still Catch Fire
According to Frank Borris, a former National Highway Traffic Safety Administration investigator, the danger has nothing to do with a running engine. “The engine is off, but the circuits are still hot,” Borris told the Washington Post. Modern vehicles hold onto electrical heat long after the key leaves the ignition, leaving a window for a fault to spark a blaze.
Park-Outside Campaigns Nearly Doubled From 2024 to 2025
Borris traces the problem to the electronics packed under today’s hoods. Vehicles now run hotter and cram more sensors, modules and wiring into tighter spaces than older models did, creating more points of failure. NHTSA’s own data shows the trend accelerating, with park-outside campaigns climbing from roughly 10 in 2024 to 19 in 2025.
Stellantis Recalled Over 1 Million Jeep Gladiators and Wranglers in June
The single largest piece of this year’s total arrived in June, when Stellantis recalled 1,076,999 Jeep Gladiators and Wranglers built between 2021 and 2025. The company had logged at least 51 fires tied to the vehicles, including one that left a person injured. Stellantis pointed to a wiring flaw inside the hydraulic power steering pump as the source.
Stellantis Promised a Fix by July. It Still Doesn’t Exist
The flaw sits in circuits tied to the power steering pump that stay energized even with the engine off. Stellantis said in June it expected a repair within weeks. Weeks later, no permanent fix had reached dealerships, leaving more than a million Jeep owners parking outdoors indefinitely while the company continues testing a solution.
Kia’s Telluride Recall Covers Nearly 463,000 SUVs Over a Melting Seat Motor
In July, Kia issued its own park-outside order for 462,869 Tellurides built between 2020 and 2024. The company blamed an overheating front seat motor and confirmed seven seat fires along with eleven cases of the motor melting without igniting. For an SUV marketed as a family hauler, the defect sat inches from where children ride.
Days Later, Records Show Kia Had Already Tried to Fix This Once
Kia’s July notice didn’t mention it, but the recall was a repeat. An earlier attempt to resolve the seat motor issue had already failed, forcing regulators to reissue the park-outside warning on the same vehicles. When a recall repair doesn’t hold, owners end up exactly where they started, with even less certainty about when it’s safe to park inside.
BMW Added Nearly 30,000 Hybrid Sedans to the List in July
BMW’s contribution came from plug-in hybrids. The automaker recalled 29,119 330e, 530e xDrive and 740Le xDrive models from 2016 through 2020 after finding that water could corrode the starter relay and cause a short circuit. BMW said the fault can trigger a fire risk whether the car is running or sitting parked with the ignition off.
NHTSA Has Already Logged 17 Park-Outside Warnings in 2026
The tally keeps climbing. NHTSA issued about 10 park-outside recalls in 2024, 19 in 2025, and 17 in this year’s first seven months, closing in on last year’s total before summer even ended. Michael Brooks of the Center for Auto Safety told the Wall Street Journal that manufacturers are increasingly flagging danger before a fix exists, calling it real progress even as the warnings pile up.