Former Kia Employee Suggests Cause Of Car Fires Is Faulty Recall Fix

A former employee of Kia is claiming that he warned the automaker back in 2017 that defective engine recall repair work could be responsible for a series of car fires. As of the first week of January, 276 Kia and Hyundai fires had been reported across 44 states — with 25 of those incidents occurring in Florida alone — according to the Center for Auto Safety. Jason Vaughn, a former member of Kia’s warranty department at the auto company’s US headquarters in Irvine, CA, claims that the fires are linked to shoddy recall repair work. “I’m coming forward because people’s lives are at risk,” Vaughn told ABC News in an exclusive interview. Vaughn was performing Kia dealer audits in 2017 when he found that some of the dealerships handling engine recalls at the time were giving the vehicles improper fixes, which led to highly flammable fuel pump leaks.