Hyundai Recalls Cars Over Brake Peril

The importer of Hyundai cars said Monday that it has voluntarily recalled all the South Korean-made cars sold in the United States, because a missing or damaged part could cause total brake failure.

The Hyundai Excel subcompacts, the first Korean cars to be sold in this country, were introduced less than a month ago.

Recall notices were mailed to owners Wednesday, but no public announcement was made by the company or the federal government, although the action was safety-related.

As many as 4,000 cars may be involved, said Bruce Matthias, spokesman for Hyundai Motor America Inc., the Gardena, Calif.-based importing arm of Hyundai Motor Co. Ltd.

On March 6, 7 and 8, Hyundai discovered, in the inspection of unsold cars, that three Excels either were missing a cotter pin that holds together part of the mechanical linkage between the brake pedal and master cylinder or had a damaged pin, Matthias said.

Failure of the linkage could cause loss of all braking power, Matthias said.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration was notified of the problem on March 10, he said, and the agency told Hyundai that it could conduct a “voluntary service campaign” instead of a mandatory recall.

No representative of the federal safety agency could be reached for comment.