An injury lawyer has taken to TikTok to discuss car recalls and the cars that he has stated he will never, ever drive. TikTok user Tom Bosworth (@tommythelawyer) discussed these in a video that, at the time of writing, had over 1.3 million views.
Bosworth discussed several vehicles that he said have had such bad recalls that he would never, ever get in again due to how serious they were. Some recalls can be quite minor, but there are others that are very, very serious and can lead to injuries or even fatalities.
An ignition switch issue with GM vehicles led to a recall of over 2.6 million vehicles, and by the time the recall had happened, 124 people had died as a result of injuries related to the problem. There were 275 additional people who had reported injuries, too.
Bosworth was keen to highlight five vehicles that he said he would never, ever get in again. Four of these came from Jeep, while the third vehicle came from Kia. The oldest of these cars comes from the 2020 model year, with the newest actually coming from the 2026 model year.
Four Jeeps Make up the List of Cars Bosworth Wouldn’t Drive
@tommythelawyer Won’t catch me driving one of these #fyp #cars #safety #recall ♬ original sound – tommythelawyer
Incredibly, four of the vehicles on his list are Jeeps. The first two the lawyer mentioned are the 2021 to 2025 Jeep Wrangler and Gladiator. “The defect there is that there’s an electrical connection issue in the power steering wiring that can just randomly cause fires,” said the injury lawyer. “The recall affects just over 1 million vehicles…and there were 51 fires reported and at least one injury,” he added.
An NHTSA report stated that the electric hydraulic power-steering pump wiring can have a connection issue. That could cause combustible materials to heat up and ignite. And that can happen even if the car is parked and not running. The NHTSA recommended that owners park affected vehicles “outside and away from other vehicles and buildings” before getting them fixed.
Two other vehicles from Jeep Bosworth mentioned are the Jeep Wrangler 4xe and Grand Cherokee 4xe hybrids. “There’s a battery component in these cars that can randomly erupt into flames, both while driving and while parked,” Bosworth said. He said there have been 19 battery fires due to this problem, and nine of those vehicles had already had a fix due to an earlier recall. However, those vehicles had an earlier software fix in place that wasn’t related to the updated recall. An additional software fix is being offered by Jeep with the later recall, as well as a replacement high-voltage battery if it is deemed necessary.
Kia Also Made It Onto the Lawyers’ List
The last car that Bosworth referenced was the Kia Telluride. That may come as a surprise, as Kia has built an excellent reputation in recent years for reliable, high-quality vehicles. “There’s a defect where, if there’s a damaged or displaced power seat switch…it can literally just stay on, and the motor keeps running until it literally melts and erupts into flames,” said Bosworth. So the Telluride’s issue is quite serious.
It appears that the SUV, model years 2020 to 2024, has had two recalls due to this issue. The first repair saw Kia reinforce the seat-switch assembly and replace the slide knob. But improperly performed repairs meant the car could still be susceptible to this issue, which led to another recall. All of these are serious issues, and it is understandable why Bosworth is a little bit wary of these vehicles. The good thing is the issues have been noted, and the manufacturers are fixing them or have fixed them.