US-made Kia Soul and Kia Sorento are being recalled for fire risk

By now, we've all seen Kia's crazy commercials, with the hip-hop hamsters, and the dancing toy monkey.

The tiny South Korean automaker has unleashed a virtual marketing assault on social media, the web, and Television - all to announce its new Sorento crossover, and Soul MPV.

The rapping hamsters lyrically tell us that driving a Kia Soul is better than running around in a cardboard box, or a clothes dryer. While a giant plush monkey (with buttons for eyes), a teddy bear, a big toy robot, a red version of Gumbie, and some fuzzball-looking character steal a Sorento, Then go out and have a night out on the town. All the while, jammin' to the rock and roll classic "How you like me now?".

It's a pretty entertaining advertising campaign. And the punch line is, it's working. In North America, the Kia Soul outsold its rival, the Nissan Cube, by a huge margin last year.

But today, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration announced the formation of a huge rain cloud over Kia's parade. It seems that the US built versions of the Kia Soul, and Kia Sorento were made with a defective wiring harness, from part supplier JCI.

The wiring harnesses are used in the door speaker lighting on the Soul, and for accent lighting in the front doors of the Sorento.

Apparently, they weren't soldered properly. So, they can short out, and cause a fire. No word on how many fires were actually caused.

This recall affects some 35,000 vehicles

Nissan's marketing people are probably singing "How you like me now? Dum dum dum, da da, dum dum dum™"