Reasons for car recalls don’t come much stranger – or modern – than this.

HYUNDAI has recalled 997 Santa Fe SUVs in the United States and Canada. The really quite strange reason is that the digital dash instruments can appear upside-down on start-up.

Topsy turvy

The company made the recall following reports that cold weather can invert its displays by 180 degrees.

In more sober wording, the recall was released via the National Highway Transportation Safety Bureau’s (NHTSB) website in the US. The issue was described as:

“An illegible instrument cluster will not show information such as vehicle speed or safety system warnings, which can increase the risk of a crash.”

It’s an issue that can present some obvious difficulties for drivers. Hyundai agreed and put the recall in place in both the US and Canada.

Back to front

Having contacted Hyundai about the cause of the fault, the Jalopnik website received the following statement:

“The instrument panel (“IP”) cluster liquid-crystal display (“LCD”) in the subject vehicles may have been produced with incorrect resistors resulting in the possibility of an inverted image of associated controls, gauges, and telltale indicators upon startup of the vehicle at extremely low temperatures. This condition will not suddenly occur during normal driving.”

As with all recalls, Hyundai will make the repairs for free at a dealership. There have been no reports as yet of any similar issues elsewhere in the world. However, some people injected a sense of humour into the issue saying that the affected cars had been fitted with instrument clusters from Australian-market models.